A quick look at different translations of the Medicine Buddha’s fifth vow.
第五願者使我來世發大精進淨持戒地令无濁穢慎護所受令无𡙇犯亦令一切戒行具足堅持不犯至无為道。
There is also a translation found in T1331 which renders the fifth vow as:
第五願者,使我來世發大精進,淨持戒地令無濁穢,慎護所受令無缺犯,亦令一切戒行具足,堅持不犯至無為道。
The next translation is T0449 :
第五大願:願我來世得菩提時,若有眾生於我法中修行梵行,此諸眾生無量無邊,一切皆得不缺減戒,具三聚戒,無有破戒趣惡道者。
T0450 from Tang Xuan Zang, who renders it thus: 第五大願:願我來世得菩提時,若有無量無邊有情,於我法中修行梵行,一切皆令得不缺戒,具三聚戒。設有毀犯,聞我名已,還得清淨,不墮惡趣。
Then we have T0451, translated by Yijing: 第五大願:願我來世得菩提時,若諸有情,於我法中修行梵行,一切皆令得不缺戒,善防三業,無有毀犯、墮惡趣者。設有毀犯,聞我名已,專念受持,至心發露,還得清淨,乃至菩提。
Here are two English translations probably done in NYC around the 1970s or 80s. These two translations are very widely distributed in print and online. It would be fair to say that an English speakers first encounter with this sutra would be one of these.
The first is a translation by Minh Thành & P.D. Leigh:
I vow that in a future life, when I have attained Supreme Enlightenment, I will help all the countless sentient beings who cultivate the path of morality in accordance with my Dharma to observe the rules of conduct (Precepts) to perfection, in conformity with the Three Root Precepts. Even those guilty of disparaging or violating the Precepts will regain their purity upon hearing my name, and avoid descending upon the Evil Paths.
Here is another:
I vow that when I attain enlightenment in a future age, if there are limitless and boundless sentient beings who cultivate and practice the pure conduct of my teaching, I will cause them all to be able to follow perfectly the rules of conduct and be complete in the three cumulative precepts. Those who slander and offend will, after hearing my name, be able once again to attain purity, and they will not sink to a woeful existence.
Here is CTTB’s version which would have also been done sometime around the 1970’s or maybe the early 80s:
I vow that in a future life when I attain Bodhi, I shall enable limitless and boundless numbers of sentient beings who cultivate Brahma conduct within my Dharma to perfectly uphold the three clusters of precepts without exception. Should there be any violation, upon hearing my name, they will regain their purity and not fall into the evil destinies.
The Buddha’s Light translation from 2002 renders the fifth vow as:
“In a future lifetime, upon my enlightenment, may sentient beings beyond number practice wholesome living and uphold all precepts according to my teachings. Through the commitment to actualize the Dharma, may they accomplish the Tri-Vidhani Silani (three categories of bodhisattva precepts). When beings violate any precept, their purity can be restored and they can avoid falling into the suffering realms simply upon hearing my name.”
Of course one could comment on the grammar and spelling, but it is more interesting to notice that they chose to transliterate the Sanskrit phrase. The term here ‘Tri-Vidhani Silani’ is 三聚戒. So what they actually did is back translate the Chinese, and then Romanize the Sanskrit term and give the meaning in parenthesis. A strange choice, especially because this is the only place in the translation that they did this.
In 2022 Buddha’s Light put out a new translation:
“I vow that in the future, when I attain bodhi, if there are limitless, boundless sentient beings who practice the discipline of purity according to my teachings, I will cause them to obtain the complete precepts, the entirety of the Three Categories of Pure Precepts. If they violate the precepts, they will regain their purity and avoid descending into the lower realms upon hearing my name.”
Overall, the revised translation is better, though I feel like it is redundant to say “obtain the complete precepts, the entirety of the Three Categories of Pure Precepts.”
