Buddha Sutras |
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Mantras Sanskrit |
Foreword to Sūtras numbered 15, 16, and 17 (posted 04/2008, updated 05/2008)
Foreword
Eight translations of the Heart Sūtra are numbered from 250 to 257 in the Chinese Buddhist Canon (Tripiṭaka), Volume 8, and four of them bear the same title. Text no. 250 is the earliest translation, done by Kumārajīva (鳩摩羅什, 344-413 CE). The latest version in Text no. 257 was translated by Dānapāla (施護, years unknown), who was from Udyāna in northern India, and went to China in 980 CE during the Northern Song Dynasty. Text no. 256 is not a translation of the Sanskrit text, but a Chinese transliteration, phonetically rendered by Master Xuanzang (玄奘, 600 or 602-664 CE).
These Chinese translations may be based on different Sanskrit texts. However, all of them include the key passage, starting from the words "form is no different from emptiness," ending with the mantra. Text no. 251 is the popular version that Chinese Buddhists recite from memory. Translated by Xuanzang, it is the shortest version, a virtual subset of Text no. 250 translated by Kumārajīva. Text no. 252 is the longest version, translated by Dharmacandra (法月, 653-743 CE). Like Text no. 251, it also has deferentially adopted many words in the Kumārajīva translation.
There are many English translations of the Heart Sūtra, variously translated from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan texts. Text no. 251 alone has several English translations online. Also, Buddhist groups have their own in-house translations. It seems no one is satisfied with the available translations.
Having studied Sūtras numbered 13 and 14 on this website, one should have acquired some understanding of prajñā-pāramitā and the meaning of "neither increase nor decrease." Both terms are mentioned but not explained in the Heart Sūtra. For the reader's interest, English translations of Texts numbered 250, 251, and 252 are posted on this website as Sūtras numbered 15, 16, and 17 respectively, under their full titles. One finds identical words in these three translations because the corresponding words in the Chinese texts are the same. Studying all three versions can help one better understand the tenets of the Heart Sūtra.