The Study Of The Variants In Zhiqian's Translation Of Buddhist Scriptures

No records on proof-reading and correction of Dazangjin were archived during the editing-process in the past dynasties; however a full record from Japan was documented on modified-version of Taisho Tripitaka, which was based on Korean, Song, Yuan and Ming versions. This documented record supplies a good material for language study.This paper, with five chapters, deals with changes of version, character, vocabulary and pronunciation from more than ten editions of Zhiqian's Translation of Buddhist Scriptures of Taisho Tripitaka. The first chapter, using statistical methods on variants, elucidates relation between the origin and diversified versions from Korean, Song, Ming, Yuan, Old Song and TempyōMss. and a variant of TempyōMss. The second chapter analyzes characters evolution, especially on loan characters; The third chapter covers synonym of monosyllabic notional words; The fourth chapter investigates the changes of pronunciation, with particular to variant phonetic phenomena in Zhiqian's Translation of Buddhist Scriptures; and the fifth chapter makes one complementary notes on the preceding four parts.