Chapter 3 Topic 3 Chinese translation of Buddhist literature

The cultural heritage of mankind cannot be monopolized by one nation, and all modern academic disciplines have become internationalized.Indian Buddhist ancient books do not only belong to India.The Buddhist scriptures in Pali include typographical versions of Thai, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Indian and other national alphabets as well as Roman (Latin) alphabets.Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures and their commentaries, in addition to various old editions in my country, also have Japanese publications.Tibetan translations of Buddhist scriptures, "Kanjur" and "Tanjur", in addition to my country's Dege edition, Naitang edition, Beijing edition, etc., are also photocopied and published by foreign countries (Dege edition?).Sanskrit and mixed Sanskrit originals have also been discovered and published one after another. The world has long known that many ancient manuscripts are still hidden in my country’s Tibet and Xinjiang. It is still in the school magazine.Not all those who do these jobs are Buddhist believers. Some of them are scholars who don’t believe in Buddhism, and some don’t even believe in any religion.They delved into these antiques for a variety of motives and purposes.Those who study religious texts are not necessarily religious opium addicts, nor are they necessarily anti-religious figures.

About 30 years ago, I lived in the "Dharma House" for pilgrims in Sarnath, a Buddhist holy place in India.The place was rural, with two Buddhist temples, a Jain temple, a museum, the ruins of an ancient pagoda and a section of stone pillars inscribed by King Ashoka, and a library.There is a photocopied moraine sandboard Buddhist scriptures in this library. After I found this book that almost no one cares about, I started to organize it in a small room full of dust, and at the same time I read it one by one.This can only be called flipping, because I didn’t know much about reading at that time, and I fell into the abyss of ancient Indian language and couldn’t extricate myself from reading the vast and difficult ancient Chinese translation of classics.However, I also made some random notes, and named it "Deer Garden Reading Tibetan Records", of course it was just for myself to read.At that time, I was "reminiscing about the nostalgia" in the pile of old papers at home and abroad, and I actually composed an old poem:

Needless to say, my life and mood at that time were subject to criticism.After liberation, I realized this, so I bid farewell to the past without hesitation.A few years ago, due to various reasons, the so-called "Deer Garden Reading Tibetan Records" which had long been thrown aside was also sent away by me like other old papers like a plague god.At that time, in order to unload the burden and move forward lightly, this is also "the proper meaning in the question", and it is not necessary to blame others, and there is no need to "ask yourself". This is the truth.

However, will anyone still read these piles of ancient translations?Of course I don't need to worry about it.However, I have not forgotten the old habits, and sometimes I can't help thinking whether there should be a new book such as "Yu Zang Zhi Jin" or "Buddhist Bibliography and Answers", so that non-religious believers and non-religious researchers can also know a little bit ? "Wishers take the bait" and "take what they want", such readers probably need a "wizard" to display the content.The various versions of the existing Buddhist collections are classified according to the views of each sect, each with its own set of classification methods, and not arranged according to modern knowledge;Indexes and dictionaries still cannot solve the problem, because book titles, contents, proper names, terminology, etc. cannot explain the content.The summary, such as "Yue Zang Zhi Jin", does not indicate the order of the methods.I think these antiques probably only serve to enrich libraries, museums and exhibitions.

However, the cultural heritage of mankind cannot be monopolized by one nation, and all modern academic disciplines have become internationalized.Indian Buddhist ancient books do not only belong to India.The Buddhist scriptures in Pali include typographical versions of Thai, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Indian and other national alphabets as well as Roman (Latin) alphabets.Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures and their commentaries, in addition to various old editions in my country, also have Japanese publications.Tibetan translations of Buddhist scriptures, "Kanjur" and "Tanjur", in addition to my country's Dege edition, Naitang edition, Beijing edition, etc., are also photocopied and published by foreign countries (Dege edition?).Originals in Sanskrit and mixed Sanskrit have also been discovered and published one after another.

The world has known for a long time that many ancient manuscripts are still hidden in my country's Tibet and Xinjiang, and foreigners have only taken part of them; they have published quite a few, and some are still being published in school magazines.Not all those who do these jobs are Buddhist believers. Some of them are scholars who don’t believe in Buddhism, and some don’t even believe in any religion.They delved into these antiques for a variety of motives and purposes.Those who study religious texts are not necessarily religious opium addicts, nor are they necessarily anti-religious figures.

