In this post, I will show that the extended Heart Sutra text T254 is a lightly redacted or edited version of T253, rather than an independent translation from Sanskrit. Moreover, T253 incorporates all of T251, including parts with no Sanskrit counterpart, which could only result from redaction in Chinese. Moreover, since the main text is essentially just a repeat of T251, only the extended opening section and additional closing sections of T253 were translated from Sanskrit. Given the history of this text, we do have to wonder if T253 was entirely composed in Chinese. I make no judgement on the value of Chinese-produced Buddhist texts, I merely wish to clarify the history of the text.
Both texts are titled: Bānrě bōluómìduō xīn jīng «般若波羅蜜多心經» "The Sutra of the Heart of Perfection of Insight". T253 is attributed to a Khotanese monk, Bānrě 般若 (Prajñā), a Chinese monk Lìyán 利言, and "others" (děng 等), and traditionally dated to ca. 788 CE. (A note in the Zhēnyuán lù «貞元錄» (T 2157), suggests that Bānrě 般若 had Sanskrit Heart Sutra text - I'll likely cover this in a separate post). The text of T253 is 545 characters (not counting spaces or punctuation). It seems that Prajñā did not speak Chinese, and Lìyán 利言 acted as his translator in China (note: I will soon post an exploration of the dual identity of Lìyán 利言).
T254 is attributed to Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪 (*Prajñācakra), a noted tantrika, and traditionally dated to 861 CE. I still cannot find where this attribution comes from. The text is 569 characters.
T253 is recorded in the Tripitaka Koreana, but T254 is not. In yet another forthcoming essay will look at the TK, which only records T250, T251, 252, T253, and 257.
After 12 years of literature searching, I know of no secondary literature on this issue except for my own preliminary investigations here and in Attwood (2021).
My method is simple. I break the text into 18 sentences. For sentences from the introduction and conclusion, I will paste the sentences from the two texts alongside each other, and I will compare them both with the Sanskrit, and occasionally with T251. There appear to be some errors in both T253 and T254, which I will indicate using strikethrough and explain in notes. At the very end, I've appended a list of all the differences, sentence by sentence.
My aim was to have the same punctuation in both T253 and T254, which Taishō does not provide and thus it required some changes. I have not noted such changes. Sometimes the punctuation is incorrect, which I have noted.
I will also provide Middle Chinese transcriptions where it seems helpful. My approach to MC is indicative rather than systematic, meaning that anyone interested in MC should consult the experts. Two main problems make attempting to provide MC transcriptions difficult: no one system of reconstruction covers all the characters used in the Heart Sutra; and all of the many systems use different notation. The notation used is often idiosyncratic, but even when the International Phonetic Alphabet is used, most of the "letters" are unfamiliar most readers. That said, I have tried to use the IPA because at least it is easy to look up.
Since the titles are identical, we begin with the text itself.
1. Introduction
Sentence 1.
253 如是我聞：一時佛 在王舍城耆闍崛山中，與大比丘眾及 菩薩眾俱。 254 如是我聞：一時薄誐梵住王舍城 鷲峯山中，與大苾蒭眾及大菩薩眾俱。 Skt. evaṃ mayā śrutam: ekasmin samaye bhagavān rājagṛhe viharati sma gṛdhrakūṭe parvate mahatā bhikṣusaṃghena sārdhaṃ mahatā ca bodhisattvasaṃghena |
One time 一時, buddha 佛 dwelled 在 Rājagṛha 王舍城, Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain 耆闍崛山 on 中; together [with] 與 a great 大 bhikṣu 比丘 congregation 眾 and 及 a [great 大] bodhisatva 菩薩 congregation 眾 accompanied 俱.
The word order of the Chinese is similar to English, except for certain words that we would put at the beginning; go at the end. Here the word jù 俱 "accompanied by" would come earlier in English, as would zhōng 中 when used as a locative preposition "in, on".
Qí dū jué 耆闍崛 (MC: /gi dʑia gʷiᴇt/) is a partial transcription of Gṛdhrakūṭa (Pāli: Gijjhakūṭa), plus shān 山 "mountain"; while Jiù fēng shān 鷲峯山 is a translation: vulture 鷲 peak 峯 mountain 山.
Note that final sounds (in particular) were affected by changes in pronunciation of both Indic and Chinese languages. Notably for many Indic speakers, a final vowel, especially -a, would be de-emphasised to the point of ambiguity or absence (noted by Edgerton in his Grammar of Buddhist Hydrid Sanskrit). A modern Hindi speaker, for example, would pronounce Gṛdhrakūṭa as /ɡɾɪ d̪ʱɾə kuːʈ/ (Pāli /ɡɪd͡ʒ.d͡ʒʰə.kuːʈə/). So the transcription 耆闍崛 /gi dʑia gʷiᴇt/ could accurately reflect what a Chinese interpreter heard an Indian informant saying, even if the spelling seems a little off. And in the case of these two texts, neither of the named translators, Bānrě 般若 nor Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪, could speak Chinese.
Báo'éfàn 薄誐梵 (MC: /bɑk ngɑ bɨuam/), in T254, is an unusual transcription of Bhagavan that is used only this one time. Elsewhere T254 uses the expected Chinese phrase Shìzūn 世尊, literally "world honoured".
This is very much a standard opening for a Buddhist sutra. Compare these other examples from Kumārajīva's oeuvre:
- T 227: 如是我聞：一時佛在王舍城耆闍崛山中，與大比丘僧千二百五十人俱，...
- T 235: 如是我聞：一時佛在舍衛國祇樹給孤獨園，與大比丘眾千二百五十人俱。
- T 245: 如是我聞：一時佛住王舍城耆闍崛山中，與大比丘眾八百萬億，...
Sentence 2.
