Re: [INDOLOGY] Udānavarga verses from the Tibetan

[Dan Lusthaus]

My English translations are fairly literal renderings of the Chinese.

Dan

> On Apr 24, 2019, at 3:13 PM, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> What is the basis of the English translation, Sanskrit, Tibetan or Chinese?
> 
> Madhav
> 
> On Wed, Apr 24, 2019 at 10:29 AM Dan Lusthaus via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
> Dear  all,
> 
> This is only slightly off point. While the  Sanskrit version and the 
> Tibetan are in accord, the Chinese poses a different verse in place of 
> the weaver stanza; it is the strings of a musical instrument, not a 
> piece of fabric, that are snapped.
> 
> The earliest Chinese translation of the corresponding verses is by Zhu 
> Fonian in 374 CE (T 212), which  reads.
> 
> 猶如張綜，
> 以杼投織，
> 漸盡其縷，
> 人命如是。
> Just as stretching out and weaving together,
> in order to throw the loom's shuttle through the weave,
> gradually exhausts its threads,
> human life is like this.
> 
> 猶如死囚，
> 將詣都市，
> 動向死道，
> 人命如是。
> Just as a prisoner [about to] die,
> will be brought through the entire town,
> moving toward the street of his death,
> human life is like this.
> --
> 
> 
> The version included on the Bibliotheca Polyglotta site (T 213), the 
> last of several Chinese renderings, was tr. by Tian Xizai ca. 985 CE, 
> fairly late for a Chinese translation. The weaving verse does not 
> appear, but in its place is a musician: the strings of a musical 
> instrument are severed, rather than threads:
> 
> 如人彈琴瑟 具足衆妙音
> 絃斷無少聲 人命亦如是 11
> Just as a person strumming a chin-se (Chinese "lute")
> fully embodies a plethora of wondrous tones,
> If the instrument's strings are cut there isn't even the tiniest of sounds.
> A person's life is also like this.
> 
> 如囚被繋縛 拘牽詣都市
> 動則向死路 壽命亦如是 12
> Just as a prisoner bound in fetters
> is dragged through all the town,
> moving toward the street of his execution,
> [a person's] life-span is also like this.
> 
> 
> In the series of "a person's life is also like this" stanzas, regardless 
> of version, there is no mention of a spider.
> 
> regards,
> 
> Dan Lusthaus
> 
> 
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> -- 
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus
> Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan
> [Residence: Campbell, California]
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