Therefore, I think, talking about this huge Buddhist literature is not necessarily an advertisement for opium, is it?If there is no smoking, naturally there is no need to promote smoking cessation, but unfortunately this is only an ideal.Regardless of this, the Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures was originally published in my country, but the world's references are always Japan's "Taisho Canon".For many years before the bibliography, I also quoted the "Da Ming Tripitaka Sacred Religion Catalog" (English) translated by Fumio Nanjo (English); later, I also quoted the "Chinese Buddha Canon" (French) written by Indian Shi Kayue. I always feel a little embarrassed, as if I saw The name used in the world of Go that my country initiates is the GO of Japanese.I always find it unpleasant to see that ancient, modern, and modern materials of our country are increasingly becoming research hotspots in the world, but we ourselves turn a blind eye to them and turn a deaf ear to them.Of course, it’s not that I don’t want foreigners to study, but I think we should be qualified and have the right to participate in one.If only what is done by one's own people is counted, and what is done by others is not counted, then it is precisely the narrow psychology of religious sects.Fortunately, in recent years, there are still people in our country who have seriously studied various religions with a scientific attitude; as for me, although I have been isolated from Buddhist books for decades, I still want to talk about it, which can only be said to be an old habit.

Having said that, if you don't believe in any religion but only believe in science and want to read Buddhist books (only referring to Chinese translations), where should you start?I want to know first of all that this is a complex ancient document that has been accumulated and developed over a long period of time, with various contents, and the translations are also produced by different times, places, and people.There are many repetitions and intersections between the original text and the translated text.According to the 1945 "Catalogue of the Inscribed Tripitaka" by the Chinese Academy of Internal Medicine, there are 1,494 volumes and 5,735 volumes, including "doubts and falsehoods"; There are only 1094 volumes and 5046 volumes.Ouyang Jingwu wrote in 1940 for the "Jin Ke Tripitaka" that, excluding retranslations, only single translations, there are only 4,650 volumes in the four volumes of Sutra, Vinaya, Lun, and Secret.This is only half more than the more than 3,000 volumes of "Twenty-Four Histories", and it is not more complicated than any of our country's classics, histories, and zi (except Buddhism and Taoism), and it is not as good as the "full and overwhelming" Jibu.After all, this is only part of the ancient books of India.Buddhism was only one of its religions in ancient India, and only one aspect of its social culture.

Religious belief is ideology, but religious practice is not just thoughts and beliefs.Religion is a social phenomenon; it may be said that there was a certain contradiction in ancient society, from which there were mass religious activities, and then systematic teachings emerged.The church is the main one, and various social organizations and activities of religion are the entities of religion.Therefore, the theoretical dogmas of religion are new, and some of them are even out of touch with the history of its social activities or even contradictory.Rather than saying that the patriarch created the teachings and then built the church, it is better to say that the church was raised up by social contradictions, and thus the teachings and the patriarchs came into being.Some religious movements do not have systematic teachings.If it is said that religion was created by the patriarch and only a very small number of people fooled and deceived the majority for a long time, I am afraid it does not seem like a materialistic statement.

According to the above-mentioned view, and the history and legends also say that after the death of the Buddha, Buddhists held several conferences to "collect" classics, then these documents marked with Buddhism are of course similar to those of the Buddhist Church (Buddhism is called "Sangha" and the free translation is "Sangha") and Hezhong") are closely related.In this case, it can be divided into two categories, one is external publicity materials, and the other is internal reading materials. (This is just a recent example, using the present to refer to the past, so as to understand; the present and the past are different, so please don’t misunderstand. Not only Buddhist books, but other ancient books often have internal and external differences. What I tell others, what I use internally is very different. .This may be my fallacy, or it may be one of the secrets of reading ancient books. The ancients knew but did not speak, because everyone knows, and I will reveal the secret. The ancients almost always wrote books with a certain range of readers in mind. The so-called "traditional "The person" means that it should not be passed on to outsiders. It is far away. Of course, it was only used by divinationists at first. Many years ago, it was already the Republic of China. I was still in a small county in Anhui when I heard someone preaching in the form of rap stories under kerosene lamps on the street at night. It seemed to be the "common talk" of the Tang Dynasty. The book was called "Xuan Shuo Sui Yi" , This can be said to be a book popularized by the common people. However, the emperor and noble ministers themselves did not listen to the set of "sacred edicts" of the emperor, nor did they plan to implement them. They were "sold" to the common people. This is probably a feudal society. A common phenomenon, both in China and India.

