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妙法蓮華經 Miaofa lianhua jing (Lotus sutra)
Miàofǎ liánhuá jīng
Engelse titel: Scripture of the Lotus Blossum of the Fine Dharma (The Lotus Sütra)
auteur / toegeschreven aan: Kumārajīva
The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important and influential of all the sutras or sacred scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, revered by almost all branches of the Mahayana teachings, and over many centuries the object o f intense veneration among Buddhist believers throughout China, Korea, Japan, and other regions of eastern Asia.
We do not know where or when the Lotus Sutra was composed, or in what language. Probably it was initially formulated in some local dialect of India or Central Asia and then later put into Sanskrit to lend it greater respectability. All we can say for certain about the date of its composition is that i t was already in existence by 255 CE, when the first Chinese translation of it was made. It was translated into Chinese several times subsequently, but it is through the version done in 406 by the Central Asian scholar-monk Kumarajiva that it has become widely known and read in China and the other countries within the Chinese cultural sphere of influence. This version has been universally acknowledged as the most authoritative and felicitous in language. (..)
The Lotus Sutra depicts events that take place in a cosmic world of vast dimensions, a world in many ways reflecting traditional Indian views of the structure of the universe. (..)
The Kumarajiva translation of the Lotus Sutra as it exists at present is made up of twenty-eight chapters. Nearly all the chapters consist of a combination of prose and verse passages. Verse form was used to make it easier for the followers of the religion to memorize the teachings and retain them in mind, and the gathas or verse passages were probably composed first. Later, as the sutra moved toward its final form, prose passages were added that incorporated the verse sections into a continuous narrative. In the present arrangement of the text, the verse sections usually repeat what has already been stated in a preceding prose passage.
(Burton Watson 1993 The lotus sutra p ix-xvi)
In China, the sūtra was the central text of the Tiantai Zong, where it received detailed exegesis by a number of important figures. The school’s founder, Tiantai Zhiyi, divided the sūtra into two equal parts. In the first fourteen chapters, which he called the “trace teaching, Śākyamuni appears as the historical buddha. In the remaining fourteen chapters, which Zhiyi called the “origin teaching”, Śākyamuni reveals his true nature as the primordial buddha who achieved enlightenment many eons ago. Zhiyi also drew on the Saddharmapundarīkasūtra in elucidating two of his most famous doctrines: the three truths (Sandi, viz., emptiness, the provisional, and the mean) and the notion of Yinian Sanqian, or “the trichiliocosm in an instant of thought.” (Bushwell 2014 The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism p 730)
Indeling tekst
De sutra kent 28 hoofdstukken. Hieronder geven we de vertaling van Burton Watson en die van Hurvitz.
Hurvitz maakt nog ene onderscheiding in acht rollen.
(Als beide vertalingen gelijk zijn dan staat achter de vertaling van Burton een streepje).
Roll One
01. Introduction / -
02. Expedient Means / Expedient Devices
Roll two
03. Simile and Parable / Parable
04. Belief and Understanding / -
Roll three
05. The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs / Medicinal Herbs
06. Bestowal of Prophecy / -
07. The Parable of the Phantom City / Parable of the Conjured City
Roll Four
08. Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples / Receipt of Prophecy by Five Hundred Disciples
09. Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts / -
10. The Teacher of the Law / Preachers of Dharma
11. The Emergence of the Treasure Tower / Apparition of the Jeweled Stüpa
Roll Five
12. Devadatta / -
13. Encouraging Devotion / Fortitude
14. Peaceful Practices / Comfortable Conduct
15. Emerging from the Earth / Welling Up out of the Earth
Roll Six
16. The Life Span of the Thus Come One / -
17. Distinctions in Benefits / DiscriminationofMerits
18. The Benefits of Responding with Joy / The Merits of Appropriate Joy
19. Benefits of the Teacher of the Law / TheMeritsoftheDharma-Preacher
Roll Seven
20. The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging / -
21. Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One / -
22. Entrustment / -
23. Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King / -
24. The Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound / The Bodhisattva Fine Sound
Roll Eight
25. The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World's Sounds / The Gateway to Everywhere of the Bodhisattva He Who Observes the Sounds of the World
26. Dharani / -
27. Former Affairs of King Wonderful Adornment / The Former Affairs ofthe King Fine Adornment
28. Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy / The Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universally Worthy
Literatuur en vertalingen
Toelichting bij de literatuur
Stephen F. Teiser en Jacqueline I. Stone 2009 geven het volgende overzicht van vertalingen:
Borsig, Margareta von. Sūtra von derLotosblume des wunderbaren Gesetzes. Darmstadt, Ger. : Wissenschaftliche Buch gesellschaft, 1993 . German translation of Kumārajīva’s version as contained in the Taishö canon.
Buddhist Text Translation Society. The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, Translated into Chinese by Tripitaka Master Kumārajīva of Yao Ch'in. 10 vols. San Francisco: Sino-American Buddhist Association, Buddhist Text Translation Society, 1977-1982.
Deeg, Max.Das Lotos-Sütra, übersetzt von Max Deeg, mit einer Einleitung von Max Deeg und Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer. Darmstadt, Ger.: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007 . German translation of Kumārajiva’s text from the Taishö canon.
