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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s4: Dictionaries

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s4

Language
English

Contents

Dictionaries

Sanskrit-Tibetan Dictionary

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Tibetan: sgra bye brag brtogs byed chen mo; pinyin: Fayi mingyi daji.

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This is one of the earliest dictionaries compiled and used for reference in translating Buddhist scriptures in China. The Chinese characters (翻译名义大集) for it mean *A Great Collection of Sanskrit Terms with Definitions in Tibetan for Reference in Translation*. In early 9ᵗʰ century CE, Kride Zukzain, then tsampo or king of Tibet, recruited Indian and Tibetan Buddhist scholars to collate terms already translated into Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and compiled a Sanskrit-Tibetan Buddhist vocabulary. More than 9,000 entries divided into 285 categories were collected into the vocabulary which has since served as a standard dictionary in Buddhist translation and studies. Later on, it was included into the *bostan gyur* or the *sastra* section of the Tibetan *tripitaka*. In modern times, a separate edition of the dictionary was published by the Beijing Nationalities Publishing House in 1992.

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'A Great Collection of Sanskrit Terms with Definitions in Tibetan for Reference in Translation (Fanyi mingyi daji)'

Nighantu

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Nighantu (ni-jian-tu/尼犍茶) was an ancient work on Indian lexicology which is equal to modern synonym dictionary. Nighantu had multiple names such as Ni-jian-tu ('尼犍茶') and Ni-jian-tu ('尼建图') in Chinese translation with different characters for the last syllable 'tu'. This work of Nighantu had five chapters that generally include the list of synonyms, homonyms and names of gods and deities etc. It was one of the ancient linguistic works and was the fundamental reference book for Brahmins to learn Sanskrit. It has been recorded in the 54th volume of *A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras Selections* (translated by Xuanzang) that Brahmins were proficient in linguistics, literature and other classics such as *Nighantu*, *Ketubha Shastra*, *Shastra of Classification*, *Itihasa*, and the *Vyākarana of Five Attributes and Lokayata Shastra* etc. The fourth volume of the *Lalitavistara Sutra* translated by Divakara in the Tang Dynasty listed various kinds of miscellaneous techniques and talents that includes linguistic books such as *Nighantu*, *Nirukta* and *Siksa* etc.

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According to the information available about these two items of *Nighantu* and *Ketubha Shastra* recorded in the 13th volume of the *Sound and Meaning of All Sutras*, both the above works (*Nighantu* and *Ketubha Shastra*) were regarded as “secular and wise books of heretical nature”.

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The 15ᵗʰ volume of *Abhidharma-Jnanaprasthana-mahavibhasa-sastra* written by 500 Arhats and translated by Xuanzang mentioned that “one word had multiple meanings in Nighantu” written by ancient wise men. Further, the fifth volume of *Explanations on Mahayana-samuparigraha-sastra* written by Sunyata Bodhisattva and translated by Xuanzang mentioned that “one thing had multiple names in Nighantu”. All this show that *Nighantu* collected different names of synonyms. The explanation was consistent with actual conditions of which Nighantu was the earliest extant book in India.

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(*Chen Ming*)

Siddharastu

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*Siddharastu* It was a set of ancient Indian teaching materials for the beginners to learn Sanskrit, explaining the grammatical knowledge of Sanskrit phonetics and fundamentals such as Sanskrit letters, combinations of initials and finals and some newly formulated coherent words etc. It is said that ‘Siddharastu’ was made by Brahman. The Chinese term ‘Xi-tan’ (“悉昙”) is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word Siddha and its other transliterations in Chinese are– Xi tan (“悉檀”, “悉谈”) and Si tan (“肆昙”) etc. The Sanskrit term Siddham means achievement, attainment, auspiciousness and peaceful abiding. It has been recorded in volume

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Sanskrit text of Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya/Heart Sūtra (Bore xinjing) in Siddham script

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two of the *Traveling Notes of the Western Regions in the Great Tang Dynasty* that the most useful materials for the Indians to learn Sanskrit were incorporated in chapter 12 of the book Siddharastu which also had an enlightened message. The fourth chapter titled *Learning Dharma in the West* of Yi Jing’s *An Account of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Sea* pointed out that Siddharastu occupies the first place among the five main Shabdavidya (sheng-ming lun) works. The Chinese term Xi-tan-zhang (《悉谈章》) is also otherwise named Xi-di-luo-su-du (《悉地罗窣覩》)– the transliteration of the Sanskrit book - Siddharastu. The title also stands for the chapter to begin with and it means "achievement" and "auspiciousness". It is a specialised book of 18 chapters containing 49 Sanskrit letters as the fundamental ones and large number of words and vocabularies formed out of series of mutual combinations. It had over 300 slokas with over 10,000 words in total. Children of the age of six can finish reading Siddharastu within a time period of six months. Yi Jing believed that this book was used by Maheśvara while teaching. Along with the spread and propagation of Buddhism in China during late Han Dynasty, Siddharastu and other relevant texts were introduced to China, and the texts that was exposed earlier were all about the 14 Sanskrit sounds (14 Sanskrit initials) and 42 syllables (42 alphabets). Siddharastu propagated by Hui Yuan was also known as *Siddharastu of Script of Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra* which was quite popular in most of the areas of the land. Multiple transcripts (S.4583, P.2204, P.2212, P.3082 and P.3099 etc.) of Siddharastu have been unearthed in Dun Huang cave with different titles such as *Popular Siddharastu* and *Chan Siddharastu of Lankavatara Sutra Preached by Buddha* etc. Many monks and men of letters studied *Siddharastu* in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhist masters such as Xuanzang, Yi Jing, Buddhapālita and Kong Hai propagated *Siddharastu* and Indian monks including Bao Yue and Nanda also orally propagated it. The Chinese monk Zhi Guangshi learned *Siddharastu* from South Indian *Tripitaka Prajna-bodhi* and wrote a book named *Records of the Siddham Script*.