Most of the "sutras" in Buddhist literature are used for publicity and promotion. The "Amitabha Sutra" promotes "the world of ultimate bliss" and the "Miaofa Lotus Sutra" boasts "Dharma conch", and the "Pumen Pin" promotes "Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva rescues suffering and disaster", all of which are obviously used to expand publicity and attract believers.There are also four series of "Agama Sutra", "Great Collection Sutra", "Baoji Sutra" and even "Huayan Sutra" and "Prajna Sutra", most of which seem to be internal, but actually external.There are also "domestic sales" to "export sales", such as (the full name is "Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra", which was originally a summary-style formula, and even "Twelve Fated Births" only mentioned the first and last two, which shows that it is for internal use Probably because it says "overcome all suffering" and "can eliminate all suffering" and has mysterious mantras, it has become the scriptures chanted and applied everywhere, and it is also used to save the dead and do Buddhist ceremonies in the morning and evening. In addition, many biographies and "parables" stories about Buddha, including the famous "Hundred Metaphors" are propaganda materials for foreign countries. "Internal reading materials" are first of all the "law" sects have their own precepts, which are not allowed to be known to those who have not received precepts.It turned out that there were only some provisions ("precept book"), and the others should be passed on by word of mouth and not to the outside world.However, the precepts of some sects have also been translated.Faxian of the Jin Dynasty and Yijing of the Tang Dynasty were still "angry about the incompleteness of scriptures and laws", and went to the west to ask for the two factions.One got the "Maha Sangzhi Law", and the other got the "Fundamentally Everything Has a Law".In addition to the other two schools' "Four Parts Law", "Five Parts Law" and "Ten Chan Law", they are all huge works with dozens of volumes, not only the law texts, but also the cases.The Sanskrit originals of the two books translated by Fa Xian and Yi Jing have been discovered and published in recent years; unfortunately, I have not seen the books, and I wonder if there are so many Chinese translations.This kind of "not to be passed on outside" books is of course very interesting to readers who like literature and history, but some of them seem to "expose literature", which is indeed "not enough for outsiders".In addition to the "broken monk" in the law, there is also "Yi Bu Zonglun Lun" (two other translations) that describe the internal division of Buddhism into some mountain sects, and it will not be read by outsiders. Some of the theoretical monographs included in the "On" are actually dictionaries, such as "Abhidhamma Collection", or encyclopedias, such as "Abhidhamma Kashe Lun". "Kisha" means treasury, which in Modern Indian means dictionary.Some are encyclopedias in the form of annotations, such as "The Great Wisdom".Some are the complete works of the theory of this school, such as "Yogi's Discourse".There are also similar to these two kinds, such as "Fazhi Lun" and "Daviposha Lun".Some are theoretical monographs or formulas, such as "The Way of Liberation" (the Pali version is "The Theory of the Pure Way", "Bian Zhongbian Lun", "Thirty Treatises on Consciousness", "The Theory of Yin Ming Renzheng". Some are internal debate monographs , such as "Zhong Lun" and "Bai Lun". , and it is for Buddhists’ internal reference. These are targeted at a certain range of readers. The purpose of writing the book is not to popularize it, so the paper is full of terms, formulas, and controversial issues that outsiders often cannot see why.” "Experts understand it in their hearts, but laymen who are "not in the stream" are baffled. As for the scriptures and mantras of the Secret Department, they are of course internal, but their application is often external, in order to increase their momentum and enhance their mysterious status.what the hell is it?All books that are only for internal use, including the above-mentioned types, are not convenient for outsiders to tell about their contents.I dare not say I know it, and I dare not tell the outside world what I think I know; "There is a difference between inside and outside", if I say it, I am afraid that it will lead to "internal and external attacks", so why bother?Those who really want to know will bite the bullet and drill in, so that there is no way to get in, so I don't need to talk too much. Buddhist literature is generally divided into three collections of "sutras", "laws" and "luns". This is in terms of form, and it is often not the case to follow the name and seek the truth.For example, the "Langa Sutra" and "Unraveling the Deep Secret Sutra" actually talk about "theories" of religious philosophy, but are only "sutras" in form.Regardless of whether it is within or outside the religion, there should be a cataloged, deleted, deleted, classified, classified, and the sects of the Buddha or Bodhisattva that are worshiped should be marked, and the main philosophical systems should be separated without being bound by