翻譯名義集

Fānyì míngyì jí 翻譯名義集

A Collection of Names and Meanings from Translation by 法雲 (編)

About the work

The standard pre-modern Chinese-Buddhist Sanskrit-Chinese terminological lexicon, in seven juan, compiled by Fǎ-yún 法雲 (1088–21 October 1158), styled Tiān-ruì 天瑞 / Wú-jī-zǐ 無機子, Pǔ-rùn dà-shī 普潤大師, of Sū-zhōu Jǐng-dé-sì 蘇州景德寺. The work is structured as a topically-organized Sanskrit-Chinese transliteration glossary in 64 piān (“chapters”) — covering Buddha-titles, buddha-names, bodhisattvas, śrāvaka-names, kings, persons, places, four-cardinal-directions terminology, monastery-and-stūpa vocabulary, vinaya technical vocabulary, and so on — with each entry giving the Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit, alternative transliterations, the canonical-source citation, the meaning gloss, and substantial doctrinal-historical commentary drawing on the Tiāntái and Huá-yán exegetical traditions. Universally cited as the Pǔ-rùn yīn-yì 普潤音義 or simply Fān-yì míng-yì jí. Preserved in the Taishō canon as T54 no. 2131. Long the standard Buddhist reference for terminological identification across the late Sòng, Yuán, Míng, and Qīng.

Prefaces

The text opens with two prefaces plus a biographical-record (xíngyèjì 行業記) of Fǎyún appended at the close of juan 1.

(1) Fānyì míngyì xù 翻譯名義序, by Zhōu Dūnyì 周敦義 (lay style Wéixīn jūshì 唯心居士 of Jīngxī 荊谿), dated Shàoxīng 紹興 dīngchǒu, the chóngwǔ day = 5th day of the 5th month = early summer 1137. In paraphrase:

I [Zhōu] was reading the great canon, and once had the intent of imitating the Chóngwén zǒngmù 崇文總目, plucking out the essentials of the various sutras as a Buddhist zǒngmù (general catalog). Seeing that the various sutras each used Sanskrit, I had to seek and check the canonical teaching, complete with the translated phonological-glosses, and produce them tabulated, separately as one register. But before I had reached completion, Xiǎnqīn Shēn lǎo 顯親深老 showed me the Fānyì míngyì edited by Pǔrùn dàshī Fǎyún of Píngjiāng Jǐngdésì [Sūzhōu Jǐngdésì]. I saw it once and rejoiced, saying: “This is my intent! On another day if my zǒngmù is finished, I can put aside the separate-register.” Subsequently I passed through Píngjiāng, and Yún came to see me, requesting a preface-and-introduction.

I considered that this book is not only of merit for the reader of Buddhist sutras, but also can protect the slanderers’ root-faculty. The Táng Master Xuán-zàng 玄奘 discussed five kinds of “not-translating”: (1) for the secret — like dhāraṇī; (2) for the multi-meaning — like Bhagavān having six meanings; (3) for the lacking-here — like the Jambū tree, which the Central Land truly does not have; (4) for following antiquity — like Anuttara-bodhi, not that it cannot be translated, but the Sanskrit sound has been preserved since Mātaṅga onward; (5) for generating goodness — like prajñā, which is honored and weighty (compared to “wisdom” which is light and shallow).

But the seven mistaken ones make the case: that Śākyamuni is named “Néngrén” 能仁 — but the meaning of Néngrén is lower-rank than Zhōu and Kǒng. That Anuttara-bodhi is named “right-pervasive-knowing” — but in this Land Lǎozǐ’s teaching already had the “supreme right-true Way”, with no way to differ. Bodhisattva is named “great Way-mind sentient being” — its name is low and shallow. They all suppress and do not translate. Now the honored titles of the Three Jewels — translators have preserved their original names, but slanderers wantonly utter their slanderous words. If they see this book, they will have no place to peck.

