試探《維摩詰經》的原語面貌

An Investigation into the Original Language of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa

The main purpose of Buddhist scriptures was to teach ordinary monastics or common people. That is why whether Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna texts, Buddhist scriptures were transmitted orally through generations up until the third century C.E. The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, translated by Zhi Qian, whose works were mainly translated between 222-252 C.E., is possibly a revised version based on the “old” Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (not extant) translated by Yan Fotiao (Eastern Han). Though Zhi Qian had made modifications to Yan's translations in his own version, there are still many transliterated terms from Yan's original translation that were preserved. In Zhi Qian's Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the eastern Pureland of Aksobhya, Avhiradi (Gāndhārī); Abhirati (Sanskrit) and together with 18 other transliterated terms indicate that the original Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, was very likely to be in Gāndhārī. This is further supported by some of the translated terms found in Zhi Qian's version. For instance: “manda” (essence; ultimate state; highest plane) was translated by Zhi Qian as “mind”. This suggests that possibly in his original text, the sound of the word “manda” was replaced with “*manna” (written as “*mana”), which Zhi Qian took it to be “mano” or “mana” (Sanskrit: “manas”; mind). Hence, the language of the original Vimalakīrtinirdeśa of the Chinese translations was not written in Sanskrit but in Prakrit, most probably Gāndhārī or a language that possessed elements of Gāndhārī.