sectarian prejudices. Point out the main points of its content, explain the relationship between the books, and list the original or similar original books that have been published or to be published, as well as translations in various languages.In this way, the situation of the whole literature will be clearer.However, this matter is easier said than done. "My Buddha is merciful", maybe there will be such a book in the international academic circle in the 21st century?Maybe it already exists, but I don't know it because of my ignorance? It should be pointed out that Buddhist theories, like those of other religions, are not just empty talk, but practice. Many theories are related to practice.Of course, this is all internal learning, not external publicity.In the "Law", it not only talks about the history of the sect, but also talks about organizational discipline, and also talks about medicine for monks.There are also "Secret Essentials for Treating Zen Diseases" which uses psychological methods to treat mental illness, as well as some incantations for curing diseases and exorcising ghosts.These are all necessary for practicing Taoism in the mountains and forests.Of course, healing spells can also be used externally.Most of the life of a monk depends on charity from others, so "giving" is listed at the top of the "six paramitas".Buddhism is also very particular about practical effects, otherwise it would have been over, let alone spread outside India.As for why Buddhism died out in India and developed abroad, that is another question. Here I would also like to say a few words about the language of Chinese translations of Buddhist literature. When it comes to style, most of the Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures are from the Six Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and those who can read the articles at that time will not have great difficulties.The problem is its terminology or jargon.There is jargon in any line.If it is required that all books only speak the language used orally in daily life, so that everyone can understand it, such popularization can only cancel all professional professions, and it will not be possible.Industry, agriculture, commerce, studies, and soldiers all have their own jargon, why not religion?Science is also "interlaced like mountains".The basic symbolic unit of language is word, and each word has its own meaning, just like mathematical symbols, chemical element symbols, etc.However, Buddhism especially likes to use various terms and counts, which is also a custom in India.Their logic is also formulaic and digitalized.In order to transcend death, Buddhism has to go back to life and calculate the experience from conception to childbirth one by one. It seems that when talking about obstetrics, the analysis of psychology becomes more and more detailed.There are more and more titles of Buddha and Bodhisattva.From astronomy to geography, everything is involved.This is really like imposing an income tax on memory, which can be said to be deliberately hidden from laymen.The Chinese translations of the names are not uniform. For example, "Guanzizai" means "Guanyin", and "Wuyin" means "Five Aggregates".The most difficult thing is that some Indian idioms are also forced to be copied.In a "On" translated by Xuanzang (I forgot whether it was "Cheng Wei Consciousness Theory") suddenly appeared a sentence "Heaven loves to know...", God knows!Buddhism refers to the general god as "heaven", that is, the god of heaven. "The favorite of the gods" was originally Ashoka's title, but later it became an idiom, that is, a fool.This sentence is that the author got angry when he was arguing with the other party, saying "how can you know...".Xuanzang's literal translation in ancient Chinese was a bit mysterious.Fortunately, such places are still limited.If you just want to appreciate literary stories, it is not much more difficult than reading Six Dynasties.As for the "Four Noble Truths" and "Six Paradigms", they are just simplified symbols.Don't we now use symbolic words such as "three antis", "five antis", "rectification movement", "anti-rightist", "four modernizations" and so on, which cannot be understood literally?Once you know the meaning of that set of symbols, you are familiar with the formulas, and you don't have much difficulty in understanding the Buddhist language.However, if you want to talk about philosophy and practice, and understand what it is talking about, it still takes a little effort, just like learning mathematics, physics, chemistry, and a foreign language, you can't be impatient.Of course, if you just want to be qualitative, it's not difficult.As long as it is judged as subjective idealism or objective idealism, metaphysics still has some dialectical factors, and pure fideism still mixes some simple or mechanical materialistic factors, determine its historical background and class attributes, and point out its importance to the working people. The reactionary nature of deceiving and harming and serving the exploiting class, or checking with Duhring, Berkeley, Mach, Hegel, Kant, etc., is all right; anyway, the philosophy before Marxism is always reactionary, erroneous, That's the limitation.If