不可説転転/Cleary訳

不可説不可説転の記事において、華厳経の仏陀跋陀羅訳トーマス・クリアリー (Thomas Cleary) が英訳したテキストについて記されている。ここには、その原文を記す。

原文

Cleary, T. (1993) The flower ornament scripture: a translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Shambhala, Colorado, USA. p.889-891 より

BOOK THIRTY

The Incalculable

At that time the enlightening being Mind King said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, the buddhas speak of incalculable, measureless, boundless, incomparable, innumerable, unaccountable, unthinkable, immeasurable, unspeakable, untold numbers — what are these?”

The Buddha said, “It is good that you ask the Buddha, the Truly Enlightened One, in order to have the beings of the world penetrate the meaning of the numbers known to the Buddha. Listen carefully and think well about this; I will explain for you.” Then the enlightening being Mind King willingly received the teaching. The Buddha said, “Ten to the tenth power times ten to the tenth power equals ten to the twentieth power; ten to the twentieth power times ten to the twentieth power equals ten to the fortieth power; ten to the fortieth power times ten to the fortieth power equals ten to the eightieth power; ten to the eightieth power times ten to the eightieth power equals ten to the power of 160; ten to the power of 160 squared equals ten to the power of 320; ten to the power of 320 squared equals ten to the power of 640; ten to the power of 640 squared equals ten to the power of 1,280; ten to the power of 1 ,280 squared equals ten to the power of 2,560; that squared equals ten to the power of 5,120; that squared equals ten to the power of 10,240; that squared equals ten to the power of 20,480; that squared is ten to the power of 40,960; that squared is ten to the power of 81,920; that squared is ten to the power of 163,840; that squared is ten to the power of 327,680; that squared is ten to the power of 655,360; that squared is ten to the power of 1,311,720; that squared is ten to the power of 2,623,540; that squared is ten to the power of 5,247,080; that squared is ten to the power of 10,494,160; that squared is ten to the power of 20,988,320; that squared is ten to the power of 41,976,640; that squared is ten to the power of 83,953,280; that squared is ten to the power of 167,906,560; that squared is ten to the power of 335,813,120; that squared is ten to the power of 671,626,240; that squared is ten to the power of 1,343,252,480; that squared is ten to the power of 2,686,504,960; that squared is ten to the power of 5,373,009,920; that squared is ten to the power of 10,746,019,840; that squared is ten to the power of 21,492,039,680; that squared is ten to the power of 42,984,079,360; that squared is ten to the power of 85,968,158,720; that squared is ten to the power of 171,936,317,440; that squared is ten to the power of 343,872,634,880; that squared is ten to the power of 687,745,269,760; that squared is ten to the power of 1,375,490,539,520; that squared is ten to the power of 2,750,981 ,079,040; that squared is ten to the power of 5,501 ,962,158,080; that squared is ten to the power of 11,003,924,316,160; that squared is ten to the power of 22,007,848,632,320; that squared is ten to the power of 44,015,697,264,640; that squared is ten to the power of 88,031,394,529,280; that squared is ten to the power of 176,062, 789,058,560; that squared is ten to the power of 352,125,578,117,120; that squared is ten to the power of 704,251,156,234,240; that squared is ten to the power of 1,408,502,302,468,480; that squared is ten to the power of 2,817,004,604,936,960; that squared is ten to the power of 5,634,009,209,893,920; that squared is ten to the power of 11,268,018, 419,747,840; that squared is ten to the power of 22,536,036,839,495,680; that squared is ten to the power of 45,072,073,678,991,360; that squared is ten to the power of 90,144,147,357,982,720; that squared is ten to the power of 180,288,294,715,965,440; that squared is ten to the power of 360,576,589,431,930,880; that squared is ten to the power of 721,153, 178,863,861,760; that squared is ten to the power of 1,442,306,357, 727,723,520; that squared is ten to the power of 2,884,612,715,455, 447,040; that squared is ten to the power of 5,769,225,430,910,894,080; that squared is ten to the power of 11,538,450,861,821,788,160; that squared is ten to the power of 23,076,901 ,773,643,576,320; that squared is ten to the power of 46,153,803,447,287,152,640; that squared is ten to the power of 92,307,606,894,574,305,280; that squared is ten to the power of 184,615,213,789,148,610,560; that squared is ten to the power of 369,230,427,578,297,221,120; that squared is ten to the power of 738,460,895,156,594,442,240; that squared is ten to the power of 1,476, 921,790,313,188,884,480; that squared is ten to the power of 2,953, 843,580,626,377,768,960; that squared is ten to the power of 5,907, 687,161,252,755,537,920; that squared is ten to the power of 11,815, 374,322,505,511,065,840; that squared is ten to the power of 23,630, 748,645,011,022,131,680; that squared is ten to the power of 42,261, 497,290,022,044,263,360; that squared is ten to the power of 94,522,994, 580,044,088,526,720; that squared is ten to the power of 189,045,989, 160,088,177,053,520; that squared is ten to the power of 378,091,978, 320,176,354,107,040; that squared is ten to the power of 756,183,956, 640,352,708,214,080; that squared is ten to the power of 1,512,367, 913,280,705,416,428,160; that squared is ten to the power of 3,024, 735,826,561,410,832,856,220; that squared is ten to the power of 6,049, 71,653,122,821,665,712,640; that squared is ten to the power of 12, 98,943,306,245,643,331,425,280; that squared is ten to the power of 24,197,886,612,491,286,462,850,560; that squared is ten to the power of 48,395,773,224,982,672,925,701,120; that squared is ten to the power of 96,791 ,546,449,965,145,831 ,402,340; that squared is ten to the power of 193,583,092,899,930,291,662,804,480; that squared is ten to the power of 387,166,185,799,860,583,325,608,960; that squared is ten to the power of 774,332,371,599,721,166,651,217,920; that squared is ten to the power of 1,548,664,743,199,442,333,302,635,840; that squared is ten to the power of 3,097,329,486,398,884,666,605,271,680; that squared is ten to the power of 6,194,658,972,797,769,333,210,543,360; that squared is ten to the power of 12,389,317,945,595,538,666,421, 086,720; that squared is ten to the power of 24,778,635,891,191,077, 332,842,173,440; that squared is ten to the power of 49,557,271,782, 382,154,665,686,346,880; that squared is ten of the power of 99,114, 543,564,764,309,331,372,693,760; that squared is ten to the power of 198,229,087,129,528,618,662,745,387,520; that squared is ten to the power of 396,458,174,259,057,237,325,490,775,040; that squared is ten to the power of 792,916,348,518,1 14,474,650,981 ,550,080; that squared is ten to the power of 1 ,585,832,697,036,228,949,301 ,963,100,160; that squared is ten to the power of 3,171,665,394,072,457,898,603,926,200, 320; that squared is ten to the power of 6,343,330,788,144,915,797, 207,852,400,640; that squared is ten to the power of 12,686,661,576, 289,831,594,415,704,801,280; that squared is ten to the power of 25, 373,323,152,579,663,188,831,409,602,560; that squared is ten to the power of 50,746,646,305,159,326,377,662,819,205,120; that squared is ten to the power of 101 ,493,292,610,318,652,755,325,638,410,240; that squared is an incalculable; an incalculable to the fourth power is a measureless; a measureless to the fourth power is a boundless; a bound- less to the fourth power is an incomparable; an incomparable to the fourth power is an innumerable; an innumerable to the fourth power is an unaccountable; an unaccountable to the fourth power is an un- thinkable; an unthinkable to the fourth power is an immeasurable; an immeasurable to the fourth power is an unspeakable; an unspeakable to the fourth power is an untold, which is unspeakably unspeakable; an untold multiplied by itself is a square untold.”

