Re: Paali question

There are in fact five Chinese versions which I am translating now. They were first translated by Sylvain Levi in 1915 (La recitation primitive des textes Bouddhiques, In Journal Asiatique, Mai-Juin, 1915) and later re-looked at by Etienne Lamotte in his History of Indian Buddhism (first published 1958; trans. into English in 1988 by Sara Webb-Boin, p. 553 ff.). The Chinese versions seem to be more concerned with how Buddhavacana is recited or intoned. They were translating from a BHS Sarvastivadin version (part of it has survived, but the Culla Vagga part containing this section I believe is lost, or at least I can't find it), and of course that sect  must have taken "sakaaya niruttiyaa" as allowing translations, as the whole Sarvastivadin canon is a translation from the Prakrit,  not to mention Chinese. However, this is was written down hundreds of years after the Buddha made these statements, in a foreign environment after Buddhism had spread through
  many different dialects and languages, so I'm not sure how much credence we can give the BHS (if it exists) or the Chinese interpretation/translation of it,

Bryan




________________________________
From: Stephen Hodge <s.hodge@...>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 21, 2009 3:33:58 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Paali question

   
Bryan Levman wrote:

> Does anyone know if there is a parallel Sanskrit version of this story in
> the
> BHS Vinaya? I've been looking for it, but can't find it.

Chinese Vinaya parallels would also be interesting to see.  If the passage
is not found there either, one might suspect that it is an interpolation.
Which raises interesting questions of motive.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge


   


      

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]