you look at it simplistically, Buddhist literature is nothing more than "full of absurd words", which is open to criticism, but fortunately, the ancients in India will not fight back. There is one more thing to say. In 1976, Europe published a book "Research on Tibetan Grammatical Tradition", which raised a question: How can the Tibetan language, which is completely different from the Sanskrit language family, use the Sanskrit grammatical system to form its own grammar?From this, we naturally think that the structure of Chinese and Latin in "Ma Shi Wen Tong" is also very different. How can we use the format of Latin grammar to teach Chinese grammar?Is this the only one that uses the grammatical format of the Indo-European language family to speak Chinese?We always thought it was just a shoe that fits your feet, but hats can't be worn as shoes, right?Since it makes sense, there must be something in common (not necessarily the so-called "deep structure" in modern linguistics).Sanskrit and Sanskrit-Chinese translations can be used as a large amount of research material. Here is an example.Sanskrit has complex ending changes, but Chinese does not. However, Sanskrit compound words remove the endings of the preceding words.Sanskrit compound words are getting longer and longer, and they are more and more like ancient Chinese.The literal translation of Chinese into Sanskrit is just to cut off the tail of Sanskrit words, and this is already the case in Sanskrit compound words.Let me give an example without compound words.In the first sentence of the Buddhist scriptures, "I smell like this", in the last two words, the "I" in the original text is the declension "by me, by me", and "wen" is the past participle of passive meaning, neuter, singular, binary The combination of words is "by me".In ancient Chinese, "Wo Wen" can be used to express "what I have heard" according to the original meaning and order of the word, regardless of the original form change.The development trend of Sanskrit written language is to approach ancient Chinese, and the "lost" tail indicating the relationship between words becomes the "zero position" (mathematical term) or "xuyao" (divination term) to be supplemented in the other party's mind.At the same time, the development trend of spoken language, which has transformed from the so-called "colloquial language" to modern Indian language, is close to that of modern Chinese. The inflections of sex, number, and case are simplified or even lost, and words that express the relationship between words are added.This can be said to be an interesting phenomenon in the historical development of languages, but it seems that no one has seriously done comparative research. Chinese-translated Buddhist literature is not only a cultural heritage of our country, but also a cultural resource of India; if it is a kind of information left by ancient human culture, it will have more worldwide significance.Although there are still a large number of Tibetan translations and Indian originals (in addition to the Pali Tibetan scriptures, Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures also appear continuously), the importance of these Chinese translations has not diminished.Japan has published the "Tripitaka" in Chinese including Hongfu.The international academic community has studied these classics from many aspects.It is a pity that except for a few people in our country, they are indifferent to it, and even fewer people conduct modern scientific research on these documents, and some people still follow some old sayings at home and abroad when they mention them. New exploration of the problem has largely fallen on deaf ears.One of the reasons is that these documents translated in our own language look similar to foreign ancient Chinese, and we lack the conditions for comparative research between foreign countries using original texts and materials in multiple languages.For those who need to understand or are willing to study these documents, there is even a lack of introductory guidance that meets the requirements of modern people.Various classifications and catalogs are mostly based on traditional sectarian viewpoints, and cannot play the role of displaying content and guiding entry to laymen.Indexes and summaries, and descriptions in dictionaries are not of much help to the uninitiated.Although many books and articles on Buddhism cite classics, they often focus on drawing conclusions, rather than leading readers to independently explore the original materials from India.The collation and publication of Buddhist classics, except for storybooks such as the "Hundred Metaphors" (deleting the teachings and leaving only fables), I am afraid that after the proofreading and annotations are published one by one, it may not be possible without comprehensive introduction and guidance. Help general readers other than experts to dabble and understand.Chinese translations of original texts and Chinese discourses are often not strictly distinguished in my country (this is natural when studying Chinese Buddhism), and the relationship between various Chinese translations is rarely analyzed. This is also a scientific study of Chinese translations obstacle.The result