I will approach this in two parts based on the paragraphs in Silk's (1994) critical edition of the Tibetan. In this instalment I will deal with Paragraphs T, U, and V; and in the next with Paragraphs W & X.
Once again R2 (T 252) is substantially different from R1 in that it has nothing similar to TUV but does have a shortened version of W.
None of the Chinese texts has a Para X, since they put the title at the beginning.
An outline of the conclusion is:
- Para T. The last comment by Avalokiteśavara, repeating that the teaching that makes up the standard text is the way bodhisatva should train in the practice of Prajñāpāramitā.
- Para U The Buddha emerges from his samādhi and congratulates Avalokiteśvara (sādhu!)
- Para V the Buddha endorses the teaching Avalokiteśvara has given and adds that if the teaching is put into practice the awakened beings (tathāgata, sugata) will rejoice.
Texts
T253. T「如是，舍利弗！諸菩薩摩訶薩於甚深般若波羅蜜多行，應如是行。」U 如是說已。即時，世尊從廣大甚深三摩地起，讚觀自在菩薩摩訶薩言：「善哉，善哉！善男子！V 如是，如是！如汝所說。甚深般若波羅蜜多行，應如是行。如是行時，一切如來皆悉隨喜。」
T. "Therefore, Śāriputra, all bodhisatva mahāsatvas who study the genuine and deep prajñāpāramitā practice, should practice it in this way." U. After this was said, at that time, the Bhagavān having arisen from the vast and profound samādhi, praised Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva, saying, “Sādhu. Sādhu, kulaputra.” V. That is it. That is it. Just as you said. Genuine practice of the deep Prajñāpāramitā should be practised in that way. To that practitioner (行時), the Tathāgatas (如來) respond with wholehearted joy (隨喜).
T 254. T「如是，舍利子！諸菩薩摩訶薩，於甚深般若波羅蜜多行，應如是學。」U 爾時，世尊從三摩地安祥而起，讚觀世音自在菩薩摩訶薩言：「善哉，善哉！善男子！V 如是，如是！如汝所說。甚深般若波羅蜜多行，應如是行。如是行時，一切如來悉皆隨喜。」
T. Therefore, Śāriputra, all bodhisatva mahāsatvas who practice the genuine and deep prajñāpāramitā practice, should train in this way. U. At that time, the Bhagavān, having serenely risen up from samādhi, praised Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva, saying, “Sādhu. Sādhu, kulaputra.” V. That is it. That is it. Just as you said. Genuine practice of the deep Prajñāpāramitā should be practised in that way. When practising that way all the Tathagatas respond with wholehearted delight.
T 255. T「舍利子！菩薩摩訶薩應如是修學甚深般若波羅蜜多。」U 爾時，世尊從彼定起，告聖者觀自在菩薩摩訶薩曰：「善哉，善哉！善男子！V 如是，如是！如汝所說。彼當如是修學般若波羅蜜多。一切如來亦當隨喜。」
T "Śāriputra, bodhisatva mahāsatvas should practice the genuine and deep prajñāpāramitā." U At that time, the Bhagavan having calmly arisen from that [samādhi] addressed Avalkoiteśvara, saying “Sādhu. Sādhu, kulaputra.” V That is it. That is it. As you have declared it. That is how [he] should train in Prajñāpāramitā. All the tathāgatas should rejoice.
T257. T「舍利子！諸菩薩摩訶薩，若能誦是般若波羅蜜多明句，是即修學甚深般若波羅蜜多。」U 爾時，世尊從三摩地安詳而起，讚觀自在菩薩摩訶薩言：「善哉，善哉！善男子！V 如汝所說，如是，如是！般若波羅蜜多當如是學，是即真實最上究竟，一切如來亦皆隨喜。」
T "Śāriputra, all bodhisatva mahāsatvas, if able to recite this Prajñāpāramitā vidyā, should train in this Prajñāpāramitā." U At that time, the Bhagavan having serenely risen up from samādhi, praised Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva, saying, “Sādhu. Sādhu, kulaputra.” V That is it. That is it! Prajñāpāramitā should be practiced, it is real, supreme, and final. All the tathāgatas should rejoice.