Buddhism entered the Central Lands; jīng and lùn increase day by day. From the Jin dynasty’s Master Dào-ān to the Táng Zhì-shēng 智昇 there are some ten compilers of catalogs and image-charts. Now the great-canon’s various sutras still use Master Shēng’s Kāi-yuán shì-jiào lù 開元釋教錄 as the standard. Later people only added the Zōng-jiàn lù 宗鑑錄, the Fǎ-yuàn zhū-lín 法苑珠林; outside the lower-canon, like the four-juan Jīn-guāng-míng jīng 金光明經, the Mahāyāna-bhāṣya, and the Zhèng-dào gē 證道歌 of this Land — there are still many that have not entered the canon. Our State has commanded the chief minister to be the yì-jīng rùn-wén shǐ (Sutra-Translation Polishing Commissioner) — by which the propagation of Buddhism is reached. Yet there is not one person to continue Master Shēng afterward; translation is long and far, transmission is scattered and lost, true and false rest on each other, with no place to gauge — truly to be deeply lamented. Yún is old indeed; let him still strive.

Shàoxīng dīngchǒu, chóngwǔ day. Prefaced.

(2) Wú-jī-zǐ Fǎ-yún fèng-miǎn 無機子法雲奉勉 — Fǎ-yún’s own dedicatory verse-postface to Zhōu’s preface, evoking the Buddha as Xuě-shān dà-shì 雪山大士 (the Mahāsattva of the Snowy Mountains, who gave his body to obtain a half-verse) and the Fǎ-ài fàn-zhì 法愛梵志 (who reverently broke open his bones for four lines of verse). “Long sunk in the bitter sea, now meeting the boat of compassion: holding intent and exhausting sincerity, gathering the sutras and collecting the lùn. It is fitting to set up before the image, burn incense and pay respects, rest the dust-of-toil’s mixed thoughts, roam in the prajñā dharma-grove. At the end of the volume, close the bundle, focus the heart and sit still — illumine the original-substance of the original-radiance, return to the constant-still nature-source. Although the ten-thousand existences are taken in their setting-up-and-action, yet the One Nothing is also cut off.”

(3) Sū-zhōu Jǐng-dé-sì Pǔ-rùn dà-shī xíng-yè jì 蘇州景德寺普潤大師行業記 — biographical record of Fǎ-yún appended at the close of juan 1, providing detailed lifedata: Fǎ-yún’s lay surname Gē 戈, native of Cǎi-yún-lǐ 彩雲里 in Cháng-zhōu 長州 (Sūzhōu); parents prayed to the Buddha and dreamed of a Sanskrit monk who said “I wish to lodge my spirit here”; he was born with auspicious marks. From infancy he was joyful in the presence of monks. At five he left his parents and took Cí-xíng Páng-gōng 慈行彷公 as teacher. Memorized the seven juan of the Lotus Sūtra by his next year. Took novitiate at nine, full ordination at ten. Shào-shèng 4 = 1097 set out on lecture-travel; first met Tōng-zhào fǎ-shī 通照法師, learned Tiāntái doctrine; then went to Tiānzhú Mǐn fǎ-shī’s seat; finally received the dharma from Nán-píng Qīng-biàn dà-fǎ-shī 南屏清辯大法師. In Zhèng-hé 7 (1117) he was invited by the Sūng-jiāng Dà-jué jiào-sì 松江大覺教寺 to be abbot, with the title Pǔ-rùn dà-shī 普潤大師 conferred. He lectured continuously on the Lotus, Suvarṇaprabhāsa, Mahāparinirvāṇa, Vimalakīrti. Continuing his mother’s old age, he returned home to nurse her, residing at Cáng-yún hut 藏雲廬 by the family graves; his mother developed a slight illness, and he chanted the Heart Sūtra and the Amitābha name beside her sickbed — the Buddha emitted golden light, witnessed by his mother and all sides. Death: Shào-xīng 28 = 1158, 9th month, 21st day = 21 October 1158, age 71.

