On Multilingual Spread of PrajnaParamita Heart Sutra

： This paper aims to provide an overall explanation of the translations of Sanskrit PrajnaParamita Heart Sutra into Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian languages and spread among the corresponding nationalities and its significant role in cultural exchanges.


1.Foreword
The Buddhist literature PrajnaParamita Heart Sutra (abbreviated as Heart Sutra in the following text) is of cardinal significance in Mahayana Sutras and widely spread by Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian languages.

2.Explanation and translation of the names of the Heart Sutra
The names of the Buddhist Sutras normally include functions, contents and meanings etc. and the studies on the names are essential.
ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen eke bilig baramid-un ɤool ǰirüken sudur orosiba is the Mongolian full name of the Heart Sutra, PrajnaparamitaHridayasutra in Sanskrit, Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra in Chinese and shes rab kyi pha rol du phyin pa snying po in Tibetan. There are multiple translations and versions of sutra and thus the names are different frequently such as eke bilig baramid orosiba, ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen eke bilig baramid-un ɤool ǰirüken, bilig baramid-un ǰirüke kemekü orosiba and ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen eke degedü medekün-ü činadu kiǰagara kürügsen ɤool ǰirüken neretü yeke külgen sudur and so on. And its social spread has given credit to various forms as handwritten, in print, and different versions of translations etc. and the dissemination of Heart sutra in multi-language has positive effects on cultural exchanges of multi-nations and the sutra itself is the valid proof of active cultural exchanges.

2.1The meanings of the name of the sutra
The Sanskrit name of the sutra is PrajnaparamitaHridayasutra, of which we could analyze [1] Bill Porter, translated by Ye Nan: The Heart Sutra: the Womb of Buddhas, Nanhai publishing company, 2012: page 46. [2 ] Mongolian Chinese Dictionary, Inner Mongolia University Publishing house, Huhhot, 1999, page 954. as the following: (1) Prajna is made up of the prefix pra (meaning before) and the stem jna (meaning cognition) and is normally translated as bilig in Mongolian. In ancient Greece, prognosis 1 means knowledge of future and among the Buddhist in ancient India Prajna means to be the state of ignorance.
(2) Parama in parama-paramita means of highest, and paramita is the variation of parama [1] . Another says that the Chinese character (para) in the last incantation of the Heart sutra means the opposite or to the other shore. In other words, paramita is made up of param and ita two parts, of which the m in param is the suffix that indicates where to and i in ita is the stem (meaning go) and ta in ita is referred to the past perfect tense of i. Thus the bilig baramid can be comprehended as releasing souls from purgatory or supreme and is translated as to go to the other shore in various versions of Chinese translation.
Sutra is Sanskrit and is translated as Confucian classics [2] in Chinese and also transliterated as Sutra .The stem of sutra is regarded as the variation of siv (meaning to sew and mend), which shares the same origin with the word suture in English [3] . According to other experts, the origin of sutra is the variation of another Sanskrit word sukta (meaning proverb or recorded utterance of sage). Whatever the origin is, Brahmanism, Jaina and Buddhism all name their scriptures as sutra.
ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen is translated from Sanskrit bhagavana, which is the metaphor of Buddha Shakyamuni. ilaǰu is for victory over Four demons, tegüs is for perfect master of Buddhist six remarkable powers, nögčigsen is for passing through the edge of the mortal life and peace and thus the ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen is for Buddha [4] .
According to D. Charingsudnam scriptures of bilig baramid is one of the doctrines of Buddha and is a valuable scripture after the wheel of the dharma. Thus it says bilig baramid was chanted and spread in the vulture [3] www.dictionary.com [ 4 ] Shi Tsoima: Interpretation of Buddhist culture, Inner Mongolia Peoples Publishing House, 2003, page 845, 620. peak mountain in the Biography of Shakyamuni [ 5 ] . In Buddhism, bilig baramid, which can cut off all stupid and foolish acts and worries, is the core of Buddhism and attaining Buddhahood is actually means "attaining the belge bilig finally, which is the utmost and clear away the foolish mind and understanding the intrinsic quality of all scriptures." In the Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path it says all those acts like combing with the heretical, indolence, drowsiness, passiveness to the circumstances, contempt to the Great, smattering, being extreme, being depressed easily, teasing oneself, being aloof of the sage are due to the foolishness [6] thus the bilig baramid is for cutting them off.
bilig is a concept in Buddhist Philosophy, or more precisely, in the ontology of Mahayana Buddhism, with which that the surroundings are observed from the view of emptiness. bilig in Buddhism is a summary of all wisdom and be classified into two kinds as of the mortal life and the afterlife. It says: we can't understand the true meaning of sutra even if we are with them for life without bilig [7] .
Barmaid, meaning the path to the other shore, to separate from misery, the utmost, to the end, is the transliteration of Sanskrit word Paramita. It says in the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra that everything dues to the preordained fate, is the result of cause and effect and is only recognized by bilig and that bilig is the intelligence and weapon to find the true nature of things and affairs. The concept of Going to the other shore in Buddhism is to separate from misery [8] .
To the other shore is one of the core theories of Mahayana and is the six practicing ways of going to the world of nirvana, which is the ultimate requirement of Buddhism [9 ] . Besides this it indicates the path to belge bilig of Buddha. belge bilig of Buddha is the capability of learning, one kind of indication or an instinct.
ǰirüken means the heart of something, to core or utmost importance. In the A Sanskrit-English Dictionary of Sir Monier Williams it is explained that it is the heart, center, core, nature, the best part, favorite and the most clandestine of everything [10] . ǰirüken in titles generally suggest that the sutra is conclusive abstractive. On the contrary, Japanese scholar Fukuibunga considers that it is related to incantation [11] .
Sutra is the direction of Buddha to lead the mortal's to their reincarnation or nirvana [12] . Master Zibai said that the word sutra contains two meanings, one is "immortal" and the other is "path" [13] . The heretical can't be destroyed due to the "immortal" and all beings percept and mend their ways. [