Skt. T evaṃ śāriputra gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāyāṃ śikṣitavyaṃ bodhisatvena. U atha khalu bhagavān tasmāt samādher vyutthāya āryāvalokiteśvarasya bodhisatvasya mahāsatvasya sādhukāram adāt. sādhu sādhu kulaputra. evam etat kulaputra, evam etad, gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāṃ cartavyaṃ. yathā tvayā nirdiṣṭam anumodyate sarva-tathāgatair arhadbhiḥ.
T. In this way, Śāriputra, should the profound practice of prajñāpāramitā be trained in by the bodhisatva. U. Then the Bhagavan, arose from that samādhi, and addressed Noble Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva to his face. Exactly! Right on target, son of the community! That is the way, son of the community, that is the way the deep practice of Prajāñpāramitā should be practiced. The way you have declared it is applauded by all the tathāgatas and arhats.
TibA. T shā ri'i bu byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen pos de ltar shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo la bslab par bya'o // U de nas bcom ldan 'das ting nge 'dzin de las bzhengs te / byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po 'phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug la legs so zhes bya ba byin nas / legs so legs so // V rigs kyi bu ne de bzhin no // rigs kyi bu de de bzhin te / ji ltar khyod kyis bstan pa de bzhin du shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo la spyad par bya ste / de bzhin gshegs pa rnams kyang rjes su yi rang ngo //
T. Śāriputra! Thus should the bodhisatva mahāsatva learn the profound perfection of wisdom. U. Then, the Blessed One rose from that concentration and offering commendation to the bodhisatva mahāsatva Ārya Avalokiteśvara [said]: “Well done, well done. Gentle son it is just so. V. Gentle son, it is just so, and just as you have stated so should one practise the profound perfection of wisdom and even the sugatas* will rejoice.”
*Silk has sugatas. But Tib. has de bzhin gshegs pa = tathāgatas. Also in Tib B.
Tib B. T shā ri'i bu byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen pos / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo la de ltar bslab par bya'o // U de nas bcom ldan 'das kyis / ting nge 'dzin de las bzhengs nas / byang chub sems dpa' sems dpa' chen po / 'phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug la rigs kyi bu legs so zhes bya ba byin nas / legs so legs so // rigs kyi bu ne de de bzhin no // V de de bzhin te / khyod kyis ji skad bstan pa bzhin du / shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo la spyad par bya ste / de bzhin gshegs pa rnams kyang rjes su yi rang ngo zhes legs so bya ba byin no //
T. Śāriputra! The bodhisatva mahāsatva should thus learn the profound perfection of wisdom. U. Then, the Blessed One rising from that concentration and offering commendation to the bodhisatva mahāsatva Ārya Avalokiteśvara [said]: “Excellent, excellent. Gentle son it is just so”. V. It is just so, and just as you have declared so should one practise the profound perfection of wisdom and even the sugatas will rejoice.”
Notes
Paragraph T
Paragraph T winds up the answer by Avalokiteśvara by saying "and this is how the bodhisatva should train (sikṣa-) in the practice (caryā-) of Prajñāpāramitā. There is a small anomaly in T 253
T 253 般若波羅蜜多行，應如是行The second xíng 行 is probably a scribal error for xué 學, perhaps an eye-skip. Although note that TibA and TibB leave out "the practice of" completely:
T 254 般若波羅蜜多行，應如是學
Skt. prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāyāṃ śikṣitavyaṃ
TibA de ltar... bslab par bya'o "in that way... he should train"But in Tibetan, the question was asked in these terms also in Paragraph G.
