In reading the 14 volumes of Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra I’ve identified a number of places where his translation differs – mostly minor points – from other English translations of Kumārajīva’s fifth century Chinese translation. (See here, here, and here.)
For the final example, consider this description of monks who tormented Never-Despising Bodhisattva from Hsuan Hua’s commentary on Chapter 20:
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v11, ch20, p198-199SUTRA
After that Buddha passed into nirvāṇa,
When his Dharma was about to perish,
There was a Bodhisattva
Known as Never Slighting.
At that time the fourfold assembly
Was attached to the Dharma. …COMMENTARY
The fourfold assembly at that time was attached to the Dharma. Even the Dharma has to be relinquished, how much more so that which is not the Dharma? If you don’t understand the Dharma, you must strive to understand it. Once you understand it, you have to let go of it. You can’t cling to it. At that time, because the Buddhadharma was about to perish, the bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakās, and upāsikās were all attached to the superficial aspects of the Dharma. They focused their efforts on the trivial aspects of the Dharma and clung to them rigidly. Not only did they fail to understand the Dharma, they were attached to it. Attached to the Dharma, they gave rise to overbearing pride.
This idea that you shouldn’t cling to the boat that carries you across the water after you reach the other shore is a common reframe in Hsuan Hua’s commentary. But other English translation offer a different picture.
Senchu Murano’s translation says:
Some time after the extinction of that Buddha,
His teachings had almost died out.
At that time there lived a Bodhisattva Called Never-Despising.
The four kinds of devotees at that time Were attached to views.
The Modern Rissho Kosei-kai translation offers:
The four groups of that era
Were attached to their own views of the teachings.
Gene Reeves has:
At that time the four groups
Were attached to self-centered views of things.
The BDK Tripiṭaka translation says:
At that time the fourfold assembly
Was becoming attached
To its own interpretation of the Dharma.
Leon Hurvitz’s translation, considered by many to be the most academically thorough, is the least clear on the point:
At the time, the fourfold multitudes
Were reckoning in terms of dharma.
Hsuan Hua spent many years in China printing sutras in Chinese and distributing them as part of his practice. Given the ways in which his English translation of Kumārajīva differs from other English translators, I’m left to wonder whether he was working from a different copy of Kumārajīva’s work. The volume that contains the English translation of the sutra also contains the Chinese version from which it was translated.
While there’s a clear difference between Hsuan Hua’s translation describing the monks who tormented Never-Despising Bodhisattva, other differences reveal examples of where Senchu Murano, whose translation I use in my daily practice, differed from the majority of English translators.
Consider this part of Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva. Hsuan Hua’s English translation has:
Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v12, ch23, p88-89SUTRA
“Having spoken this verse, Bodhisattva All Beings Delight to See said to the Buddha, ‘World Honored One! World Honored One! You are still in the world!”
COMMENTARY
Having spoken this verse, Bodhisattva All Beings Delight to See said to the Buddha Pure Bright Virtue Resembling the Sun and Moon, “World Honored One! World Honored One! You are still in the world!” This Bodhisattva exclaimed “World Honored One” twice because the Buddha hadn’t yet entered parinirvāņa, so he could meet the Buddha for a second time in his new life.
That repetition is not present in Senchu Murano’s translation:
“Having sung this gāthā, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’
On the other hand, Leon Hurvitz’s translation agrees that “World Honored One” is repeated:
“At that time the bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, having proclaimed this gāthā, addressed the buddha, saying, ‘World-Honored One, World-Honored One, you are still in the world!’
In fact, Murano’s is the only translation that does not include the title World Honored One twice in the verse. But those repetitions are unlike Hsuan Hua and Hurvitz. For Example, Reeves has:
“Having recited this verse, Seen with Joy by All the Living Bodhisattva said to that buddha: ‘World-Honored One, is the World-Honored One still alive in the world?’
Or the BDK Tripiṭaka’s:
“Thereupon Bodhisattva Sarvarūpasamdarśana, having spoken this verse, addressed the Buddha, saying: O Bhagavat! The Bhagavat is yet in this world!
The Modern Rissho Kosei-kai translation offers:
Then the Bodhisattva Delight to Behold for All Living Beings, having uttered these verses, said to that buddha, ‘World-Honored One, just as before, you are still the world-honored one in this world.’
As a scholar-priest within the Nichiren Shu, Murano is highly regarded for the clarity of his translations and for his alignment with the traditional Japanese understanding of the text. To reach that clarity appears to have led to differences between Murano’s translation and other English translators.
Next: Where Chinese Master Hsuan Hua and Nichiren Would Disagree