Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This paper is a review on the characteristics of the Manchu edition of the Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin. Emperor Qianlong, the sixth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, ordered the original text to be translated into Manchu in 1773. The printing woodblocks for the Manchu Buddhist Canon fill 108 crates, and the Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin is in crate number 57. Each woodblock is divided into an upper and lower section, and there are 31 vertical lines in each section. There are also several sutras related to the Avatamsaka Sutra(華嚴經) in this crate. The Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin is located between the Puxian　suoshuo-jing (普賢所說經) and the Dushipin-jing(度世品經). The Huayan-jing xu rufajiepin comes straight back from the Puxian　suoshuo-jing without any form of sutra. It is noteworthy that its Manchu name is not ‘nomun’ which means sutra, but ‘fiyelen’ which means a part of the Avatamsaka Sutra. In other words, the translator seems to have regarded it as a part of the Avatamsaka Sutra. The contents of Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin starts with Māyā (摩耶)’s guidance Sudhana to go to see Surendrābhā (天主光) and ends with the preaching of Śrīsaṃbhava dāraka (德生 童子) and Śrīmati dārikā (有德 童女). I also compared its content with the Chinese translation of the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra and found them very similar. I also found the content of the Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin to be very similar to the Dafangguangfo Huayanjing ru fajie pin (大方廣佛華嚴經入法界品). The names of the 11 sages mentioned in both are almost identical. However, I could not find the name of the translater, Jivahara, in the Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin. It seems that this is closely related to the original text of Huayan-jing xu rufajiepin. I also compared the terms used in both translations. Most of the Sanskrit proper nouns were transliterated into Manchu. In some places they transliterated commonly used Chinese characters into Manchu, and in other places they actually translated the terms. In some instances they also coined new terms by combining Sanskrit and Manchu, such as the term ‘g‘angg‘a bira.’ They also translated the name ‘Sudhana’ into ‘Manibadara’ which means ‘precious sage.’ I believe that was done after studying the origin of the name ‘Sudhana’ in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra. That was a unique and practical means of translation. In conclusion, Emperor Qianlong had a policy of expanding usage of the Manchu language, and the Manchu version of the Huayan-jing　xu　rufajiepin was a direct result of this policy.