Among all the English translations I looked at, only these two from Buddha’s Light use that sentence structure for the last line. In all the other translations I looked at, that sentence follows the same structure as the Chinese; ie, upon hearing my name… 聞我名已,還得清淨,不墮惡趣
Here is Zhongtaishan’s translation of the 5th and 6th vow from 2009:
“The fifth great vow: I vow that in the future, when I attain perfect enlightenment, I will help the countless sentient beings who cultivate morality in accordance with my Dharma to observe the precepts to perfection, in conformity with the Three Sets of Pure Precepts. Upon hearing my name, even those guilty of disparaging or violating the precepts will regain their purity and avoid descending into the wretched destinies.
The sixth great vow: I vow that in the future, when I attain perfect enlightenment, sentient beings with inferior bodies, deficient senses and abilities, who are ugly, stupid, blind, deaf, mute, crippled, hunchbacked, leprous, insane, or suffering from various other illnesses— upon hearing my name, they will obtain bodies with fine features endowed with intelligence, intact senses and abilities, free of illness and suffering.”
84000’s translation (2021)
“For his fifth great aspiration, he proclaimed, ‘In the future, when I have attained awakening as a perfect buddha who has manifested unsurpassed and perfect awakening, may any beings who are close to me practice pure conduct. Likewise, may a limitless and boundless number of other beings hear my name, and may my power cause them to be bound by the three vows and have uncorrupted discipline. May no one engage in incorrect discipline and proceed to the lower realms."
BDK’s translation (2018)
I vow that when in the future I will attain bodhi, if there are infinite and boundless sentient beings who practice the brahmanic (pure) conduct in my Dharma, they will all infallibly observe the complete three sets of precepts. Even if there are those who violate [the precepts], as soon as they have heard my name they will regain purity and will not fall into evil destinies.”
In two of the above eight English translations, the Indic word ‘apāyas’ is translated as ‘lower realms’ which I believe is the most common term used in English. Translating it as ‘woeful existence’ seems to be a pretty old translation, but one that seems like it has become more common in very recent years. Both Xuanzang and Yijing render it as 惡趣 while Thành & Leigh’s translation of the term as ‘evil paths’ which closely follows T449.
It is worth noting that there also exists two versions of this sutra in Sanskrit and at least one recent rendition of the sutra into vernacular Chinese.
So, on CBETA, we have a total of five translations – while in English we have…who knows how many. The examples I gave above can all easily be found online, but I knew of at least one other in print, and a look at Marcus’s Bibliography of Translations of the Chinese Canon alerted me to an English translation from 1936. Wish I could find that one online, because it would be very interesting to compare.
What I am getting it as this – there is already six translations of this sutra into Chinese and already 10 english translations that I know of. That’s a lot! And there are more on the way I’m sure.
Khyentse Norbu’s Kumarajiva project is soliciting donations and retranslating many texts from Tibetan that have already been already been translated into Chinese from Sanskrit. The front page of the website says “Making all Buddhist Texts available in Chinese” should someone email them and let them know that we already have six translations of this in Chinese?
As far as the growing number of English versions, the first is from 1936, basically not accessible (I’m not sure I’ve seen a copy of this version in print, and it isn’t online) The translations from the 70’s and 80’s (two from NY, one from California) were probably all made without knowledge of the other versions.
But at this point, isn’t 10 versions enough? There aren’t any significant differences in them. None of them are particularly chantable.
84000 (the sister of Khyentse Norbu’s Kumarajiva project) is soliciting donations and completed their translation in 2021. While a nice hardcover of BDK’s translation is available for purchase for 35 USD.
All of the translations I shared here are freely available online which is great. And both of Khyentse Norbu’s translation projects as well as BDK make everything available online free, which is great.
And those older translations have been continually printed and distributed for free for 40 years now which is really great.
I guess I just don’t see the point in sooo many English translations being made.
Especially when there are so many sections of the canon that we don’t have in English. (and on the flip side, so much of the Tibetan canon we don’t have in Chinese) seems like that might be a better use of people’s skills and efforts. But what do I know?
Finally, I just want to say that Mark’s website is an amazing resource: https://mbingenheimer.net/tools/bibls/transbibl.html