253 時，佛世尊即入三昧， 名廣大甚深。 254 爾時，世尊 入三摩地，名廣大甚深 照見。Skt tena khalu punaḥ samayena bhagavān gambhīrāvabhāsaṃ nāma dharmaparyāyaṃ bhāsitvā samādhiṃ samāpannaḥ |
[Then 爾] at that time 時, Buddha 佛 Bhagavan 世尊 then 即 entered 入 [a] samādhi 三昧， named 名 vast 廣大 and profound 甚深.
Contrast shí 時 "then" with ěr shí 爾時 "at that time", both of which translate Sanskrit: tena samayena and ignore khalu "indeed" and punaḥ "again". Note that in Sentence 3: T253 爾時 vs T254 時.
While T254 began with a transcription Bhagavan 薄誐梵, here it reverts to the more usual translation Shìzūn 世尊 "World honoured".
Sānmèi 三昧 and Sānmóde 三摩地 both transcribe samādhi. In S16 both texts have 三摩地.
T254 appends zhàojiàn 照見 (a binomial verb meaning "to observe") to the end of the sentence, but this is an obvious mistake. Possibly an eye-slip given that the same binomial occurs in the next sentence. Whatever the explanation, this phrase makes no sense here (and has no counterpart in Sanskrit). Were I editing this text, I would have omitted these two characters.
After the completely standard opening, we immediately run into problems here because the Sanskrit is substantially different from the "translations".
Then tena indeed khalu again punaḥ at that time samayena the Well-Endowed bhagavān profound illumination gambhīrāvabhāsaṃ named nāma Dharma teaching dharmaparyāyaṃ having spoken bhāsitvā meditation samādhiṃ entered samāpannaḥ |
The main clause is "At that time the Bhagavan entered samādhi." (tena samayena bhagavān samādhiṃ samāpannaḥ). The subordinate clause is "having spoken a Dharma teaching named profound illumination" (gambhīrāvabhāsaṃ nāma dharmaparyāyaṃ bhāsitvā). The Sanskrit text unambiguously tells us that having spoken (bhāsitvā) the dharmaparyāya the Buddha entered meditation (samādhiṃ samāpannaḥ). But no Chinese text has a term corresponding to dharmaparyāya.
Words like khalu and punaḥ tend to be ignored in the Chinese translations (as they often are in English translations).
Surprisingly, neither T253 nor T254 gets this sentence right. In T253 and T254 (and all of the other extended texts, including the Tibetan) the name gambhīrāvabhāsa is attached to the samādhi, not to the dharmaparyāya. Indeed, the dharmaparyāya is entirely omitted from T253 and T254. This kind of gross mismatch is problematic for the idea that either T253 or T254 are translations from Sanskrit.
Reading this passage in isolation, it's not entirely clear what has happened here. But it is quite an oddity when every single one of the extant "translations", in both Chinese and Tibetan, has misapprehended, and thus mistranslated, this sentence in more or less the same way. Given the history of the text, perhaps we should be questioning which came first? Or perhaps the Sanskrit text was changed after the fact and we no longer have the original that was available in the early eighth century?
Sentence 3.
For this section, I include the relevant text from T251. I've colour-coded based on T251 to make it easier to see how all of this first sentence was assimilated into the expanded introduction. You can see that the whole of the text from T251 is preserved in both T253 and T254, with only minor variations.
251 觀自在菩薩行深般若波羅蜜多時，照見五蘊，皆空，度一切苦厄。 253 爾時，眾中有菩薩摩訶薩，名觀自在，行深般若波羅蜜多時，照見五蘊，皆空，離諸苦厄。 254 時，眾中有一菩薩摩訶薩，名觀世音自在。行甚深般若波羅蜜多行時，照見五蘊，自性皆空。 Skt. tena ca samayena āryāvalokiteśvaro bodhisattvo mahāsattvo gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāṃ caramāṇaḥ evaṃ vyavalokayati sma pañca skandhāṃs tāṃś ca svabhāvaśūnyaṃ paśyati sma |
Then 爾 at that time 時 within the congregation 眾中 there was 有 a bodhisatva mahāsatva 菩薩摩訶薩，named 名 Guanzizai 觀自在，practiced 行 deep 深 prajñāpāramitā 般若波羅蜜多 {while 時}, examined 照見 the five skandhas 五蘊, all were absent 皆空，[he] got away from 離 all 諸 suffering 苦厄.
Here the Sanskrit largely follows the text of the standard Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, including doubling up words from √car: cāryāṃ caramānaḥ. This is not idiomatic Buddhist Sanskrit. We never see "practising the practice of prajñāpāramitrā" in other Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā texts. The word cārya seems never to be applied to Prajñāpāramitā in this way. On the other hand, we regularly see terms such as bodhisatvacārya and brahmacārya.
For example in volume one of Kimura's (2009) edition of Pañc alone there are 193 occurrences of passages ending ...bodhisattvena mahāsattvena prajñāpāramitāyāṃ śikṣitavyam "...bodhisatvas should be trained in prajñāpāramitā". According to convention, one may "train in prajñāpāramitā" (indicated by verbs from √śikṣ), and one may "practice prajñāpāramitā" (verbs from √car), but no one ever "trains in the practice of prajñāpāramitā".
Moreover, there are 73 occurrences of ...bodhisattvena mahāsattvena prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caratā with the present active participle caratā, and none at all with the present middle participle caramānaḥ. In the standard text, a mismatched synonym (like this) is taken to be a result of back-translating Chinese to Sanskrit. That such expressions were retained unchanged in the extended Sanskrit text is significant because it tells us that the "translators" were aware of the standard text and gave it priority.
Here, it is the Chinese texts that conform to the expected idiom, which is one line of argument for the composition of the Heart Sutra in Chinese.
