Reviews Of Diffeent Books

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
problems in the interpretation of the Tibetan translation. In 2.4 he notes that the meaning of Tibetan mi sro ste is problematical. In PPU 39 bsros renders Sanskrit vyākhyātam and the Bod-rgya tshig-mdzod chen-mo (Beijing 1985) explains sro-ba with yid-kyis bgran-bśer byed pa 'to compare in one's mind'. In 3.6 Tibetan dgra zin renders Sanskrit samasama. Hartmann remarks that Tibetan zin is not understandable but according to the Bodrgya tshig-mdzod chen-mo zin has the meaning gñen 'friend'. In 6.29 Tibetan lam mal than chad smra ba rnams renders Sanskrit ekāmśavādinah. The meaning of lam mal than chad is obscure. Hartmann remarks that than chad is unknown, but Chos-grags explains than-chad-pa as meaning naldub-pa 'to be tired'. In 10.10 Tibetan ston ka'i chu bo sun 'byin pa renders Sanskrit saratsalilahasini. Hartmann renders the Tibetan text as "mit den Herbstfluten überströmen" (?), but sun 'byin-pa means 'to refute, to disapprove'. Probably the Tibetan translator thought that hasini here means 'to laugh at', 'to mock'. In 10.19 kham pa renders ardhabimba. According to Hartmann kham pa is unknown in this meaning. However, zla-ba kham-pa is found in the dictionaries, cf. Jäschke p. 491a, Das p. 1099b. .
Shackleton Bailey's edition of the VAV is superseded by Hartmann's edition but the same cannot be said of his translation. Where both editions have the same text, it is interesting to compare the translations by Shackleton Bailey (SB) and Hartmann. In quite a few instances, the former is to be preferred. For instance, 2.14:
anatāya namas tubhyam namaskārārhate 'rhate bhāvato 'stu bhavābhāvabhāvanābhāvitātmane /
Shackleton Bailey translates:
To thee, unbending one, the Arhat deserving of homage, whose soul was developed by meditation on existence and non-existence, in reverence hail! Hartmann has:
Dem Ungebeugten, dir, dem Verehrungswürdigen, dem Arhat, sei vom Existentiellen her Verehrung, dem, dessen Selbst entfaltet ist durch die Entfaltung der Nichtexistenz des Werdens!
Hartmann is correct in his translation of bhavabhāva but what is the meaning of "vom Existentiellen her Verehrung”? Shackleton Bailey follows the Tibetan translation which renders bhāvato by gus par "in reverence". As Hartmann indicates there is a play on words in bhavatas - bhavaabhāva – bhāvanā – bhāvita but this does not imply that bhāvatas has to be translated in accordance with the meaning of abhāva.
In 2.70 yate is a vocative "Oh ascetic!" (SB) and not a dative “dem Asketen". In 9.22 vyasanaprabhavan bhavān are not "Existenzen, die aus