- 玄奘法師譯為『所有諸有情，有情攝所攝 』，
- 義淨法師也譯為『所有一切眾生之類。』
玄奘法師所譯，較難解的為『有情攝所攝 』。其梵文為"sattvasaṁgraheṇa saṁgṛhītā"。
考之『攝』意為拿，吸取，如攝取、攝像、攝影、攝食。試譯全句『 有情界諸有情所能攝受的』，現代白話解為『 有情界，諸有情所能了知的有情』，亦即同於鳩摩羅什法師所譯『所有一切眾生之類』。
2013年11月15日 星期五
有情攝所攝
《金剛經‧第三品》有一句依鳩摩羅什法師之譯為『所有一切眾生之類』，此句原梵文為 "yāvantaḥ sattvāḥ sattvadhātau sattvasaṁgraheṇa saṁgṛhītā," 而
玄奘法師所譯，較難解的為『有情攝所攝 』。其梵文為"sattvasaṁgraheṇa saṁgṛhītā"。
玄奘法師所譯，較難解的為『有情攝所攝 』。其梵文為"sattvasaṁgraheṇa saṁgṛhītā"。
Zero & Emptiness
There is an interesting story about zero and nothingness in human civilization that I'd like share.
Phoenicia, the ancient Semitic civilization, once had enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. One main reason they failed and disappeared in the human history was that they could not distinguish zero from nothingness. I don’t know whether or not the Phoenician had invented the decimal system, but they were the first to used decimal system to record business trading figures “internationally” and very successful. However, they used a blank space to denote the “zero” figure. So a number, for instance, like “347021” would be recorded as “347 21”. The digital number used here are only for convenience, since they were not written in this format. In the beginning, it would not have caused a lot of issues. But when the trading have gotten bigger and bigger and the trading numbers grew with it. Due to omission of a “zero” figure, confusion, argument, distrust arose and eventually caused all trading business to shut down.
Later on, King Asoka, the great Indian emperor, spread the Buddha-Dharma from India, Afghanistan, Iran, and then up to Syria. The Buddha’s transcend wisdom taught people the concept of "Śūnyatā" (Sanskrit) meaning "emptiness,"『空』, or “nothingness.” Overtime, the Arabian had developed the decimal system ,by recognizing the difference between nothingness and zero, using a “zero” to replace a space " ", and then, therefore, with the accurate numeric recording system and their trading skill, successfully dominated the world trading. Even up to today their influence in world trading is still cannot be negligible.
Human civilization is an integration of various kinds of culture, more or less, isn't it?
Phoenicia, the ancient Semitic civilization, once had enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. One main reason they failed and disappeared in the human history was that they could not distinguish zero from nothingness. I don’t know whether or not the Phoenician had invented the decimal system, but they were the first to used decimal system to record business trading figures “internationally” and very successful. However, they used a blank space to denote the “zero” figure. So a number, for instance, like “347021” would be recorded as “347 21”. The digital number used here are only for convenience, since they were not written in this format. In the beginning, it would not have caused a lot of issues. But when the trading have gotten bigger and bigger and the trading numbers grew with it. Due to omission of a “zero” figure, confusion, argument, distrust arose and eventually caused all trading business to shut down.
Later on, King Asoka, the great Indian emperor, spread the Buddha-Dharma from India, Afghanistan, Iran, and then up to Syria. The Buddha’s transcend wisdom taught people the concept of "Śūnyatā" (Sanskrit) meaning "emptiness,"『空』, or “nothingness.” Overtime, the Arabian had developed the decimal system ,by recognizing the difference between nothingness and zero, using a “zero” to replace a space " ", and then, therefore, with the accurate numeric recording system and their trading skill, successfully dominated the world trading. Even up to today their influence in world trading is still cannot be negligible.
Human civilization is an integration of various kinds of culture, more or less, isn't it?
2013年10月31日 星期四
梵正音朝暮課誦本序
佛教佛經論的翻譯漢語起於東漢一朝，前後蔓延千餘年，雖然至二十一世紀的今天，仍然有新翻譯的漢語經典在問世，漢傳佛教的傳佈說是一部佛經論的翻譯史也不為過。翻譯本身不僅須要具有精準的科學性，更是一種藝術。漢譯佛教經典可以大分兩部分來研究，一為翻譯的經文，一為依音直譯的咒語。前者素來研究者眾，後者就比較沒有那麼的熱門。事實上，咒語由於語言的隔閡，歷來以訛傳訛，取捨之間完全是靠宣道者本身的判斷，很少有直接證據的判定。中土幅員廣大，朝代交替，官話極可能也隨著改變。中國歷代使用什麼語言很少受到重視，所以這一方面的研究也很少見。
咒語依音直譯可能依當朝的官話，也可能根據譯者本身的鄉音。但有一點可以確定，咒語譯音不太可能是現代以北平話為基礎的『國語』或『普通話』發音。以《阿含經》為例，梵語āgama，音譯為阿鋡、阿含暮、阿笈摩。台語『含』發音為
/gam/, 前三者翻譯都很接近台語發音就是一明證。近年來也流行念誦西藏的咒語。但西藏譯音的咒語也有明顯差異的變音，不符原梵音。末學的理論是梵文有四十九個基本音，但是藏文雖然源自梵文，但是只有三十個基本音。所以很明顯，梵音無法完全以藏音來表達。如《六字大明咒》梵文為
Om
manipadme hum, /嗡 嘛尼叭特咪 吽/。但藏譯音為 /嗡
嘛尼唄咪 吽/。
又《藥師咒心》:
tadyathā: oṃ bhaiṣajye
bhaiṣajye mahabhaiṣajye raja samudgate svāhā；或有一版本為
tadyathā: oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajya samudgate svāhā
tadyathā: oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajya samudgate svāhā
藏文有音譯為
Tayatha Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Randze Samu
Gate Soha
其中Tadyata他締呀他(玄奘大師譯為即說咒曰)失音為/他呀他/，Bhaiṣajye變為Bekandze，svaha /斯哇哈/則只能發出soha /唆哈/。
由上例可知，梵音不論漢譯或藏譯都有很大變音，以往沒有這方面的資料，錯了也無法更正，但今日通梵、漢、藏專家不乏其人，復以印刷業流通發達，網路資訊更是方便搜尋，咒語的正音的時機應該是到了。數年來末學一直期待有專家學者能將日常課誦本的咒語，以正音出版。黃啟檀先生在編著《梵文咒語彙編》及《梵文自學手冊》兩本梵文書籍後，又完成《朝時課誦本
梵音版》一書，此課誦本收集佛門早晚課常用的咒語，對發正確的梵音有很大的幫助，問序於末學，樂為之序。
2013年季春寫於華梵大學佛教學系
2013年3月21日 星期四
有為法與無為法的英譯
今日上課有同學問: 有為法與無為法的英譯為何?