Notably, no known Sanskrit text has an equivalent to dù yīqiè kǔ è 度一切苦厄. Although T253 changes the verb from dù 度 "overcome" to lí 離 "separate [from]", and yīqiè 一切 "everything, all" to zhū 諸 "all", the overall meaning is the same. While the term is absent from this sentence of T254, the phrase lí zhū kǔ è 離諸苦厄 is appended to the end of S7 (see below).
There is also some variation in the name. The basic form of the name in Sanskrit is Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva. On this name see: Revisiting Avalokiteśvara in the Heart Sutra (10 April 2020). The Sanskrit has been elaborated by the addition of āryya "noble" and mahāsatva.
Over time, it becomes increasingly common to see mahāsatva added to bodhisatva. I still don't really understand what mahāsatva means. The traditional explanations ignore Classical Sanskrit grammar. As a suffix, it forms bahuvrīhi compounds of the type X-sattva, meaning "whose nature is X", "having X as their essence", and so on. A bodhisatva, therefore, is a person "whose nature is awakening".
T251 uses Xuanzang's preferred transcription of the name: Guānzìzài púsà 觀自在菩薩. T253 also uses the name Guānzìzài 觀自在, but does so in the context of being within "the congregation 眾中有 of bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatvas 摩訶薩"; all later occurrences in T253 add púsà móhēsà 菩薩摩訶薩 after the name as convention dictates.
However, both before and after Xuanzang, Chinese Buddhists strongly preferred the name Guānshìyīn 觀世音, often abbreviated to Guānyīn 觀音. Xuanzang's spelling never really took off. The fact that T253 uses Guānzìzài 觀自在 suggests that Bānrě 般若 or Lìyán 利言 had some a connection to Xuanzang, though such a connection is not obvious or explicit, since Xuanzang died in 664, some decades before Bānrě 般若 arrived in China.
T254 adopts an unusual hybrid of the two forms Guānzìzàishìyīn 觀世音自在, throughout. Both of the later translations, i.e. T255 and T257, also spell the name Guānzìzài 觀自在, long after everyone else reverted to Guānyīn. Perhaps this reflects the lasting influence of T251, but it certainly speaks to the power of the existing Chinese texts in creating these new translations.
爾時/時 already discussed above.
T253 and T254 consciously place Guanyin amidst the congregation: in the saṃgha 眾中 there was 有 [one 一] bodhisatva mahāsatva 菩薩摩訶薩. T254 adds yī 一 "one", seemingly to emphasise that only one of the bodhisatvas assembled was called 觀世音自在. Which seems completely unnecessary, but is not wrong. This change cannot have been inspired by the Sanskrit text, because S3 of that version contains no mention of the bodhisatvasaṃgha.
T254 adds a superfluous superlative shèn 甚 "very, extremely" to the already superlative adjective shēn 深 "deep, profound" (Skt. gambhīra).
A problem I have commented on before is that the Sanskrit text has a structure based on complimentary verbs for "looking" (vyava√lok) and "seeing" (√paś). This look/see structure appears to be absent in the Chinese expression that T253 has copied verbatim from T251: zhàojiàn wǔyùn, jiē kōng 照見五蘊, 皆空 (universally printed without the comma I have added). In my view, "looking" is explicit in 照見, but "seeing" is implicit and what was seen was jiē kōng 皆空 "all absent". Thus I see the canonical 照見五蘊皆空 as two clauses: 照見五蘊，皆空 "[He] observed the five branches, [and what he saw was that] all [were] absent."
T251 has no term corresponding to svabhāva. T253 simply reproduces T251, but T254 has added a term meaning svabhāva, i.e. zìxìng 自性. This may reflect influence from Sanskrit, though T254 still doesn't translate paśyati sma "he saw", it's still a moot question whether is passage was translated from Sanskrit or composed/redacted in Chinese.
Sentence 4.
T253 即時， 舍利弗，承佛威力，合掌恭敬，白觀自在 菩薩摩訶薩言： T254 即時，具壽舍利子，承佛威神，合掌恭敬，白觀世音自在菩薩摩訶薩言： Skt. athāyuṣmān śāriputro buddhānubhāvena āryāvalokiteśvaraṃ bodhisattvam etad avocat-
At that 即 time 時，Śāriputra 舍利弗，receieved 承 buddha 佛 power 威力，joining hands 合掌 respectfully 恭敬，addressing 白 Guānzìzài 觀自在 bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatva 摩訶薩 he said 言：
T254 adds the honorific jùshòu 具壽, i.e. jù 具 "possessing, having" shòu 壽 "longevity, life" which equates to Skt. āyuṣmant "Elder" (āyuḥ life; -mant a possessive suffix). In Prajñāpāramitā literature generally, we expect someone like Śāriputra will always be referred to as Elder Śāriputra (āyuṣmān śāriputraḥ), although it is sometimes dropped when he is being addressed as an inferior.
Note also that honorifics such as āyuṣmant always precede the name; whereas descriptors indicating rank or status, e.g. bodhisatva, or sthavīra, always follow the name.
There is no counterpart of hézhǎng gōngjìng 合掌恭敬 "joining hands respectfully" in any Sanskrit manuscript. Though it is a common Chinese expression and a very common Buddhist way of showing respect. This again suggests redaction in Chinese rather than translation from Sanskrit.
Some notes on anubhāva. A strange word whose etymology is no help. The word is used to indicate that someone is acting from an impetus emanating from the Buddha, i.e. his anubhāva. This could be something as banal as the Buddha's charisma and authority, but it tends to suggest a more supernatural power that could influence his followers to state truths that they might not be able to attest from their own insight.
However, in Aṣṭa the Buddha asks Subhūti to instruct the bodhisatvas and Śāriputra wonders:
kim ayam āyuṣmān subhūtiḥ sthavira ātmīyena svakena prajñāpratibhānabalādhānena svakena prajñāpratibhānabalādhiṣṭhānena bodhisattvānāṃ mahāsattvānāṃ prajñāpāramitām upadekṣyati utāho buddhānubhāveneti?
