English
A Buddhist ^ v^ ^f p^kin. 3k" -Jr- >r -J^ iMl Miscellany by W> it M "y^ M )& m m ^y ^^ f- ^f-m ^ m 'ii' fi m m m M- & m ^ ^ '^' m^y M B ^ l$MM^tlXM^S translated by Kumaraj jHI ^^ ^U j?K according to the School of the Dharmagiiptas fi, m m + =- MM -kmjM -§ :^ mm ■w ^- m % i± m * iva. * tM % ^ Mil II ^ -US' ^ ¥Bfl bR Hiy ^3t * I'-i i3i!¥ 157: printed ,^ at /x in the ^ # A ^ ^ .a ^ tS 5i K fi l /,^ A CATENA OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1. Although so much has been done to ehicidate Buddhist history and philosophy during the last thirty or forty years, it is singular that no greater use has been made of the Buddhist Canon as it is found in China. It is well known that in many of the larger monasteries of that country there are to be found not only complete editions of the Buddhist Scriptures in the vernaculai', but also Sanscrit originals, from which the Chinese version was made. And yet, so far as is generally known, no effort has been made, either in this country or elsewhere, to secure for our national libraries copies of these invaluable works. 2. Buddhist books began to be translated into Chinese so early as the middle portion of the first century a.d. It is one of the singular coincidences which occur in such abund- ance, between the history of Buddhism and the Christian religion, that whilst the influence of the latter was leaven- ing the Western world, the knowledge of the former was being carried by missionaries — as zealous though not so well instructed as the followers of St. Paul — into the vast empire beyond the Eastern deserts ; where it took root (long before Germany or England had become Christian), and has flourished ever since. 3. But the first complete edition of the Buddhist Canon in China dates only from the seventh century. It was pre- pared under the direction of Tae Tsung, the second emperor B 2 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST of the Tang dynasty, who reigned from 627 to 650 a.d., and published by his successor, Kaou-Tsung. Yung-loh,the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, 1410 a.d., prepared a second and much enlarged edition of the Canon, and also wrote an Imperial preface to ifc. This collection is called the Southern edition (nan ts^ang). The thirteenth emperor of the same dynasty, Wan-leih, caused a third edition to be published about 1590 a.d., which is called the Northern Collection (peh ts'ang) ; this edition was renewed and enlarged in the year 1723 a.d., during the reign of Keen-lung, under the auspices of a former governor of Cheh-kiang, who wrote a preface to the catalogue of the works contained in it, and also added a reprint of the Imperial preface to the first complete edition, written by Tae-Tsung. It is calculated that the whole work of the Indian translators in China, together with that of Hionen-thsang, amounts to about seven hundred times the size of the New Testament. The section known as the Mahaprajna paramita, alone, is eighty times as large as the New Testament, and was prepared by Hionen Thsang without abbreviation, from the Sanscrit, embracing 200,000 slokas.^ 4. In knowledge of the existence of this large and com- plete collection of the Buddhist Sci-iptures, it is singular that so little use has been made of it, by missionaries or scholars generally." It would be wrong to state that the 350 or 400 million people who inhabit China are Buddhists, but yet Buddhist modes of thought and phraseology prevail largely amongst them, and it is hardly consistent in us, whilst we deal with religious questions, to overlook the literature which contains the sacred deposit of the faith of so many millions of that population, as do strictly belong to the Buddhist faith. Moreover, it must be evident that so long as we are ignorant of the details of their religion, they will not be induced to listen to our denunciation of ' Edkins ; in the Shanghae Almanac. - I here except the case of M. Wassilief . SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 3 it ; nor can we expect that our indifference to their preju- dices will tend to remove them, or induce them to overlook ours. 5. There is another important service which a careful study of the Chinese version of the Buddhist Scriptures may render to the cause of literature generally, but espe- cially towards a critical acquaintance with the original Sanscrit text of the Tripitaka. Prof. Max Miiller has already observed that " the analytical structure of the Chi- nese language imparts to Chinese translations the character almost of a gloss ; and although we need not follow im- plicitly the interpretations of the Sanscrit originals adopted by Chinese translators, still their antiquity would naturally impart to them a considerable value and interest."^ And to illustrate his remarks, he gives one or two corrections sug- gested by Professor Stanislas Julien from a comparison with the Chinese version, of the translation of the Lotus of the Good Law made by the learned Burnouf from Sanscrit into French. Such corrections might be supplied almost indefinitely, for there is scarcely a section of that translation in which the Chinese version does not serve to provide some illustration or other. And what is true in this case would be found to be so in every case where a Sanscrit Sutra and a Chinese version of it co-exist. Hence the great use of a comparative study of the two, and the advantage to the Sanscrit scholar who can consult both." ' Chips, i, 206, u. - To adduce a few instances from the Sutra we have already named, the " Lotus of the Good Law." On p. 2G4, line 26, we read, " Re^ois de moi, o homme vertueux, ce vetement de la loi." The Chinese passage is equally brief: " Jin tche, shau tsze fall shi " — that is, " O virtuous one ! receive this religious offering"; and in explanation of the last phrase we find that there are two principal modes of almsgiving or dana, viz., "1. Dharma ddna — providing for the recitation of the law, or the giving religious instruction. 2. Amisa-ddna — presenting robes, alms- bowls, and other requisites of the priesthood ; and giving cattle, gar- ments, and ornaments to supply the necessities of the poor" (E. M., 196). It would appear, therefore, that in the Sanscrit copy, from which Bur- B 2 . 4 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST G. But yet a more important consideration is the advan- tage we may derive from having in China copies of many of the sacred books which are unknown elsewhere. Such are the numerous works belonging to the Northern school, as it is called, and which, so far as is at present known, are not to be met with in their original Sanscrit form, either in India or Nepal. Such, for instance, is the Avatamsaka Sutra, written, as it is said, by Nagardjuna, and which, under the name of the "Ya yan King,^^ is one of the commonest and most widely circulated Siitras in China — the Kosha and Vibasha Shasters, the Surailgama Sutra, and many others. When these works have been propei^ly studied and classified we shall have achieved very much towards a reasonable exposition of the system, and an in- telligent account of its growth and development. 7. And incidentally from these studies we shall derive much information relating to the more obscure parts of Indian history and the struggles of the conflicting Indian sects. In the history of the mission of Song-Yun, for example, we have an account of the effect which a picture of the sufferings of Bodhisatva, when he was born as Ves- santara, produced on the rough Indo-Scythic tribes who in- vaded North India, at the beginning of the Christian fera. He tells us^ they could not refrain from tears when the}" nouf translated, the latter expression was employed ; whilst in the origi- nal, from which the Chinese version was prepared, the former was used. But in the expression, " vetement de la loi," we have no clue to the meaning. Again, on p. 261, line 15, this passage occurs : " If hundreds of thousands of kotis of creatures have beheld the gold, &c. with which their ship is freighted cast into the sea, &c."' But the Chinese gives the passage if the same nvimber of persons " have embarked on the great sea to search for gold or silver, &c." Again, on the eleventh line of the same page we read, " tous par la splendeur du Bodhisatva Mahasatva"; but the Chinese version gives, "all of these, by the august spiritual power of Bodhisatwa, &c.