“毘富羅”考

Textual research on "Pifuluo" (毘富羅)

'毘富羅'是漢譯佛經中的一個音譯詞,有四個意義:一是山名,即毘富羅山;二是聚會名;三是廣大羲;四是指佛教的一類經典,即方廣經。這四個羲項的來源不一樣。'山名'義當是梵文vipula-pa★va的音譯兼意譯'毘富羅山'之略,或者是梵文vipula的音譯;'聚會名'義當是因在毘富羅山舉行聚會而得名;'廣大'義當是梵文vipula的意譯;'佛教的一類經典'義當是音譯詞'毘佛略'的誤用。'毘佛略'是梵文vaipulya的逐字音譯。梵文vaipulya来源於vipula。'毘富羅山'在後世文獻中又縮略爲'毗富'、'毘富山'。現行大型中文工具書失收此詞目,當補收。

"Pifuluo",as a transliterated word in the Chinese version of Buddhist sutra,is able to convey four different meanings.In particular,firstly,the mountain of Pifuluo,then,the name of meeting,and then the extensive meaning,and finally,a classic genre in Buddhism,which is the vaipulya(extensive)sutra.The above four semantic items stem from distinct sources.The ability to be transliterated as a name of a mountain comes from either vipula-parsva,which is further adopted for its meaning of"the mountain of Pifuluo",or vipula;the name of meeting is related to the reputation for meeting on the mountain of Pifuluo;the extensity is paraphrased from vipula;and the last semantic item should be misused from the transliteration of"Pifolue".Vaipulya,derived from vipula,is transliterated verbatim as"Pifolue".In addition,"the mountain of Pifoluo"has been abbreviated into"Pifu"or"the mountain of Pifu".However,the current popular Chinese reference books fail to notice this semantic item.This justifies the necessity to complete the meaning of"Pifuluo".