“Will this Elder Subhūti senior, explain the perfection of insight of the bodhisatva-mahāsatvas by employing the power (bala) his own (ātmīyena) personal (svakena) insight and eloquence, based on the power of his own insight and eloquence, or will he speak by the authority (anubhāva) of the Buddha?”
Subhūti's answer is that a disciple who has practised the Dharma and realised the truth for themselves and carries that realisation with them always speaks with the anubhāva of the Buddha. See also my discussion of this passage: Aṣṭasāhasrikā: Insight and Ongoing Transformation. (01 December 2017).
In Chinese, we see wēilì 威力 (T253) and wēishén 威神 (T254) for anubhāva. Wēi 威 means "power". Since lì 力 also means "strength, power, etc.", T253 could be said to have a double translation. By contrast, shén 神 refers to supernatural beings, powers, and events (giving anubhāva a magical quality). Elsewhere, wēishénlì 威神力 has been used to translate both anubhāva and adhiṣṭhāna.
Sentence 5.
T253 「善男子！若有欲學甚深般若波羅蜜多行者，云何修行？」。 T254 聖者！若有欲學甚深般若波羅蜜多行， 云何修行？」 Skt. yaḥ kaścit kulaputro vā kuladuhitā vā asyāṃ gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāṃ car[i]tukāmaḥ, kathaṃ śikṣitavyaḥ?
"Kulaputra 善男子 if 若 there is 有 desire [for] 欲 training [in] 學 the extremely 甚 profound 深 prajñāpāramitā 般若波羅蜜多 practice 行，how 云何 cultivate 修 [that] practice 行?"
I've commented in print that it is odd for Śāriputra to address Guanyin as "kulaputra" since it's generally used for social juniors (Attwood 2021: 74-75). It would be unremarkable for Gunyin to refer to Śāriputra as kulaputra. Perhaps Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪, the redactor of T254, felt this as he changed the vocative to shèngzhě 聖者 "Venerable One", which carries the implication that the one being addressed is awakened. This is a more appropriate form of address in the context.
In fact, it is rare in Prajñāpāramitā for any person to be directly addressed as kulaputra, except for one circumstance, the sadhukāra, which we encounter in Sentence 17. This involves saying "sadhu sadhu" to the person (always twice); and is the Prajñāpāramitā it is very often "sadhu sadhu kulaputra" Sadhu likely derives from √sādh "succeed" and means "good". The sadhukāra reflects approval by, and acknowledgement from, a superior.
More often in Prajñāpāramitā literature, kulaputra (in the nominative case) is the agent in a hypothetical: "How does a kulaputra cultivate prajñāpāramitā?" This is how the Sanskrit Heart Sutra text uses the term, but it is not how the Chinese texts use it.
Note that neither Chinese text includes the kuladuhitṛ here in the question, but both include her in the answer (see S7). The extant Sanskrit texts mentions the kuladuhitṛ in both cases.
If T253 and T254 are translations, and if the extant Sanskrit texts reflect the text translated, then Bānrě 般若, Lìyán 利言, et al have made an error here. It seems that Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪 attempts to correct this error in T254 so that at least Guānyīn is not being addressed inappropriately as kulaputra, but he has not corrected it so that T254 conforms to the Sanskrit. In this case, even if we postulate a non-extant Sanskrit source, it would be very odd indeed if Avalokiteśvara (or anyone) was addressed in it as kulaputra. This is consistent with T254 being redacted in Chinese with little or no reference to the Sanskrit.
In Attwood (2021: 74-75), I outlined my view that, in this context, kulaputra is a way of referring to a bhikṣu in the abstract; and kuladuhutṛ to a bhikṣunī. Kula is a general term for any group of humans or animals which carries no implication of status (high or low). So kulaputra is literally "group-son" and kuladuhitṛ "group-daughter" (duhitṛ is cognate with daughter). Both terms seem to be tatpuruṣa compounds: a son or daughter of the group. Note that it was not uncommon for bhikṣus to refer to themselves as śakyaputra "a son of the Śakya(s)"; where "the Śakya" is the Buddha and "the Śakyas" refers to the Buddha's tribe. So putra is literally "son", but is used figuratively to mean something like "disciple".
The association with "nobility", "goodness" or "high status" is also implied by the Chinese translation shàn nán zi 善男子 literally "good male child". Shàn 善 "good, kind, virtuous, friendly; apt, adept, expert" is also a character used to translate kuśala "good, adept, etc". However, this appears to be a mistake based on misreading certain early Buddhist texts which appear to conflate kulaputra with sujāta "well born" (notably the Ambaṭṭha Sutta DN 3). In fact, these are two different adjectives in a longer list of distinctive qualities. They are not synonyms. So I think all such translations as "noble son", "son of good family", etc are simply wrong.
This passage is important because it sets things up so that the unattributed statements in the main body of the text appear to be the answer to this question. As in the TV game show Jeopardy, the "translator" had to come up with a suitable question to fit an existing answer. It's artful enough in its own way, but we know that the answer—i.e. the text of T251—came first.
Common forms of indicating who is speaking—such as idam avocat, evaṃ ukte, or āha (and their Chinese counterparts)—do not occur in the standard Heart Sutra. The inescapable conclusion is that, despite centuries of tradition, the words in the text are not uttered by Guānyīn. These passages come from Pañc where they are spoken by the Buddha (something that Woncheuk is cognizant of in his commentary). See: Guanyin Does Not Speak in the Heart Sutra (9 February 2024).
In The Extended Heart Sutra: Avalokiteśvara Preaches (14 August 2020) I noted that cartukāma (yù 欲) is a variant of caritukāma "one whose desire is to practice"; a bahuvrīhi compound combining the infinitive caritum/cartum "to practice" and kāma "desire".