2.2.The survey of the translations of the Sutra
In Chinese history, we have at least more than 10 Chinese translated version of the Heart Sutra until Song dynasty, of which well-preserved 8 versions until today as the following: (1) The version of Kumarajiva (402-413 A.D.), in North Qin.
( Among the above versions of translation, the most welcome one is considered to be the Xuan Zang version. The sutra is short and brief, of 260 words. It is elegant and easy for recitation and is often seen in our everyday lives, like on tea cups, towels, pens and other stationeries. Zi Bai explained: "This sutra is named of heart, which is because among the four limbs, bones and viscera of human body, heart is the most important one". Likewise, though the pages are few, it is the marrow of the 600 volumes of Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra [15] .
There are two kinds of Tibetan translations of the sutra in general as the following: (1) There are distinguished two different versions of Derge version in the Tibetan Tripitaka. One is the translation by Vimalamitra, the name of the sutra is Buddha Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. The other version is anonymous, the name of the sutra is Buddha said San mother HeartSutra.
(2) Among the Tibetan scriptures of Dunhuang, there is a Tibetan version of translation. The name of the sutra is San Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. There are more than 20 manuscripts in Kangyur of Dunhuang and the contents are similar.
In Tumed in North Yuan. (2) The version during the period of Ligden Khan's governance, which is a Beijing woodcut version of the year 1720 with the name of ilaǰu tegüs nögčigsen eke bilig-ün činadu kiǰaγar-a kürügsen ǰirüken. [16] (3) The version of Rabjimb Zayabandida namhaizamsu. It was a handwritten version with bamboo pen in late Qing dynasty with the name of qudugtu bilig-ün činadu kürügsen ǰirühen in Tod Mongolian.
(4) The version of Surum and Somadi Emugeshidi. This version is in The Sutra of Complete Collection of Incantation in Beijing woodcut version of 1727 in the early Qing dynasty. [17]

Latin transliteration of the Heart Sutra
The Latin transliteration of the sutra is for the convenience of reading and understanding. ( the transliterating is of the version which has been preserved in the library of Marburg of Germany <Photographed in Inner Mongolian university library in June, 1988>. The a and b stand for the front and back page and the Arabic numerals mark the lines.