A Collation Study Of The Volume 6 Of The Lotus Sutra In Tangut Version

The Lotus Sutra,also known as the Sutra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma,is one of the important scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism.There are three existing Chinese translations,among which the translation by Kumarajiva from Yao Qin is the most elegant and accurate in meaning,and therefore has the widest circulation.With the frequent exchanges between the Central Plains and minority areas,the Lotus Sutra gradually spread to the minority areas around the Central Plains,including the Xi Xia dynasty.The Xi Xia version of the Lotus Sutra was translated during the reign of Emperor Huizong Bingchang(1067-1086)and is based on the Chinese translation by Kumarajiva.Among them,the sixth volume of the Xi Xia version of the Lotus Sutra is the most widely preserved and complete version,which includes the initial translation by Emperor Huizong,the revised translation by Emperor Renzong,and the handwritten copy in golden text in Yuan Dynasty.The revised translation by Emperor Renzong was based on the initial translation by Emperor Huizong,and the handwritten copy in golden text was based on the revised translation by Emperor Renzong.In the two revisions,the second one was more meticulous than the first,with careful corrections not only to the content of the text,but also to the errors and omissions in the transcription on the blue-and-white paper.The revision of the Lotus Sutra by Emperor Renzong mainly focused on correcting transliterated characters,errors,omissions,and substitutions,as well as homonyms and synonyms.The principle and focus of the revision were to check the pronunciation,correct mistakes,analyze the meaning of words,and compare the Chinese original text.Overall,the revision by Emperor Renzong basically retained the content of the initial translation by Emperor Huizong,and the revision of transliterated words was confirmed in the revision of other Xi Xia Buddhist scriptures.The revision of the term "Bodhisattva" was also confirmed in the Xi Xia version of the Lotus Sutra(volume four)revised by Emperor Renzong,which is a feature of the revision during this period.The collated edition from the Yuan Dynasty has obviously richer and more diverse textual annotations than the revised and translated edition by Emperor Renzong.The textual annotations in the Yuan Dynasty collated edition mainly involve correcting errors,eliminating redundancy and misprints,rectifying homophonic and synonymous words,revising translations,amending transliterations,as well as adding,deleting,or rearranging words or phrases within sentences.The principles of textual annotation focus on correcting errors,rectifying homophonic words,analyzing word meanings,comparing with the original Chinese text,revising particles,and verifying phonetics.In addition to correcting errors,the collated edition from the Yuan Dynasty mainly involves textual revision at the level of language and writing,reflecting its ability to simultaneously take into account the literal meaning of the translated text,the literary meaning of the translated text,the context of the translated text,and the grammar rules of the Tangut language.Moreover,the collated edition also made certain changes to the sentence structure of the scripture according to the revised translation content.The collated edition reflects two trends: on the one hand,it combines two sentences of the translated text that were originally separated in Emperor Renzong’s revised edition into one sentence;on the one hand,the text originally described in the revised version of Ren Zong is changed into one sentence.On the other hand,it simplifies the complicated translation methods in proofreading version,which shows that the proofreaders have different understandings of the original Chinese text and different translation ideas of the scriptures.There are also mistakes in proofreading in Yuan manuscripts.For example,the meaning of the text is not clear because of homonyms,or the contents of the scriptures translated by Renzong’s proofreading version and the original Chinese text are retranslated,which shows the characteristics of not fitting the Chinese text.In addition,the collated edition also contains decorative flower-shaped symbols,cross-shaped symbols,and small characters added horizontally or vertically between characters within the text.It is worth noting that the handwriting of these small characters in different directions is different,so there should have been more than one proofreader and the proofreading times of Yuan manuscripts are more than once.Volume 6 of the Lotus Sutra,a Tangut language with rich philological value,is also a basic material for the study of Tangut language and characters.Among the 13 known directional prefixes in the Tangut language,12 appear in Volume 6 of the Lotus Sutra in Tangut language.Each directional prefix not only conveys directional and temporal meanings,but can also serve as a personal suffix and a morpheme in word formation,playing an important role in Xixia Buddhist literature.Volume 6 of the Tangut language of the Lotus Sutra,through its initial translation,first and second revisions,reflects the evolving approaches and focuses on the editing of Buddhist texts in the Xixia and Yuan dynasties.It also demonstrates the specific content of the He Xi minority’s efforts to compile Buddhist texts in the He Xi region during the Yuan dynasty.Moreover,it also shows the linguistic style characteristics and the ever-changing trend of Tangut language,which not only enriches the research content of Chinese Buddhist history,but also deliver new nutrients for the development of Tangutology.