T254 drops the zhě 者 from xíngzhě 行者, which makes more sense, since if xíng 行 is "practice" then xíngzhě 行者 should be "a practitioner". And this doesn't fit the context.
In this passage, the changes to T254 appear to be corrections of mistakes in T253, though without reference to a Sanskrit text.
Sentence 6.
253 如是問已， 爾時，觀自在菩薩摩訶薩 告具壽舍利弗言：254 如是問已， 爾時，觀世音自在菩薩摩訶薩 告具壽舍利子言：Skt. Evam ukte āryāvalokiteśvaro bodhisattvo mahāsattvaḥ āyuṣmantaṃ śāriputram etad avocat:
Thus 如是 asked 問 already 已,at that time 爾時,Guānzìzài 觀自在 bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatva 摩訶薩 spoke [to] 告 Elder 具壽 Śāriputra 舍利弗 saying 言：
Of the three texts, the easiest to understand is the Sanskrit: "That being said, Noble Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva said this to Elder Śāriputra". This is very much a standard Buddhist locution in Sanskrit and Pāli. We see such sentences on almost every page of every sutra/sutta.
The Chinese text is unnecessarily complicated. The phrase rúshì wèn yǐ 如是問已 "having been asked" appears to correspond to Sanskrit evaṃ ukte "when this was said". As per the Sanskrit, this is one grammatically simple sentence. If 如是問已 is to be included then the following full stop in CBETA is clearly incorrect because this is one sentence. I've changed the full stop to a comma. However, note that the Sanskrit merely says "thus spoken" (evam ukte), while the Chinese explicitly mentions the "question" (wèn 問).
The real problem here is ěr shí 爾時 "at that time" in both Chinese texts. It's not really needed or wanted here and could be omitted with no change to the meaning of the sentence. Nor is it implied by the extant Sanskrit text. So once again the connection between the Sanskrit "source" and the Chinese "target" texts is not a straightforward "translation".
Note that T253 includes Śāriputra's honorific this time, having previously omitted it. The inclusion is not compulsory but it is included more often than not in Prajñāpāramitā literature.
Sentence 7.
253 「舍利子！若 善男子、善女人，行甚深般若波羅蜜多行時，應觀五蘊性空。 254 「舍利子！若有善男子、善女人，行甚深般若波羅蜜多行時，應照見五蘊自性皆空，離諸苦厄。 Skt. yaḥ kaścicChāriputra kulaputro va kuladuhitā vā [asyāṃ] gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāṃ cartukāmaḥ, tenaivaṃ vyavalokitavyam-pañca skandhāṃs tāṃś ca svabhāvaśūnyān samanupaśyati sma |
"Śāriputra 「舍利子！if 若 [a] kulaputra 善男子、[or] kuladuhitṛ 善女人 [desires] to practice 行 very profound 甚深 prajñāpāramitā 般若波羅蜜多 practice 行 when 時，[they] should 應 observe 觀 five 五 skandhas 蘊 nature 性 absence 空。
T254 inserts yǒu 有 into ruò shàn nánzǐ 若善男子 "If a kulaputra..." giving ruò yǒu shàn nánzǐ 若有善男子, which seems to say "if that kulaputra...", or "if there is a kulaputra..."; whereas the Sanskrit still seems to discuss kulaputra in the abstract.
Despite asking the question solely in terms of kulaputra, T253 and T254 both answer in terms of both kulaputra and kuladuhitṛ. This inconsistency seems to be the result of poor editing.
While T253 and T254 now omit yù 欲 (cartukāma), it is repeated in the Sanskrit. Perhaps in Chinese, the context makes it clear, but without yù 欲, the sentence doesn't entirely make sense on its own.
Note the addition of 離諸苦厄 in T254 at the end (it occurs in Sentence 3 of T253). Placed here it doesn't fit the context. In sentence 3, it follows on from the realisation that the skandhas are absent. Here, the sentence is recommending this same practice to the unenlightened kulaputra or kuladuhitṛ. So it makes no sense to say "free from all suffering" at this point. Note the absence of any such statement in Sanskrit. The introduction of T254 appears to have been edited in Chinese and the editor seems not to have been cognizant of the Sanskrit text.
2. Middle Section (i.e. T 251)
The middle of T253, sentences 8-14 is identical to T251 except for (14) the dhāraṇī. T254 has a few changes.
In sentence 9:
253 舍利子！是諸法空相，不生不滅、不垢不淨、不增不減。 254 舍利子！是諸法性相空，不生不滅、不垢不淨、不減不增。
Where T251 and T253 have "Here 是 all 諸 dharmas 法 [are] absence 空 marked 相", T254 has an extra character xìng 性, which also means "quality, nature" so really just reinforces xiāng 相 which generally translates lakṣana "characteristic".
Note also that T254 reverses the order of the last pair of phrases: 不減不增. This actually brings it into conformity with the Sanskrit text, i.e. T251/253 have their pairs reversed compared to the Sanskrit.
The original passage from Pañc is: ya Śāradvatīputra śūnyatā na sā utpadyate, no nirudhyate, na saṃkliśyate, na vyavadāyate, na hīyate, no vardhate. This clearly places "not diminishing" (na hīyate) before "not growing" (no vardhate). So this is the order we expect. Still, if we were translating into English, it feels more idiomatic to say "not growing, not diminishing", especially in the light of "not arising, not ceasing". Similarly, in English we'd prefer to say "not pure, not stained", giving the positive quality first and the negative second.
Where T253, sentence 11, has jiùjìng nièpán 究竟涅槃 equating to niṣṭhanirvāṇa, T254 has jiùjìng jìrán 究竟寂然。I cannot explain this change. It seems entirely arbitrary, since nièpán 涅槃 is a very common translation of nirvāṇa, and jìrán 寂然 is more often used to translate such Sanskrit terms as upaśānta, praśānta, śama, śamatha, and śānti, all representing the idea of "peace" or "peacefulness". Presuming that the creator of T254 was translating from a Sanskrit text that said nirvāṇa (which all of the extant documents do) this is a very odd change to make. Again, this redaction appears to have occurred in Chinese without reference to the Sanskrit text.
