Abstract
This paper investigates the 38 terms in Xuan-Zang''s Sutra of the Medicine Buddha 《藥師經》 based on Pronunciation and Meaning in the Buddhist Scriptures Compiled by Huilin 《慧琳音義》, and the corresponding Sanskrit words are compared. Through a comparative study of the lexicon, the followings are explored: first, most of the words compiled by Huilin are those whose meanings are somewhat different from those in Chinese classical literature, for example, piantan 「偏袒」, choulin 「稠林」, wuming 「無明」, suowan 「所翫」, and xuanchuang 「軒窓」, etc. Second, the paper finds that the meanings of some Chinese terms do not correspond faithfully to their Sanskrit counterparts, for example, xiongpi 「熊羆」, bianta 「鞭撻」and gudao「蠱道」. Finally, this paper corrects two Sanskrit terms based on the Chinese translations, for example, bailai 「白癩」 should be translated from śvitrāḥ kuṣṭhāḥ, but not from śvitrāḥ kuṇḍāḥ, and xuanxian 「懸險」 from prapāta, but from pratāpa. In sum, the author clarifies the meanings of some Chinese terms, and compares the differences between Chinese and Indian cultures through a comparative study of the Sanskrit-Chinese lexicon.