Translation Problems in Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra

Abstract

Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra or Hṛdayasūtra is the shortest one among the several versions of Prajñāpāramitāsūtra. In Thailand, apart from the Mahayanist monks, there are only small amount of scholars studying this sūtra, since Theravada Buddhism is predominant in Thailand. However, there are some Thai translations of this sūtra available but there is none of a comparative of this text. This paper, therefore, is an attempt to undertake a comparative study from several versions of Hṛdayasūtra i.e., Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese as well as Thai translation. In this paper there are three points of discussion as follows;

1. The interpolation of some words which are available in many languages in some Thai translation, but they are not found in the original text. For instance, some Chinese-Thai translation contains a Thai word “โดยสภาพ” which is obvious that this word is borrowed and an additional to the original text.

2. The differences of the translation and interpretation among the different traditions. For example, the word śūnyatālakṣaṇā was translated into both Chinese and Tibetan languages, but in opposite meanings due to their dissimilar interpretations and traditions.

3. The different translation and interpretation of the philosophical terms in the Hṛdayasūtra. The translation and interpretation of the word svabhāvaśūnyān is the instance to be examplified in this case. Some scholars reject the others’ translation of this word as ‘(that) has the Emptiness as its own essence’, then propose their interpretation as ‘(that) is empty from its own essence’.

All in all, this paper suggests the prior conclusion that the former translation would not be wrong, if we consider the word abhāvasvabhāva as the semantic tool to support this translation and interpretation.