A similar change occurs in the passage 三世諸佛依般若波羅蜜多故，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。"All the buddhas of the three times relying on this prajñāpāramitā completely attained anuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim." To this, T254 appends xiàn chéng zhèngjué 現成正覺, "manifests perfect awakening" which again corresponds to no known Sanskrit text. This phrase appears to be a translation of anuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim whereas ānòuduōluó sānmiǎosānpútí 阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 is a transcription. Perhaps the addition of the translation was a commentarial gloss?
In the epithets section, sentence 13, T254 changes the ambiguous zhòu 呪 "incantation" to zhēnyán 真言 "true words", a term only used by Tantrikas and which can only mean "mantra". As we will see, T254 also changes the dhāraṇī into a mantra. This is consistent with the attributed author, Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪 (*Prajñācakra), being a tantrika. And this change is consistent with the Sanskrit text.
Sentence 14. The Dhāraṇī
251 即說呪曰 揭帝 揭帝 般羅揭帝 般羅僧揭帝 菩提 薩婆訶。 253 即說呪曰「櫱諦 櫱諦 波羅櫱諦 波羅僧櫱諦 菩提 娑(蘇紇反)婆訶 254 即說真言「唵(引) 誐帝 誐帝 播(引)囉誐帝 播(引)囉散誐帝 冒(引)地 娑縛(二合)賀(引) Skt. Tadyathā: gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā |
Neither T253 nor T254 completely follow the dhāraṇī transcription in T251. T254 takes an explicitly tantric approach.
Where we find tadyathā "this way" in Sanskrit, T251 has "now 即 speak 說 the incantation 呪 that says 曰". The word is frequently translated dátā 怛他 or some other variant. T253 preserves the reading in T251. T254 again substitutes 真言 for 呪, emphasising the idea that "mantra" was intended, even though we know that the original word (in Pañc) was in fact vidyā.
T254 inserts 唵(引) /ʔəm/, i.e oṃ. Here, (引) indicates a long vowel. In Sanskrit, e and o are always long; the short e and o were assimilated to short a prior to Vedic (aka Old Indic) emerging as a distinct language. Hence we don't usually mark them as long with the macron: ē and ō as we do with other long vowels, i.e. ā, ī, ū, and ṝ.
In T245, T251 揭 /kæt/ representing Skt ga is changed to 櫱 /ŋi̯ät/ in T253 and 誐 /ngɑ/ in T254.
The anomalous 般 /pan/ in T251 becomes the expected 波 /pa/ and 播(引) /pā/
In T253 the expression sū hé fǎn 蘇紇反 represents a fǎnqiè 反切 formula, where sū 蘇 provides the initial sound and hé 紇 provides the final sound and tone. However, I don't think this makes sense in context and a Middle Chinese transcription is no help. T253 has a three-character transcription of svāhā, i.e. suō pó hē 娑婆訶, where 娑 and 婆 together represent svā. T254 reflects a more common approach: 娑縛(二合) which tells us to combine the two sounds (MC /sa bɨak/) into one conjunct consonant sound supposed to represent svā in a language that lacks a /v/ sound.
3. The Concluding Section
Sentence 15.
253 「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。」 如是說已。254 「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。」 Skt. evaṃ śāriputra gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāyāṃ śikṣitavyaṃ bodhisattvena |
In this way 如是，Śāriputra 舍利弗！all 諸 bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatva 摩訶薩，regarding 於 very profound 甚深 prajñāpāramitā 般若波羅蜜多 practice 行，should 應 in this way 如是 practice 行。」
The addition of rúshì shuō yǐ 如是說已 "Thus, having spoken" at the end of the line in T253 should correspond to evaṃ ukte "when this was said" or to etad avocat "that being said". In fact, such expressions are absent from the Sanskrit text and it seems to have been added in error or despite the Sanskrit text. The same phrase occurs in sentence 17 of T254 where it does fit the context and T253 has Shuō shì yǔ yǐ 說是語已 "Having spoken these words.".
At the end, T253 has cíng 行 for both caryā and śikṣitavya. The last character of T254 substitutes xué 學 corresponding to √śikṣ "train", which better reflects the Sanskrit text.
Sentence 16.
253 即時，世尊從 廣大甚深三摩地起，讚觀自在菩薩摩訶薩 言： 254 爾時，世尊從 三摩地安祥而起，讚觀世音自在菩薩摩訶薩言： Skt. atha khalu bhagavān tasmāt samādher vyutthāya āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya sādhukāram adāt |
At that time 即時，Bhagavan 世尊 from 從 the vast 廣大 and [very 甚] profound 深 samādhi 三摩地 he arose 起，praising 讚 Guānzìzài 觀自在 bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatva 摩訶薩 saying 言：
The main difference here is how they refer to the samādhi. T253: Guǎngdà shènshēn sānmódì 大甚深三摩地 (T253 S2 spelled samādhi as sānmèi 三昧).
T254 spells samādhi consistently but here does not refer to the samādhi by name, merely adding that the Buddha... "arose from samādhi, peaceful and composed" (從三摩地安祥而起).
On this occasion, T254 appears to follow the Sanskrit rather than T253.
Sentence 17.