is that it is easier to read foreigners' collation and discussion of Indian Buddhist scriptures than Chinese books, and even the study of Chinese translations of some original materials cannot be separated from foreign books.Of course, this is an international academic research, and foreigners have used modern methods to carry out gradual scientific research earlier than us. We should not be isolated from the international academic circle, but for Chinese translation documents, we should It is better to know more than foreigners.This part of our country's cultural heritage is different from other parts in that it is international. Therefore, it cannot be sorted out the same as the general sorting out of ancient books. The following steps are suggested for sorting out Buddhist Chinese translation documents: (1) cataloging, (2) classification, (3) problem solving, and (4) proofreading. (1) Cataloging: From Seng You's "Collecting of Tripitaka" (Liang, 5th century) to Lu Cheng's "Newly Compiled Chinese Tripitaka Catalogue" (1980, hereinafter referred to as "Lu Mu"), there are many Chinese and foreign ancient and modern For the catalog of Buddhist treasures, we can now use the latest "Lumu". The advantage of "Lü Mu" is that it is all numbered, the translated name, different translations, and translators are approved, and the basis is indicated, and the classification is relatively simple; the disadvantage is that the numbering only picks out suspicious and false ones, and does not attach those with different translations to the designated initial translation Or under the number of full translation, but still the same number, only add a horizontal line in front.Therefore, only the translations are counted, including 24 volumes of the suspected and false (1095-1111, 1498-1504) and 2 volumes of foreign theory (1112-1113). Although there are 1504 numbers, there are actually not so many volumes according to the original book.For example, 0001 "Great Treasure Accumulation Sutra" is equal to a series of books, as No. 1, 49 of which will be added with numbers in brackets, which is very good.However, since 0002 "Da Fang Guang San Jie Sutra" has "Consider Tong Bao Ji (1) San Lv Yi Hui", it can be labeled as 0001 (1) a and classified as No. 1.In this way, the numbers are merged, and the different translations of the same book are obvious, but the numbers are still not mixed. Another problem with "Lü Mu" is that there are no books, but it is self-contained, and it cannot be matched with any version, so you have to find another index to look up the book. The numbering method of "Lümu" is the same as that of "Taisho Cang" in Japan. Just add the "Taisho Cang" number to match the "Taisho" number that is often quoted in the world.Therefore, there is a "Lu Mu" for cataloging, and it only needs to be repaired, and there is no need to rebook.As for the "Taizheng Zang" that is lacking in "Lu Mu" (such as "King Kong Immortal Lun"), it can be added later. There is a table of contents that needs editing.In the past, there was a period in the world where the numbers of the Chinese, Sanskrit, and English bilingual catalogs of Fumio Nanjo of Japan were quoted.This book is too old. Before the Sanskrit version appeared in large numbers, people no longer quoted it.Although PCBagchi: LeCanonBuddhigueen Chine by Indian teacher Jueyue is relatively new and has been quoted, it is also outdated and can only be used for reference.There are many collections of "Sanskrit Buddhist Texts" (collection of 1959) by Yamada Ryujo, Japan, but there are explanations and annotations in the front, and supplements in the back, and there are still missing after 1960. The "Agam" part also needs to use the "Hanba Agama Contrast Record (with Sanskrit Section)" written by Tomoyoshi Akanuma in Japan, which is very inconvenient to use.If we compare the Sanskrit, Bahamian, and Chinese of these books, only the title and translator (attached with the "Lü Mu" number) will not be recorded or marked separately. A comparative index becomes a comparative bibliography.If we can add those published after 1960 (such as the new school edition "Hui Zhenglun"), and then include the unpublished manuscripts (checked out from the manuscript catalogs of various countries), it will become a convenient book for reference.Although this is only useful to a small number of people, at least it can prevent the transliteration of books that have already been translated into Chinese when reading or translating foreign language books. (2) Classification: This work is more complicated.All the scriptures and catalogs in the past, although they were based on different systems, all followed the division principle of Buddhist sects. There are few classifications of "Lu Mu", and it is explained that it is based on the theory of "Mahayana Lun", which is a theoretical system of "Faxiang Weishi Sect", which may not be accepted by other sects.Moreover, this still fails to break out of the circle of the Buddhist system, and now needs to be classified separately.To borrow the terminology of cultural anthropology (and also linguistics), the original classifications are all "emic" rather than "etic" (these two words are tentatively translated in this