有為法就是緣起的事與物，最簡單的譯法為 the conditioned; 相對的, 無為法是非緣起的，可譯為 the unconditioned. 不過最好還是用原梵文，才得以完全表示其意。
saṃskṛta: 有為法 (Skt., conditioned; Pāli, saṇkhata). Things that are conditioned or brought into being by contributory causes. This applies to anything that ...
有為法就是緣起的事與物，最簡單的譯法為 the conditioned; 相對的, 無為法是非緣起的，可譯為 the unconditioned. 不過最好還是用原梵文，才得以完全表示其意。
saṃskṛta: 有為法 (Skt., conditioned; Pāli, saṇkhata). Things that are conditioned or brought into being by contributory causes. This applies to anything that ...
asaṃskṛta: 無為法 (Skt.). The ‘unconditioned’, a term referring to anything that transcends conditioned (saṃskṛta) existence in the state of saṃsāra. The number of items deemed to be unconditioned varied according to ...
(from A Dictionary of Buddhism by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press)
2013年1月8日 星期二
有關 Integrity 的英譯自巴利文的經文
- 正義可否犧牲孝道?看看佛陀如何定義INTEGRITY。佛陀說:“A person of integrity is grateful & acknowledges the help given to him. This gratitude, this acknowledgment is second nature among fine people. It is entirely on the level of a person of integrity.” 此句正好彌補東西文化的缺失。 知道感恩孝順的人才是真正的 a person of integrity.
南傳尼柯雅經典(Nikaya Sutta)記載佛陀告誡弟子有關Integrity 的經文如下:
- Cula-punnama Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on the Full-moon Night (中阿含MN 110 PTS: M iii 20)
- Kataññu Suttas: Gratitude (增一阿含AN II.31-32)
- Sappurisa Sutta: A Person of Integrity (AN IV.73)
- Maha-sala Sutta: Very Rich (相應部阿含SN VII.14)
- Itivuttaka: The Group of Fours &106 (佛如是說 Iti 106)
Integrity: Be an integer!
Integrity: Be an integer!
元月三日上『佛教英文會話』課時，告訴學生說每年我都要教一個英文單字，我告訴學生我們要當一個整數(integer)完完整整的人；不要當小數(decimal
number)讓人閒言閒語, 更不要當個餘數(residue)，拖泥帶水給人麻煩。我說美國與台灣(應該包括所有受漢文化影響的國家)的教育與社會文化最大的大差異在於從"integer"衍生出的"integrity"。"integrity"中文翻譯有誠信、正直等，但個人還沒有找到一個適當的詞可以翻譯這個字。"integrity"是美國社會判定一個人的最高標準，這關乎一個人的一致性與完整性的誠信。所以一個人不論是待人處事，對家庭、朋友、社會責任、國家等都應該有同樣的態度。對一個人的最好的讚詞可以說就是:”A person of integrity”。所以在法官及執法人員面前只要被確認所言有一句謊言，所有其他的證詞都會被嚴格檢驗。這在台灣社會是一件很不可思議的。
不料元月五日就爆發了驚駭社會杏林的"不實發票核銷治重罪 學界震驚 國立大學教授貪汙罪起訴"的新聞。事實上這個案見不只是法律問題，也是個文化問題，因便宜行事沒有誠信而造假，造成誤蹈法網。所以個人相信此次的貪汙案件有絕大部分是文化及法規的問題。台灣重家庭倫理關係，大部分的法律也仍是人治觀念下制定的『老法律』，所以執法的考量是『情、理、法』，自己人犯罪家法處理，外人犯罪國法處理，所以很多不如『法』的事件發生。美國是”Justice
under law”(立於聯邦Department of Justice 大廈的大門) 執法的考量是『理、法、情』，所以小民的冤屈也得已伸張。所以日前我才會在fb上寫『重本質則失之於關係，重關係則失之於本質』。實際上，用『正義』取代『本質』，『倫常』取代『關係』，更能表現台灣和美國文化的差異。『重正義則失之於倫常，重倫常則失之於正義』。真正的法治社會也只能是『理、法、情』才有真正的正義，不會因人設事。:(
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