Hurvitz, Leon. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (The Lotus Sūtra), Translatedfrom the Chinese of Kumārajīva. Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies 94, Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976; rev. ed., 2009. Hurvitz translates Kumārajīva’s Chinese version, based on a Japanese critical edition of the text published in 1891 .(..) The translation is considered among the most accurate and consistent, on a word-by-word basis , of the English translations of Kumārajīva’s text. Hurvitz’s extensive glossary consists of words in romanized Sanskrit. In the original edition (1976), the few words in Chinese that appear in his notes, introduction, and glossary are given in a modified form of theWade-Gilessystem of romanization; in the revised, second edition (2009), they have been converted to the Pinyin system. The revised edition contains other small revisions and an updating of copyediting style, and its pagination differs slightly from that of the first edition.
Katö, Bunnö. Myöhö-Renge-Kyö: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law. Revised by W. E. Soothill and W ilhelm Schiffer. Tokyo: Risshö köseikai, 1971. The original translation was completed in 1930 by Katö, revised first by Soothill and later by Schiffer. This is a translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese version.
Katö, Bunnö, Yoshirö Tamura,and Köjirö Miyasaka. TheThreefold Lotus Sutra: Innumerable Meanings, The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, and Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. Revised by W. E. Soothill, Wilhelm Schiffer, and Pier P. Del Campana. New York: Weatherhill / Tokyo: Kösei, 1975. Reproduces, with only slight typographical em endation, the Lotus translation credited to Katö, Myöhö-Renge-Kyö, with the addition of The Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings (Wuliangyi jing) and The Sūtra of Visualizing the Bodhisattva Universally Worthy (Guan Puxian pusa jing), two texts traditionally regarded as a preface and conclusion to the Lotus.
Kubo, Tsugunari, and Akira Yuyama. The Lotus Sutra, Translated from the Chinese of Kumārajīva (Taishö, Volume 9, Number 262). BDK English Tripitaka 13-I, Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1993. Kubo and Yuyama translate Kumārajīva’s Chinese version (dated 406) based on a Japanese edition printed in 1263 (the Kasuga edition), which is close to the modern scholarly edition in the Taishö canon. Their translation is in many ways the most thorough, up-to-date, and philologically precise translation of the text, although the book (in accord with the goals of the publisher) does not include footnotes. For reconstruction of proper names, Kubo and Yuyama some times follow the version of the text contained in early Indian manuscripts from central Asia and the later Tibetan translation of the Lotus.
Murano, Senchu. The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Revised by Daniel B. Montgomery. 2nd ed. Tokyo: Nichiren Shu Headquarters, 1991. The first edition (1974) was translated during 1960-1964 with the support of the Boilingen Foundation. This is an English translation of Kumärajiva's Chinese version, based on a Japanese edition printed in 1263 (the Kasuga edition), which is close to the modern scholarly edition in the Taishö canon.
Reeves,Gene. The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008. English translation of Kumärajiva’s version, often following the glosses and notes provided in a 1976 Japanese edition of Kumärajiva’s original. Intended for non specialist readers, the book includes few Buddhist technical terms and simplifies the spelling of Sanskrit words. Includes The Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings (Wuliangyi jing) and The Sūtra on the Visualization of the Bodhisattva Universally Worthy (Guan Puxian pusa jing), two texts traditionally regarded as a preface and conclusion to the Lotus.
Robert, Jean-Noēl. Le sutra du Lotus: Suivi du Livre des sens innombrables et du Livre de la contemplation de Sage-Universel. L’espace intérieur. Paris: Fayard, 1997. French translation of Kumärajiva’s version as contained in the Taishö canon.
Watson, Burton. The Lotus Sutra. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Abridged in Burton Watson , trans. , The Essential Lotus: Selections from the Lotus Sutra,Translations from the Asian Classics (New York : Columbia University Press , 2002 ) . Watson translates Kumärajiva’s Chinese version , based on a modern Japanese recension of Kumärajiva’s text dated 1961 . Watson explicitly follows the interpretation of the text by Nichiren (1222-1282) and Zhiyi (538-597) as understood by the modern Nichiren group Śoka Gakkai. The translation is the most elegant a nd natural sounding of the English translations . As in Hurvitz s
Watson,Burton. The Lotus Sutra and its Opening and Closing Sutras.Tokyo:Soka Gakkai, 2009. Based on a Chinese version of the threefold Lotus Sūtra published by Soka Gakkai in 2002, this represents a slightly revised version of Watson’s earlier translation (see preceding entry) Watson has designed his translation for readers with no special background in Asian religion. As in his earlier translation, Sanskrit words are given in simplified form. The Wade-Giles system of romanizing Chinese words used in his earlier version has been replaced here with the Pinyin system, and the translation of some technical terms has been revised
(bron Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone 2009 Readings of the Lotus Sutra p 237-240)
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Hurvitz, Leon (1976). Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (The Lotus Sutra): Translated from the Chinese of Kumarajiva. Columbia University Press. *
Herziene editie 2009 ISBN 9780231148948
Meer informatie...
Kubo, Tsugunari (2007). The Lotus sutra: Translated from the Chinese of Kum?rajiva. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. *
Ook online.
Meer informatie...
Teiser, Stephen F. & Stone, Jacqueline I., redactie (2009). Readings of the Lotus Sutra. Columbia University Press. *
Watson, Burton (1993). The Lotus Sutra. Columbia University Press. *
ISBN10: 0231081618
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