TibB de ltar bslab par bya'o // "he should train in that way"
T 257 adds a whole extra phrase: ruò néng sòng shì bōrěbōluómìduō míngjù 若能誦是般若波羅蜜多明句 "If able to recite this Prajñāpāramitā dhāraṇī". Having studied the many ways that Chinese authors translated vidyā in a Prajñāpāramitā context I guess that míngjù 明句 literally "bright verse" is yet another way of translating vidyā or dhāraṇī, or even vidyā-dhāraṇī. This phrase has no parallel in any other version of the Heart Sutra.
Paragraph U
Recall that in Paragraph D the Buddha enters a samādhi having given a Dharma teaching or dharmaparyāya. The Sanskrit text gives the Dharma teaching a name—gambhīrāvabhāsa—and the samādhi is just generic. The Chinese and Tibetan texts take gambhīrāvabhāsa or some variant of it as the name of the samādhi. As I wrote about Para D:
T 253 and 254 call the samādhi (sānmèi 三昧, sānmóde 三摩地 ) "extensive" guǎng dà 廣大 (mahat, vaipulya) and "profound" shèn shēn 甚深 (gambhīra). We have a term corresponding to gambhīra but we don't have one that corresponds to avabhāsa (illumination). We might expect a word including the character guāng 光 such as guāngmíng 光明or guāngzhào 光照.
Now the Buddha emerges from samādhi. Compare T 253:
即時世尊 從廣大甚深 三摩地起It looks as though T 253 does not use standard Chinese (SVO) syntax, but rather follows the Sanskrit (SOV) convention with the verb (qǐ 起 "arise") at the end, although from the Sanskrit we see that the "verb" in this case is a gerund:
jíshí shìzūn cóng guǎngdà shènshēn sānmódì qǐ
The Bhagavan having arisen from the vast and profound samādhi...
atha khalu bhagavān tasmāt samādher vyutthāyaThis looks like a good piece of evidence that T 253 is a translation from Sanskrit. However compare T 254:
Then / indeed / Bhagavan/ from that / samādhi / having arisen
爾時世尊 從三摩地 安祥而起
ěr shía shìzūn cóng sānmóde ān xiáng ér qǐ
At that time, the Bhagavan having serenely arisen from samādhi...
The word order is much the same. T 257 exactly follows T 254 at this point, i.e. 世尊從三摩地安詳而起. T 255 is similar but with the same word order and a slightly different wording ěr shía shìzūn cóng bǐ dìng qǐ 爾時世尊從彼定起. It could be that T 255 and T 257 are copying T 254 (more or less) or that there is a Sanskrit variant with an extra adverb—such as prasanna—though none of the extant Sanskrit texts have this.
In fact this is a Chinese idiom. In T 223: cóng zuò qǐ 從座起 "he rose from his seat" literally from seat rising (8.229c08); also jiē cóng zuò qǐ 皆從座起 "all rose from their seats" (8.230b12). And numerous other examples.
Paragraph V
Sādhu comes from the verb √sādh "succeed directly" and the underlying image seems to be an arrow flying directly to the target, hitting the bullseye. And sādhu is an agent noun in -u that means "one who hits the mark, unerring; successful". This is why we sometimes hear wandering ascetics in India called "sadhus". "Sādhu" in our context means a person or an action "is spot on; has hit the bullseye; is on the money, on the nail, on the button; on target; has hit the spot; is textbook; has performed to a T, to perfection; etc." Avalokiteśvara has given a textbook presentation of Prajñāpāramitā; a flawless performance. He has really hit the nail on the head. He takes a ride to Kings Cross Station and collects $200 as he passes "Go". And so on.
It is slightly peculiar that the Sanskrit suggests that the teaching would be approved of by all the tathāgatas and arhats (anumodyate sarva-tathāgatair arhadbhiḥ). The arhats, generally speaking do not approve of Mahāyāna teachings, especially in the 8th Century by which time the distinction has become somewhat schlerotic. So arhats are an anachronism here. Many of the Sanskrit manuscripts omit reference to the arhats as do all the Chinese and Tibetan translations. The absence in all the medieval translations suggests that the arhats were added later and should probably be removed from the edited text.
