What is the basis of the English translation, Sanskrit, Tibetan or Chinese?
Madhav
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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