解釈

百千百千名一拘梨が Ten to the tenth power と訳され、拘梨拘梨名一不變が Ten to the tenth power times ten to the tenth power equals ten to the twentieth power と訳されたのであろう。以下、２乗ずつしていくのであるが、 that squared is ten to the power of 655,360; that squared is ten to the power of 1,311,720; のところで計算ミスをしている。5*2^17 = 655360 に２をかけると 5*2^18 = 1310720 である。 この計算ミスがその後もひびいて、101,493,292,610,318,652,755,325,638,410,240 は本来であれば 5*2^104 = 101412048018258352119736256430080 となっていたはずの数である。これを 5*2^104 で解釈して、 that squared is an incalculable より incalculable = 10^(5*2^105)、そこから先は４乗ずつ増えるので

• measureless = 10^(5*2^107)
• boundless = 10^(5*2^109)
• incomparable = 10^(5*2^111)
• innumerable = 10^(5*2^113)
• unaccountable = 10^(5*2^115)
• unthinkable = 10^(5*2^117)
• immeasurable = 10^(5*2^119)
• unspeakable = 10^(5*2^121)
• untold = 10^(5*2^123)

となり、unspeakable の値が不可說轉轉と一致し、untold は不可說轉轉よりも大きな値となっている。最後に an untold multiplied by itself is a square untold とあるので

• square untold = 10^(5*2^124)

である。square untold が不可說轉轉だとすると、原典と3段階ずれているが、言葉の対応から考えて、たとえば

• incalculable = 阿僧祇轉
• measureless = 無量轉
• boundless = 無分齊轉
• incomparable = 無周遍轉
• innumerable = 無數轉
• unaccountable = 不可稱轉
• unthinkable = 不可思議轉
• immeasurable = 不可量轉
• unspeakable = 不可說轉

のように対応させると、阿僧祇轉 = 10^(5*2^104) のところが incalculable = 10^(5*2^105) とされてしまったところで1段階ずれて、さらに untold が入った事で2段階ずれたのであろうか。最後の square untold は、不可說轉から不可說轉轉にするところではないかと想像される。