新譯華嚴經七處九會頌釋章 1.13

1.13

問曰：以何知然耶？答曰：案儼法師《雜孔目》云「依大慈恩寺《華嚴梵本》檢有五百四十一紙葉，五十七字以為一行，二十行為一紙葉。一紙葉背面二千二百八十字，十紙計當二萬二千八百字。三十二字以為一頌，一百紙當二十二萬八千字，三十二萬為萬頌。五百四十一紙計當一百二十三萬三千四百八十字，依三十二字為頌，計當四萬一千九百八十頌餘十字。」案云：由此明知梵本文字其數減少，唐翻譯時字數增多，是故依梵本經計頌數時四萬一千九百八十頌餘有十字；依唐譯經計頌數時合四萬五千頌。相傳云：《金剛般若》梵本有一紙許，唐翻譯時多紙多字。此亦如是。今云梵本經者，非支法領得三萬六千偈梵本，唯依實叉難陀得四萬五千偈梵本經也。

Question: How is this known to be so? Answer: Master Zhiyan's Miscellaneous Compendium states: "According to an examination of the Sanskrit text of the Avataṃsaka at the Great Cien Monastery, there are five hundred forty-one leaves, with fifty-seven syllables to a line and twenty lines to a leaf. The front and back of one leaf have two thousand two hundred eighty syllables; ten leaves correspond to twenty-two thousand eight hundred syllables. Thirty-two syllables make one verse; one hundred leaves correspond to two hundred twenty-eight thousand syllables, and three hundred twenty thousand syllables make ten thousand verses. Five hundred forty-one leaves correspond to an estimated one million two hundred thirty-three thousand four hundred eighty syllables; reckoning thirty-two syllables as a verse, this corresponds to forty-one thousand nine hundred eighty verses and ten-odd syllables." Examining this: from this it is clearly known that the text of the Sanskrit original is fewer in syllables, whereas upon translation in the Tang the number of characters increased; therefore, when calculating the number of verses according to the Sanskrit sūtra, there are forty-one thousand nine hundred eighty verses and ten-odd syllables; when calculating the number of verses according to the Tang translation, it totals forty-five thousand verses. Tradition says: "The Sanskrit text of the Diamond Prajñā consists of about one leaf, but upon translation in the Tang, it became many leaves and many characters." This is also like that. What is now called the Sanskrit sūtra is not the thirty-six-thousand-verse Sanskrit text obtained by Zhi Faling, but solely relies on the forty-five-thousand-verse Sanskrit sūtra obtained by Śikṣānanda.