Reopening the Maitreya-files – Two almost identical early Maitreya sūtra translations in the Chinese Canon: Wrong attributions and text-historical entanglements
The Chinese Ekottarika-āgama translation
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| The Chinese Ekottarika-āgama translation
The Chinese Ekottarika-āgama is preceded by an introduction writ ten by Daoan 道安, 10 when the translation was completed in Chang’an 長安. 11 A discrepancy exists however between this intro- duc tion that states that the Ekottarika-āgama was expounded by Dhar ma nandin / Tanmonanti 曇摩難提 and translated into Chinese by Buddhasmṛti / Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 in 384 AD, and the note within the text itself, which appears directly beneath the title and states that it was trans lated by Gautama Saṃghadeva in 397 AD. On this issue the ancient Chinese catalogues contain contra dictory information. And the thor ough investigations undertaken so far in modern times, mostly by Japa nese scholars, have not yet settled the question. 12 A few years ago, however, a new era of terminological search op tions was inaugurated owning to the creation of the electronic data base of the Chinese Canon (CBETA). This tool allows us to sup port linguistic and terminological observances with scientifi c data, and it can help to solve the translation problems related to the Ekot tarika-āgama. In fact, while searching hundreds of terms which Buddhasmṛti had employed in his translation of the Womb sūtra, 13 I repeatedly encountered these terms in his other translations, as well as in the Ekottarika-āgama. Certain wordings are only or nearly exclu sively used by Buddhasmṛti, no matter whether these constitute techni- cal terms or “normal vocabulary.” We even fi nd in the Ekotta rika- āgama expres sions that were unmistakably created by him and not taken over by later translators. In the case of vocabu lary forged by Dhar ma rakṣa, he is sometimes the last translator to have used certain terms, and such items can also be seen in the Ekottarika- 10 Daoan lived between 312 and 385 AD. 11 Chang’an is present day Xi’an 西安 in the Shanxi 陝西 province. 12 Cf. Mizuno 1956 and 1989, Warita 1973, and Enomoto 1984 and 1986. 13 The Pusa chutai jing 菩薩處胎經 (T12, no. 384, 1015a–1058b), cf. Legittimo 2006b. 256 Elsa I. Legittimo āgama. In previous works I put forth the hypothesis that either the extant Chi nese Ekottarika-āgama is still the fi rst translation by Buddhasmṛti (in this case the second one by Saṃ gha deva was lost), or that the great est part of it is Buddhasmṛti’s translation, and that a veritable second translation by Saṃghadeva never took place. The collection instead might have sim ply been amended or enlarged by Saṃgha deva. 14 The question whether the greatest part or even all of the Chinese Ekottarika-āgama could still be Buddhasmṛti’s fi rst trans lation from Dharmanandin’s (most probably) oral exposition is of crucial signifi cance for our understanding of this important but yet “unaf- fi liated” Āgama collection and for all subsequent research related to it. Regard ing the affi liation of the Chinese Ekottarika-āgama scholars mostly agree that it was not translated from an Indian ver- sion belong ing to the Sarvāstivādin or Mūla sar vāstivādin schools. Modern secondary litera ture generally proposes an affi liation to the Mahā sāṃghika school or in rare cases to the Dharmagupta school. 15 However, already in 1967 Étienne Lamotte rightly noted that there is no consistent proof for any of these assumptions, 16 and his assertion is still valid today, since no signifi cant data has been generated in the last few decades. Be that as it may, to ascertain the actual translator of the afore- men tioned extant Maitreya text is certainly an important step in the right direction and might help to clarify the origin of the Chinese Ekot tarika-āgama. 14 Cf. Legittimo 2005: Synopsis Part I, 3, and Legittimo 2006b: 80–81. Independ ently of my fi ndings, Jan Nattier also noticed that the Chinese Ekottarika-āgama contains terminol ogy typically found in Buddhasmṛti’s translations (personal commu nication). Her infer ences are based on in- vestigations she carried out on the terminology found in the “Sū tra of the ten stages” (the Shizhu duanjie jing 十住斷結經, T 10, no. 309, 966a4– 1047b13), also a translation by Buddhasmṛti. 15 Cf. for example the overview published by Mayeda Egaku about Japanese research on the Ekottarika-āgama’s school affi liation: Mayeda 1985: 102–103. 16 Cf. Lamotte 1967: 106. Reopening the Maitreya-fi les 257 The Chinese Ekottarika-āgama collection remained unchanged since its translation at the end of the fourth century. The collection preserves a lot of material, about one third of its corpus, that could not yet be put in relation to other Āgama, Nikāya or para-canonical sources, and deserves investigation to enable conclusions about the early and middle phases of Indian and Central Asian Buddhism. 17 tải về 1.27 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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