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Yi Jing in the preface to his work titled *One Thousand Sanskrit Words* said that people can begin to translate Buddhist sutras after learning *Siddharastu*, the *One Thousand Sanskrit Words* and few other Sanskrit lessons. After the introduction of Siddharastu into China, Chinese scholars mixed language, religion and cultural knowledge of China and India, and brought out some integrated philosophical works that included some Buddhist doctrines on the basis of their linguistic study. All this led to the growth of a unique field of study and research that came to be known as the Siddham Studies (Siddham Science). The Chinese *Siddham Studies* (science) can be regarded as a new paradigm with marked innovations that were considerably influenced by Indian culture. The growth and propagation of *Siddham Studies* in China was not only closely linked to the local Buddhist schools such as Fa-xiang School, Hua-yan School, Tantrism, Tian-tai School and Chan School etc, but it exerted considerable influence on translation of the Buddhist *sutra*, propagation and learning of the Sanskrit words and development of Chinese characters. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the merger of the study of Siddharastu with Chinese phonology led to the research and compilation of famous works such as Zhao Huanguang's *An Account of Siddharastu* and Zhou Chun's *Profound Treatise on Siddharastu* etc. Aside from its effect on the growth of Chinese phonology, *Siddharastu* also affected the growth of rhythm of the poems and prose poems composed by eminent scholars and poets of that period. After the knowledge of *Siddham* studies (science) was propagated by envoys (monks seeking Dharma) in the Tang Dynasty into Japan, the Japanese monk An Ran in the Heian period (794-1185/1192 CE), wrote representative works of *Siddham* science named *Siddham Treasure in Japan* which further led to the expansion and popularity of ancient Indian culture in different areas of east Asia.

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(*Chen Ming*)

Shabdavidya Sastra

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*Shabdavidya Shastra* (Shengming lun声明论) was an ancient Indian linguistic work that refers to Pāõini-Såtra of Pāõini. The entry of "learning dharma in the West" in the fourth volume of *An Account of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Sea* recorded that the work of Vyakarana consists of five categories of secular books in India, *Siddharastu, Såtra* (Pāõini-Sātra), *Dhàtu, Tri-khila* and *Vçtti-såtra*. These five books were equal to the five Confucian classics and they were actually the Indian linguistic works. Volume 3 in *A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great* Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang translated the book's name of Vyàkaraõa into *Treatise on Sounds and the Structure of Sanskrit* which could explain all things comprehensively. Thus, it was named Treatise on *Sounds and the Structure of Sanskrit*. In Indian *Shabdavidya* works, Dhàtu discussed on meta character specifically, verb root or *dhàtu*. Tri-khila meant three kinds of appendices and included *Aùñadhàtu* with 1,000 *slokas* which was also named *Treatise on Eight Cycles*; *Muõóa* with 1,000 *slokas*; *Uõàdi-dhàtu* with 1,000 *slokas* (Uõàdi). The main grammar contents explained "seven cases" (seven change forms of noun) and "la-kara" (10 changes of Sanskrit verb), and "eighteen verb endings" (18 verb endings in Sanskrit), "twenty one changes" (21 changes singular, dual and plural changes of noun declension) and so on. A 10-year-old boy could understand meanings after having diligently studied these three kinds of appendices for three years. *Vàrttika-Sûtra* with 18,000 *slokas* was the annotation book of *Pàõini-Sûtra*. A 15-year-old boy could also understand profound meanings after having studied these for five years. After studying *Vàrttika-Sûtra*, Chinese monks seeking dharma could read other Indian classics, thus making it to be a very important fundamental grammar book. *Vàrttika-Sûtra* needed annotation books itself, *Cårõi* with 24,000 *slokas* by the scholar Pantanjali was such a book, *Cårõi* was *Vyàkaraõamahàbhàùya* and its function was equal to *Spring and Autumn Annals* and *Book of Changes*. The annotation books of *Cårõi* included *Mahàbhàùya-ñãka* (*Mahàbhàùya-dãpikà*) of the great scholar Bhartçhari which had 25,000 *slokas*. Moreover, *Vàkyapadãya* made by Bhartçhari had 700 *gathas* of *slokas* and 7,000 *gathas* of explanations. *Gathas* of Prakãrnaka had 3,000 *slokas* which was written by Bhartçhari; its explanations had 14,000 *gathas* which were written by Dharmakathika Dharmapàla. *Prakãrnaka* was regarded as a famous grammar book in Sanskrit which "could solve various riddles of the language." Ancient Indians could read from *Siddharastu* to *Prakãrnaka* and be proficient in this series of linguistic books, so that they could thus claim to be the "masters of *shabdavidya*" which could be compared to "successful candidates in Imperial Examination" after reading "the nine classics", including *Rites of the Zhou Dynasty* and classics of 100 Schools of Thought.

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