253 「善哉，善哉！善男子！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。」 254 「善哉，善哉！善男子！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。」 Skt. sādhu sādhu kulaputra | evam etat kulaputra, evam etad gambhīrāyāṃ prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caryāṃ cartavyaṃ yathā tvayā nirdiṣṭam anumodyate tathāgatair arhadbhiḥ |
Good! 善哉，Good! 善哉！Kulaputra 善男子！It is so, 如是，it is so 如是 it is as you just said 如汝所說。Very 甚 profound 深 prajñāpāramitā 般若波羅蜜多 practice 行，[you] should 應 this way 如是 practice 行。in this way 如是 practising 行 when 時，all 一切 tathāgatas 如來 all 皆 completely 悉 rejoice. 隨喜。
This phrase sādhu sādhu kulaputra (善哉，善哉！善男子!) occurs several times in the later chapters of Aṣṭa (Vaidya 1960: 195, 238, 240, 247, 252, 255, 256, and 258). In the first occurrence (195), Māra is addressing a hypothetical bodhisatva (this event is absent from Conze's translation). The rest are in Chapters 30 and 31, on Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata respectively. Thus phrase is absent from what is thought to be the core of the text and is mainly found in chapters widely considered to be later additions.
In the chapter on Sadāprarudita (Vaidya 238 ff.), the Bhagavan tells an avadāna story to Subhūti. In the story, the words sādhu sādhu kulaputra are spoken to Sadāprarudita by "a voice from the sky" (antarīkṣān nirghoṣaḥ). The second time (Vaidya 238) it is "the figure of a tathāgata" (tathāgata-vigrahaḥ) who appears and speaks.* The third time (247) it is Śakra (aka Indra) who addresses Sadāprarudita. A little later (still on 247), a merchant's daughter addresses Sadāprarudita, saying "You should come, Kulaputra" (ehi tvaṃ kulaputra...); at the end of Chp 30 (Vaidya 252), it is Sadāprarudita himself, recounting to Dharmodgata how the tathāgatas appeared to congratulate him.
* Note that Conze (1973: 279) translates tathāgata-vigrahaḥ as "a tathāgata-frame" which is both incomprehensible and wrong.
The pattern is similar in Pañc.
Here T253 and 254 are identical except for the transposition of two characters in the last phrase: 皆悉 "all completely" versus 悉皆 "completely all". The latter seems to be more idiomatic, and better expresses the sense of "completeness".
Again, I think it's unusual to see Guanyin addressed as kulaputra, even by the Buddha.
The latter part of the Sanskrit is a little different from the Chinese: "[it]... should be practised cartavyaṃ just as yathā by you tvayā has been indicated nirdiṣṭam, rejoiced in anumodyate by tathāgatas tathāgatair and arhats arhadbhiḥ."
Sentence 18.
253 爾時，世尊說是語已，具壽舍利弗，大喜充遍，觀自在菩薩摩訶薩亦大歡喜。時彼眾會天、人、阿修羅、乾闥婆，等，聞佛所說，皆大歡喜，信受奉行。 254 爾時，世尊如是說已，具壽舍利子， 觀世音自在菩薩， 及彼眾會一切世間天、人、阿蘇囉、巘䭾嚩，等，聞佛所說，皆大歡喜，信受奉行。 Skt. Idam avocad bhagavān, āttamanā āyuṣmān śāriputraḥ āryāvalokiteśvaraś bodhisattvo māhasattvas te bhikṣavas te ca bodhisattvā sā ca sarvāvatī pariṣat sadeva-mānuṣāsura-garuḍa-gandharvaś ca loko bhagavato bhāṣitam abhyanandann iti ||
Then indeed 爾時，Bhagavan 世尊 spoke 說 these 是 words 語 after 已，Elder 具壽 Śāriputra 舍利弗，[with] great 大 joy 喜 was entirely filled 充遍，Guānzìzài 觀自在 bodhisatva 菩薩 mahāsatva 摩訶薩 also 亦 great 大 delighted 歡喜。Then 時 that 彼 congregation 眾會 of devas 天、humans 人、asuras 阿修羅、gandarvas 乾闥婆 etc 等，heard 聞 [by] buddha 佛 what was said 所說，all 皆 greatly delighted 大歡喜，believed 信 accepted 受 respectfully 奉 put into practice 行。
The Chinese ending is characteristically Chinese and the structure of the Sanskrit is quite different here:
The Bhagavan said this: [And] overjoyed, Elder Śāriputra, Noble Avalokiteśvara bodhisatva mahāsatva, those bhikṣus and bodhisatvas, the whole gathering, and the world with its devas, humans, demons, garudas and gandharvas rejoiced in the words of the Bhagavan.
T254 omits dàxǐ chōng biàn 大喜充遍 "was entirely filled great joy". However, in T253 this appears to translate āttamanā "enraptured", so the omission from T254 seems to be a mistake.
Conclusion
Any conclusions about T253 and T254 need to be contextualised in terms of what we already know. T251 was assembled from some copied passages, some original composition, and a copied dhāraṇī. This composite text was later translated into Sanskrit. The Hṛd is a poor translation with numerous poor word and syntax choices, and a least one obvious calque of Chinese (Attwood 2021b). There are two main recensions of the extended text: (1) T252 and (2) the rest, i.e. T253, T254, 255, 257, the Sanskrit, and canonical Tibetan.
T252 (translated by Fǎyuè 法月 ca 741 CE) clearly had the same goal of completing the sutra by adding a suitable introduction and conclusion. This not only made the text seem like an Indian sutra, but also helped to clarify the otherwise ambiguous role of Guanyin. Apart from this, and the fact that T252 also incorporates the text of T251, it is in every other respect different from both T253 and T254. T252 is certainly not the same text as T253 but has to be seen as an independent attempt to supply the missing parts of a standard sutra.
From the present study, it seems that T254 is not an independent translation of the Heart Sutra. Rather it is a lightly edited version of T253, with only minor alterations. It's difficult to quantify, but I would guess that T254 is ~90% T253, and most of the variation is merely alternative spellings or synonyms.