way) .What we need is a reclassification and cataloging of all of Tibet not in terms of Buddhism but in terms of religious studies or general cultural knowledge.This requires a general understanding of Tibet and a little knowledge of modern social sciences, and it is not difficult.Below I propose a rough ten-category method for reference: Legend of Buddha.This is similar to the legend of Christ in the "Four Gospels" of the "New Testament", and can also include legends about the disciples of Buddha, similar to the "New Testament Acts of the Apostles", but it is different from "The Family of Confucius" and "The Disciples of Zhongni" in "Historical Records". Biographies are the same in form but different in nature.This category only includes Sakyamuni and his disciples. Buddha's sayings or mantras.The most obvious is the "Dharma Sentence Sutra" ("Dharma Set Essentials Sutra") which is a collection of sentences.There are also some special explanations, such as "The Sutra of Daoqian".This category does not include most of the systematic scriptures and secret mantras.Those who promote beliefs are classified into another category, which only accepts reasoning. Church organization.Buddhism has strict organizational discipline, which is an important factor for its widespread spread.Fa Xian and Yi Jing both went to India to seek precepts.Each faction has its own way, and what is popular in China is each faction has its own way.After the "Baizhang Qing Regulations" (Yuan), temples in the Ming and Qing Dynasties mostly followed Zen.Many "laws" from India need to be classified according to the original sects.This is an important document for understanding Indian Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism, especially why China did not follow the same example (such as "repentance", "repentance", etc.) of "cultural transfer".Conducting research will of course also rely on the inspection of actual temple life.This category does not include books that are not about precepts in the "Vaya Collection", and mainly collects "precepts" and case studies. sect history.The information is scattered and needs to be arranged together.There are not only "Eighteen Parts Theory" and "The Fundamentals of Everything There is a Bu Vinaya Breaking the Monk's Affairs", but also "The Sutra of the Buddha's Advent and Nipvana", "Dang Lai Bian Sutra", "Dharma Endless Sutra", " "Fa Zhu Ji" and so on. religion.This is an external propaganda material, in which the main role is not theory but belief.For example, "Amitabha Sutra", "Miaofa Lotus Sutra", "Golden Light Sutra", "Diamond Sutra", "Bath Statue Merit Sutra", "Pagoda-Building Merit Sutra" and so on.This category does not include books that mainly focus on theory, such as the "Naxian Bhikkhu Sutra", which belongs to another category. religious literature.This is a literary form of religious belief, including a large number of stories.Such as "Bai Yu Jing", "Xian Yu Jing", "Da Zhuang Lun Jing" and so on. "Ashoka Sutra" and so on are also included.However, Ma Ming's long poem "Praise of the Buddha's Practice" should still be included in the "Legend of the Buddha" together with the great work "The Collection of Buddha's Practice", which is different from the classification of the original text.But "song" and "praise" can be included in this category. theoretical system.This category includes many, not only "theory" but also "sutras", such as "Entering the Lenga Sutra", "Unpacking the Deep Secret Sutra" and so on. Some books are more difficult if arranged according to the factions of the theoretical system, but easier if arranged according to the form of expression.Ordinarily, it should be divided into factions first, and then the books of each faction should be arranged in form; but it may not be possible to arrange them in reverse, first form and then faction.Some books on theories of other sects can be attached to this category. Practice method.This is the same as the book on precepts, which is meaningful to the study of "cultural transfer". There are not only the "Zen Sutra" and "An Pan Shou Yi Jing", but also the "Secret Essentials for Treating Zen Diseases".Some who talk about medicine can also be included.Buddhism emphasizes practice and practicality, but there are not many books on practice methods in a narrow sense, which is worth noting. Glossary of terms.Glossary of terms.Such as "Legal Names and Numbers Sutra", "Mahayana Abhidhamma Collection" and so on. Although "Ka She Lun" is an Indian-style vocabulary collection, it has become a huge encyclopedia-like system, and it should be regarded as a "theoretical system" and is not included in this category. "Bai Fa Ming Men Lun" mainly lists terms, which are still included in this category.However, it may be considered whether works explaining terms in theory and belief systems fall into this category. Secret Ritual.This is a huge category. "Lu Mu" has an income of 388 volumes, which is more than "Lü" and "Lun". "Lu Mu" classified most of them into the category of "miscellaneous spells" (299).These mantras need to be analyzed.It is possible to do preliminary research on Chinese translation documents, and then compare them with Tibetan translation materials, but we must