Abstract

Authorship and date are unambiguously fixed by the byline (Píngjiāng Jǐngdésì Pǔrùn dàshī Fǎyún biān 平江景德寺普潤大師法雲編) and the prefatory matter. Fǎyún 法雲 (DILA A001997; 1088 – 21 October 1158) was a leading Tiāntái master of the Píngjiāng / Sūzhōu circuit in the early Southern Sòng. He completed the Fānyì míngyì jí before Zhōu Dūnyì’s preface of Shàoxīng 7 (1137); the work was likely substantially in hand by then but continued to be revised through later editions. The conventional dating is 1136 – 1143 (the latter from the jíbǐng 集丙 indication in some Sòng-canon prints). notBefore = 1136, notAfter = 1143. Catalog dynasty 宋.

The 64 piān are organized topically: opening with shífāng zhūfó piān 十方諸佛篇 (buddhas of the ten directions), tōngbié mínghào piān 通別名號篇 (general and specific titles), bārénfāxīn piān 八人發心篇 (the eight beings who arouse aspiration), shèngjiàn jièdìng piān 聖賢戒定篇 (sages and worthies, precept and samādhi), continuing through the bodhisattva path stages, the various Buddha-fields, the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sectarian terminology, abhidharma technical vocabulary, karma-and-rebirth terminology, vinaya, and concluding piān on monastic geography (named monasteries) and ritual implements. Each entry gives the Sanskrit (in transliteration), the standard Chinese rendering, alternate transliterations, the source-text citation, and detailed doctrinal commentary often running to several lines.

The work belongs to the same general genre as the much-shorter early-Táng Fǎmén míngyì jí (KR6s0004, Lǐ Shīzhèng, 1 juan) and the slightly later early-Míng Dà Míng sānzàng fǎshù (KR6s0007, Yīrú, 1419) — but is far more comprehensive than the former and topically-Sanskrit-rather-than-numerically organized in contrast to the latter. It became and remained the standard Chinese-Buddhist Sanskrit-name reference through the Ming and Qing, frequently cited in commentaries and used as the working glossary for monastic students.

Translations and research

• Karashima Seishi 辛嶋静志 et al., extensive recent Sanskrit-Chinese transcription studies cite Fān-yì míng-yì jí as a standard reference.
• Soothill–Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (London, 1937, repr. Taipei) — relies heavily on Fān-yì míng-yì jí for terminological identifications.
• Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨, Bukkyō dai-jiten — comprehensive citation.
• Zhōu Shàng-zhī 周尚智, Fān-yì míng-yì jí xīn-biān 翻譯名義集新編 (Tái-běi: Wén-jīn, 1990s) — modern punctuated edition.
• Funayama Tōru 船山徹, Butten wa dou kanyaku sareta no ka (Iwanami, 2013) — discusses Fān-yì míng-yì jí in the context of Sòng-period terminological scholarship.
• Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (eds.), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014) — consistently cites Fǎ-yún as a primary source for terminological derivations.

Other points of interest

The Fānyì míngyì jí incorporates Xuánzàng’s “five kinds of not-translating” (五種不翻) doctrine — preserved in Zhōu Dūnyì’s preface — which became the canonical Chinese-Buddhist statement on the principles of Sanskrit-name preservation in Chinese translation. Zhōu’s polemical use of this doctrine against the “seven mistaken” critics of Buddhist non-translation (Confucian and Daoist accusations that néngrén is lower than Zhōu/Kǒng, that anuttara-bodhi is no different from Lǎozǐ’s wúshàng zhèngzhēn zhī dào, etc.) is one of the principal Sòng-period defenses of Buddhist canonical-translation conventions against literati skepticism.

Links

• DILA authority: A001997 (法雲)
• CBETA: T54n2131
• Predecessor terminological compilations: KR6s0004 Fǎmén míngyì jí (Táng), KR6s0007 Dà Míng sānzàng fǎshù (1419), KR6s0018 Fān fányǔ (Liáng)
• Author’s lineage: Tiāntái lineage; teacher Nánpíng Qīngbiàn 南屏清辯
• Patronage: Sūngjiāng Dàjué jiàosì 松江大覺教寺 (1117–) and Sūzhōu Jǐngdésì 蘇州景德寺