Chapter 9 The first section talks about "solemnity"

The word "solemn" was not finalized until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.In Xun Yue (AD 148-209), it is recorded in the "Han Ji" Volume 14 "Wu Di Ji": "The (South Vietnam) king and queen mother are all solemn and will enter the court." But Ban Gu (AD 32-92) ) and others wrote the same thing in the "Han Shu" Volume 95 "The Biography of Nanyue", writing: "The king and the queen mother order their luggage." However, as soon as the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties came, there were many examples in the documents. .It can be seen outside the Buddhist scriptures, such as "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty Liu Kuan Biography": "The solemnity is over after serving the court meeting"; "Shishuoxinyu Fangzheng": "The maiden is solemn"; Flowery and solemn"; the word "solemn" is used in the above-quoted sentences, all of which have the meaning of "dressing up, adorning, and embellishing".It seems that the purpose of "solemnity" is not only to beautify and express oneself, but to make people see a tidy, serious and beautiful appearance in public places that need to be dealt with seriously.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the word appeared more frequently in Buddhist scriptures than in foreign ones, because it was used to free-translate Sanskrit vyuha (such as some translations in the "Diamond Sutra"), or ala mkrta (such as "The Fundamentals") when translating Buddhist scriptures. It is said that everything has a part of Vinaya Pomona), or bhusita (such as "Kisha Lun") and so on.According to the part of speech, according to modern grammatical analysis, the translated word "solemn" has two natures: noun and verb, that is, there are two usages in sentences, and the meanings are slightly different.Nominal, it seems that it originally refers to a magnificently decorated state with Buddhist characteristics, such as the "Amitabha Sutra" said: "The Land of Ultimate Bliss, the achievements are so solemn"; or it refers to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, etc. It shows an overall exquisite grandeur and grandeur from the heart to the exterior and even the environment, such as the "Prajna solemnity" analyzed in Volume 8 of "The Great Wisdom", the various solemnities of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (17 kinds of solemnity, 29 kinds of solemnity, etc.) ), and the "Four Kinds of Necklaces" mentioned in the first volume of "Dafang et al.As a verb, it refers to engaging in this kind of solemnity, and is also used for appearance modification, physical and mental purification, and environmental arrangement (including various living and non-living things, architecture, and indoor utensil placement, etc.).From this point of view, the use of this word in Buddhist scriptures has a much deeper meaning than that in other scriptures.

The words in the Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures, especially those in the free translation, are often extended to the spoken language and ordinary written language, and after popularization and popularization, the meanings often tend to be superficial.Therefore, it may be inferred that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, early Buddhist translators combined the two synonyms "Zhuang" and "Yan" when translating scriptures, and created this free translation word to summarize the above-mentioned deep and complicated words. The meaning of the word is then introduced into the popular spoken language through the development of ordinary people in the city.The usage like Xun Yue's seems to be a deliberate use of a new foreign word to replace the old local word "ordering", just like our contemporary youth who use "bye, bye!"Although this kind of inference is bolder, there is a possibility of its establishment.In short, it is said that during this period, there are more documentary evidences of "solemnity" in the inner canon and Buddhist records than in the outer canon.Just talking about the great translator Kumarajiva, among the Buddhist scriptures he translated, there are three books with this word in their titles: "Adorned Bodhisattva Sutra", "Great Adornment Theory" and "Le Yingluo Adorned Sutra".That can only be understood according to the theoretical meaning of Buddhism.As for the transformation of the meaning of "solemn" into the general "seriousness" and its general use, that may be a matter of later generations.