The redacting of T253 to produce T254 appears to have occurred in Chinese. It is possible that a Sanskrit text was consulted, more so for the concluding section than the introduction. So for example, when T254 adds jùshòu 具壽 āyuṣman "Elder" to the name Śāriputra, this appears to reflect a Sanskrit practice that is not observed in Chinese translations. That said, T254 also seems to adopt readings that do not reflect the Sanskrit. Such as: adding hézhǎng gōngjìng 合掌恭敬 "joining hands respectfully" in Sentence 4; and omitting dàxǐ chōng biàn 大喜充遍 in Sentence 17.
When we look at T253, we see that it contains the entire text of T251, with a handful of minor alternations, even including a variant of a phrase from T251—lí zhū kǔ è 離諸苦厄—that is not found in any extant Sanskrit text.
T253 has several obvious mistakes that appear to be scribal errors: especially adding words and phrases where they do not belong. At present, I have no access to the witnesses that the editors of the Taishō used to create their edition. As such, I'm not sure whether such errors are found in the manuscripts/inscriptions or are the result of poor editing.
Neither T253 nor T254 really captures the Sanskrit of sentence 2. But then nor does any other version of the Heart Sutra (including the Tibetan). It's not clear how this happened.
The whole of T251 is integrated into T253 and this integration had to have happened in Chinese. This raises the question of whether T253 is a translation from a Sanskrit text at all. Perhaps it was composed in Chinese and the extended Sanskrit Heart Sutra came later? As with T254, T253 does not always follow the Sanskrit text.
At the very least Prajñā and Lìyán, like Fǎyuè 法月, salvaged the entirety of T251 in T253, seemingly without regard for any of the differences between T251 and their Sanskrit source. They all show the same blindness as Woncheuk who also supposedly had a Chinese source text.
It seems that the contribution of the "translators" only included the introduction and conclusion and a few minor changes to the rest of the text. This raises the question of whether T253 is an independent translation. For example, it is odd that T253 contains an expression hézhǎng gōngjìng 合掌恭敬 "joining hands respectfully" that has no counterpart in any known Sanskrit Heart Sutra, though it is a common enough expression.
Takeaways
1. T254 is a lightly redacted version of T253. Although most of the sentences have changes, they are mostly matters of alternate spelling or synonyms. Zhìhuì Lún 智慧輪 may have consulted a Sanskrit text in the process but all of T251 is preserved intact. This suggests that the redaction occurred in Chinese. Ergo, T254 is not a separate translation of the Heart Sutra. And is not really a "translation" at all.
2. T253 retains the entirety of T251 intact. Thus, even if it was initially a translation from Sanskrit, only the introduction and conclusion were translated afresh (if that). Given the integration of T251 within it, even if there was a Sanskrit text, T253 was likely substantially redacted in Chinese.
3. The extended Hṛd mirrors the redaction process of T253 in the sense that Hṛdext preserves the Hṛdstd text in its entirety; including all of the odd expressions, Chinese idioms, and calques. Thus it seems likely that Hṛdext was produced in much the same (Chinese) milieu as Hṛdstd and in much the same way.
~~oOo~~
Bibliography
Attwood (2021a). "Preliminary Notes on the Extended Heart Sutra in Chinese." Asian Literature and Translation 8(1): 63–85. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18573/alt.53
———. (2021) "The Chinese Origins of the Heart Sutra Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of the Chinese and Sanskrit Texts." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 44: 13-52.
A list of all the differences
253 vs 254Sentence 1
- 佛 vs 薄誐梵 (bhagavan)
- 耆闍崛山 vs 鷲峯山 (Gṛdhrakūṭa)
- 菩薩眾 vs 大菩薩眾 (cf 大比丘眾 in both)
S2
- 佛世尊 vs 世尊 (previously 薄誐梵)
- 時 vs 爾時
- 三昧 vs 三摩地 (cf S16 where both have 三摩地).
- T254 照見 added in error
S3
- 爾時 vs 時
- 觀自在 vs 觀世音自在
- 深 vs 甚深
- 般若波羅蜜多時 vs 般若波羅蜜多行時
- 皆空 vs 自性皆空
- 離諸苦厄 vs 254 omit (added S7)
S4
- 舍利弗 vs 具壽舍利子 (253 adds 具壽 in S18)
- 白觀自在 vs 白觀世音自在
S5
- 善男子 vs 聖者
- 行者 vs 行 (者 added in error)
S6
- 觀自在 vs 觀世音自在
S7
- 若 vs 若有
- 性空 vs 自性皆空
- 254 added 離諸苦厄。(from S3)
S8
- N/A
S9
- 是諸法空相 vs 是諸法性相空
- 不增不減 vs 不減不增
S10
- N/A
S11
- 究竟涅槃 vs 究竟寂然 (nirvāṇa)
S12
- 245 adds 現成正覺 (autocommentary?)
S13
- N/A
S14
- 櫱諦 櫱諦 波羅櫱諦 波羅僧櫱諦 菩提 娑(蘇紇反)婆訶
- 唵(引) 誐帝 誐帝 播(引)囉誐帝 播(引)囉散誐帝 冒(引)地 娑縛(二合)賀(引)
S15
- 舍利弗 vs 舍利子
- 應如是行 vs 應如是學 (improvement based on Sk)
- 253 adds 如是說已。 in error
S16
- 廣大甚深三摩地起 vs 三摩地安祥而起
253: vast 廣大 and profound 甚深 samādhi 三摩地 he arose 起
254: arose from samādhi 三摩地, peaceful 安祥 and composed 而起
- 觀自在 vs 觀世音自在
S17
- N/A
S18
- 語已 vs 說已
- 具壽舍利弗 vs 具壽舍利子 (253 adds 具壽)
- 大喜充遍 vs 254 omitted.
- 亦大歡喜。 vs 254 omitted
- 時彼眾會天 vs 及彼眾會一切世間天
- 阿修羅 vs 阿蘇囉 asura
- 乾闥婆 vs 巘䭾嚩 gandharva
- both have 信受奉行 with no Sk counterpart.
