| 초록 |
The scriptures of early Buddhism were transmitted in various colloquial languages, e.g. Pāli. Probably, many of the early Mahāyāna scriptures were transmitted originally in such languages as well, e.g. Gāndhārī, which were later “translated” gradually into (Buddhist) Sanskrit.The name of the popular Mahāyāna Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara, appears as Avalokitasvara (“One Who Beholds / Observes Sounds”?) in the older Sanskrit fragments of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra from Central Asia, dating probably to the 5th or 6th century. In the corresponding portions of the Gilgit manuscripts, dating probably to the 7th century, the so-called “Kashagar” manuscript(actually from Khotan), dating probably to the 8th century and the Nepalese manuscripts, dating from the 11th century onwards, we find the form Avalokiteśvara instead. When we turn our attention to the Chinese translations of this Bodhisattva's name, we can, in fact, trace the change from Avalokitasvara to Avalokiteśvara. From the second century until the beginning of the fourth, his name was rendered as kuiyin 闚音 (“Sound-Observer”), jianyinsheng 見音聲 (“[One Who] Sees Sounds”), guangshiyin 光世音 (“Sounds of the World of Light”) and guanshiyin 觀世音 (“[One Who] Observes Sounds of the World”). From the last one, a shortened form was coined in order to fit the verses, namely guanyin 觀音 (“[One Who] Observes Sounds”), which became very popular throughout East Asia. All of these forms, containing yin 音 (“sound”), correspond with the older Indic form Avalokitasvara (“One Who Beholds/Observes Sound”?), which has svara (“sound”) at its end. From the sixth century onwards, totally different forms started appearing. Firstly, guanshizizai 觀世自在 (“[One Who has] Sovereignty for Observing the World”), a mixture of the old name guanshiyin 觀世音 together with a new element zizai 自在, after which Xuanzang 玄奘 made another new translation, namely guanzizai 觀自在 (“[One Who has] Sovereignty for Observing”). These two new forms, containing zizai 自在 (“master of one's self” = Skt. īśvara), correspond clearly to the Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara.From these facts, it is clear that the form Avalokitasvara is more authentic. However, as sound is not to be beheld, this name is also strange in Sanskrit.In the Samantamukha-parivarta (普門品) of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, or the Lotus Sutra, the powers of the Bodhisattva are described in detail. However, the descriptions of the Bodhisattva, who is said to rescue people in danger, differ totally between the prose portion and the verses. Namely, in the former, people in danger are rescued by “calling upon” him or by “pronouncing his name”, while in the verse part, they are delivered by “thinking of” him. The contrast is, in short, as follows: in the prose part, his name and powers are related to svara (“sound, voice”), while, in the verses, they are related to smara (“the action of thinking of”).In Gāndhārī, svara means both “sound” (= Sanskrit svara) and “thinking, memory” (= Sanskrit smara). Therefore, probably, Avalokitasvara had been understood in Gāndhārī as “One Who Observes Thinking” as in the Samantamukha-parivarta verses. However, much later on, when this colloquial language was replaced by Sanskrit, svara was no longer understood to mean “thinking; memory” and people began to regard the name literally as “One Who Observes Sound” as can be found in the prose part of the same chapter.If we think about the compound Avalokitasvara, “One Who Observes Thinking” may be a more reasonable interpretation of the name, as sounds or voices are not to be beheld.Also, when we consider the “Pensive” Avalokitasvara images from Gandhāra, the name “One Who Observes Thinking” is much more suitable than “One Who Observes Sounds”. |