pay attention to this aspect of research in the world.Since the 1920s, some people have sorted out and studied the documents of secret sects in India, and some people continued to do this work in the early 1980s.The Mahayana (Shiva) sect of Kashmir (Kashmira) and the sect of worshiping his wife and mother in Bangladesh have attracted much attention.Both regions border China.There are also some people studying the secret sects in South India, which is not unrelated to the Buddhist Tantra that Bukong King Kong (Tang Dynasty) learned from Shizi Kingdom (Sri Lanka).However, because the documents themselves are obscure and the actual situation must be investigated, there are many comparisons, not only the various folk sects in India, but also the sects of the Han, Tibetan, and Mongolian in China, as well as Taoism in China and world religions. There are many secret or public religious rituals in the world that incorporate witchcraft, so this scientific research, although important, has not progressed much.However, it is not very difficult to just sort out the Chinese translations (some of the original texts are actually spelled in Chinese characters). You only need to have some knowledge of language and anthropology to do it. The above categories are just assumptions.There is another problem here: the ancient people did not write books according to our model, they had their own model, so a book can fall into more than one category.I think you can use the "see" method.If each part of a book can be divided into categories, you can indicate the relevant part in "Reference".No examples are given here. (3) Problem solving: This is the most difficult task, and there are several ways to do it.There is no need to redo the explanations of titles like Zhixu's "Yue Zang Zhi Lv" and Ono Xuanmiao's "Buddhist Commentary Dictionary".It is "inside", and it is for the knowledgeable (or "ordained") to read.Now there must be an "external" approach.Here are two ideas for how to do it. The first is simple.In general, it is necessary to point out the nature, form, main points of content, document status (relationship with other books), social function (role in Chinese social history), reading method, etc. of this book, but not every book explains everything. Now, each item only needs to talk about the main points.Some books are big, but say little, and some books are small, but say a lot.For example, there are 120 volumes in the "Great Treasure Accumulation Sutra". It is enough to point out that there are 49 "huis" in total, which are actually a series of books, and many "huis" have separate translations, which can be viewed separately.For example, the "Amitabha Sutra", which belongs to the "religious belief" category, is not large in itself, but it needs to combine several sutras of "Jingshi" for explanation.And it should be pointed out that, judging from the published original, this is just a religious propaganda material with literary meaning, but it has exerted a great social influence in China and has become a classic of a major sect, and it has spread to the society. All classes, until modern times.As for the reasons for its popularity, such as Amitabha's great "vow", the depiction of the "Ultimate Land" in the West, and the Indian religious customs from which "name holding" (chanting Buddha) comes, needless to say.Another example is that there are only more than 200 words, but the number of words to solve the problem must be more than it anyway.This sutra mainly belongs to the category of "secret rituals", but it lists the important teachings of Buddhism in the form of oral formulas, and is widely used in China.Monks worship Buddha and recite it, and the dead also recite it; it is mentioned many times in novels, and it has become a symbolic classic.Form, content and function cannot fail to be mentioned. The second is traditional.This can be said to be an expansion of the simplified formula.For example, to solve a problem, it is necessary to say that "Prajna Paramita" in the full name "Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra" is independent from "Six Paramita", and the original meaning has been greatly developed.它称为“心”确是核心，由此可以扩大到佛教的全部理论和实践，甚至可以涉及到印度社会思想的历史发展全貌，从分析世界到神秘主义。还可指出其中的三个层次：理论体系，人（菩萨、佛）咒。由于有梵文原本，又有汉字音译对照本，所以文本词句明确。至于它所产生的社会影响，可能是由于其三层次中分别提出的“度一切苦厄”，“无有恐怖”，“能除一切苦”语句；而且咒语神秘，经文简短，容易背诵；同时又归之于“观自在”即“救苦救难”的观世音，这和《妙法莲华经·普门品》也联系起来。繁式的解题可以因书而异，以少驭繁，以详释略。 无论哪一式都不必每部经都解释。例如《比丘避女恶名欲自杀经》，简式即可不提，繁式也只要指出内容反映印度社会一角和佛教的应付办法就够了。又如《父母恩难报经》、《孝子报恩经》照题目说应当适合古代中国人口味，却不见流行。如是则简式可不提，繁式也只要指出这一点便可。 解题不是提要，想知道内容可以查《阅藏知津》。难在要从各类中找出互相关联的体系，分别发现其中主要典籍，提纲挈领，有详有略，而不是逐本书地去讲解，因此这是最难的一步工作。这需要“辨章学术，考镜源流”。 （4）校注。一般整理古籍都落实到这一步，但是对于佛藏却不然。究竟应该校注哪些书，这一要看给什么人用，二要看书的性质。这不是为普及的，也不是为提高的，很难定什么书需要校刊，要注些什么。就书而言，可以有几种分别：一是分别有无相应的原文本（不见得那就是翻译底本），二是分别汉译文好不好，三是区别在中国起的社会作用大小，四是区别在佛教或印度社会思想中的地位轻重。照这样的区别以定校注什么。 校注形式要现代化，要标点、分段、注明术语，眉目清楚。这样做，最好是有原文本的，用来一对照就清楚得多，原文往往比译文还容易读此。 有个问题是，原书很重要而汉译不好又流行不广的书怎么办。例如《法句经》是在世界上非常流行的，谈佛教的几乎是人人知道；巴利语原文是朴素的格言诗，书中的“诸恶莫做，众善奉行”，“诸行无常，诸法无我”散见各处，已成流行口诀；但这书汉译本却不流行。是否要校注译本（有几个本子）？也许应当有现代语新译本？ 校注不是技术性问题，要考虑刊行目的和社会效果。对专门研究者说无此必要，因为读这些书若没有传授入门，不了解实际情况，有校注也得不到多少帮助。若只研究在中国历史上起过作用的哲学宗派典籍，那是中国哲学史家的事。这里讲的是从比较文化角度着眼的考察，不是整理旧书，不是只讲哲学，不能脱离宗教实际。所以是否校注，可以最后考虑。 以上说法难免有片面性和荒谬之处，不过是“野人献芹”而已。