That said, I should emphasise that the hostility towards Arhats or towards Śāriputra as a representative of that group is not found in Prajñāpāramitā. Clearly the authors believe that they have a superior form of Buddhist practice, but their principle spokesman is Subhūti, an arhat. And while Śāriputra is clearly an outsider, he is attentive, asks questions, and seeks to understand what Subhūti and the Buddha are talking about. There is none of the inappropriate mockery found in texts like the Vimalakirtinirdeśa.
T 257 inserts a phrase shì jí zhēnshí zuìshàng jiùjìng 是即真實最上究竟 which combines some common Buddhist superlatives that are also used in the standard Heart Sutra: jiùjìng 究竟 is from 究竟涅槃 translated in the Sanskrit Heart Sutra as niṣṭhanirvāṇa "final extinction" but probably more like nirvāṇa-paryavasāna "concluding in extinction"; zhēnshí 真實 is from the expression at the end of the epithets passage真實不虛 zhēnshí bù xū "[Prajñāpāramitā] is truly real and not in vain.
T 257 inserts a phrase shì jí zhēnshí zuìshàng jiùjìng 是即真實最上究竟 which combines some common Buddhist superlatives that are also used in the standard Heart Sutra: jiùjìng 究竟 is from 究竟涅槃 translated in the Sanskrit Heart Sutra as niṣṭhanirvāṇa "final extinction" but probably more like nirvāṇa-paryavasāna "concluding in extinction"; zhēnshí 真實 is from the expression at the end of the epithets passage真實不虛 zhēnshí bù xū "[Prajñāpāramitā] is truly real and not in vain.
The last phrase in Chinese is
| 253/4 | yīqiè rúlái xī jiē suíxǐ | 一切如來悉皆隨喜 | all the Tathāgatas respond with wholehearted joy |
| 255 | yīqiè rúlái yì dāng suíxǐ | 一切如來亦當隨喜 | all the Tathāgatas should also rejoice |
| 257 | yīqiè rúlái yì jiē suíxǐ | 一切如來亦皆隨喜 | all the Tathāgatas also rejoice in all cases |
Although a strict translation of these phrases comes out a little different in each case, these differences don't amount to much. It seems like this sentence is unusually padded, perhaps to get two groups of four characters. In each case the rejoicing of the tathāgata appears to be a little disconnected from the teaching, whereas in Sanskrit what was declared (nirdiṣṭa) by Avalokiteśvara is what tathāgata rejoice in, viz.
yathā tvayā nirdiṣṭam anumodyate sarva-tathāgatair arhadbhiḥ.This is a great example of how Sanskrit likes to express things in the passive voice, i.e. what was declared (nirdiṣṭa) is applauded (anumodyate) with the "subject" in the instrumental case. Since a passive sentence does officially have a "subject" (which would be in the nominative case) we usually speak of the agent of the verb and I follow A. K. Warder in referring to the "object" with the more general term patient.
The way you have declared it is applauded by all the tathāgatas and arhats.
Conclusion
There are further inexplicable variations on the text. The translator of T 257—Dānapāla, 1005 CE—has two extra phrases, one in Para T and one in Para V that do not occur in any other version of the text. It appears that Dānapāla added these phrases. But, as we have seen, this is not that unusual. We also see these commentarial flourishes in many of the modern English translation of the Heart Sutra also.
If the Sanskrit text was the source, as I think it was, then parts of it were more difficult to put into Chinese than others. In particular, parsing the final passive voice sentence linking the rejoicing of the tathāgatas with the teaching of Avalokiteśvara in the sūtra seems to have been difficult for all of the Chinese translators. It's not that Chinese (or English) lacks a passive voice, only that this sort of statement cries out for the directness of active voice: the tathāgatas applauded what Avalokitśvara said.
~~oOo~~
