In China, as perhaps in no other country in the world, every year there is an extremely large number of new books devoted to various problems of everyday life, science, art, etc., designed for different readership. In this review, we will focus on the latest editions of Buddhist literature published in the series "Canons explained through illustrations" The series began to be published in 2006 by the publishing house of the Pedagogical University prov. Shanxi 1. As of September 2007, it has published ten books, four of which are devoted to Buddhist topics: "Tibetan Tantrism" "Ways of Cultivation in Tibetan Tantrism" "Diamond Sutra" in the original translation by Kumarajiva and "Heart Sutra" in the translation by Xuanzang.

The fact that Tantrism (Vajrayana) was chosen as the theme of two books in this popular science series at once is not accidental: for more than a century, this esoteric section of Mahayana has attracted the attention of not only Buddhists themselves, but also Buddhist scholars, as well as people simply interested in Buddhism. It is well known that by the end of the 1st millennium A.D. Vajrayana had become the dominant form of Indian Buddhism, and in various historical periods it spread to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Japan, and especially Tibet, where it is considered the crowning achievement of the Buddha's teachings. According to the Hindu-Tibetan tradition, Mahayana is divided into two chariots-the "Chariot of paramit" and the "Chariot of the secret mantra" (a magical formula for invoking and conjuring deities in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions), i.e. Vajrayana. The goal of the adepts of all chariots was to achieve enlightenment and "cross over" (nirvana), but unlike the supporters of the "Paramita Chariot", who consider it necessary to accumulate merit over many lifetimes, the supporters of Vajrayana claimed the possibility of achieving Buddhahood in one lifetime, through "yoga of divine forms". The Vajrayana tradition is characterized by various forms of yoga practice, and it has left a huge number of monuments of literature and art.

The author of the volume on Tibetan Tantrism asks the reader the following questions:What is the mystery of Tibetan Tantrism? How can one become a Buddha, i.e. attain enlightenment in this very birth? Are the famous tantric practices really effective? Is Tantrism a superstition or is it a kind of religion with scientific methods and a scientific spirit? Trying to find answers to these questions together with the reader, the author provides about 200 colorful illustrations and about 300 diagrams that explain the types and content of practices in a concise and accessible way in order to reveal the essence of Tantrism in a new way, the central position in which is work on consciousness, and the scientific nature of its improvement practices, based on-

Another series produced by this publishing house, "The Treasury of Tibetan Tantrism", also deserves attention. However, it is not considered in this review.

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based on the natural laws of human physiology. This is necessary in order, according to the compiler, to throw off the veil of imaginary mystery that envelops Vajrayana, primarily due to ignorant people trying to talk about it.

According to the Tibetan compiler of the book, Tantrism, as one of the main branches of Tibetan Buddhism, is a religion that has influenced and continues to influence the whole world. He fully inherited the teachings of the Buddha, which date back about 2500 years, and successfully solved two of the most difficult points of Buddhism - the path to enlightenment and the attainment of nirvana. Compared to other branches of Buddhist Dharma teaching, the main feature of Tibetan Vajrayana is that it emphasizes the purity of teaching, completeness of conclusions, consistency of practices, and the need to strictly follow the teachings of tantra. In turn, purity, completeness, consistency and proof in practice are, according to the Tibetan compiler, the main characteristics of the content and scientific aspirations of this publication. By and large, the compiler, without claiming to be original in its own views, was able to make a selection of opinions and statements of famous Buddhist scholars around the world. An excellent compilation, not devoid of deep analysis and imbued with its own research experience, has allowed this book to become a kind of encyclopedia of tantric teachings, which involves the reader, perhaps, in a somewhat frightening, but extremely fascinating and exciting world full of new discoveries.

The book begins with chapters about the history of the origin and development of Tibetan Buddhism, the main schools distinguished in it, and the principles of their faiths. This is followed by an extensive section on Tantrism as a special mystical teaching in Tibetan Buddhism. It describes the main meaning and purpose of esoteric practices, as well as the various schools within Vajrayana itself. In my opinion, the chapters of the volume on the stages of perfection and various types of initiations that an adept of Tantrism must go through on the path to higher knowledge and further enlightenment are extremely informative: initial practices that only prepare the adept's body and mind for understanding tantra, a set of basic self-improvement practices, a set of daily exercises and meditations, and practices that are only available at the highest stage of knowledge.

The tantric treatises contain hundreds of descriptions of yogic exercises that pursue a wide variety of goals: developing intelligence, achieving certain mental states of "going beyond" the sensory world, maintaining your body and all its organs in excellent physical shape to prevent premature aging and achieve longevity. Through meditations with the help of mantras, mandalas, etc., which contain (or rather symbolize) some religious information and should give rise to a special state of consciousness in the adept, he can move to a higher stage of improvement, becoming a carrier of knowledge and abilities inaccessible to others.

Choose from a vast Buddhist heritage to publish the Diamond Sutra in China (skt. Vajracchediku-prajna-paramita-sutra) and "Heart Sutras" (skt. Pragha-paramita-hrdaya-sutra) is hardly random. These are the most famous and significant Mahayana sutras translated from Sanskrit. According to the Buddhist tradition, their content is an authentic record of the Buddha's dialogues with his favorite disciple Subhuti (hence the usual formula for initiation in the sutras: Skt. evam maya srutam, kit. - "I heard so"). From a philosophical point of view, the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra belong to the class of so-called brief Prajna-Paramita sutras, which reveal the provisions of the Highest Intuitive Wisdom (prajna) and represent the teachings of Madhyamika (sunyavada). The Heart Sutra occupies a special place among the texts of this class, as it is the quintessence of the teaching of Prajna paramita and is its extremely concise presentation (260 characters), which is why it received this name.

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The "Diamond Sutra" appeared in India in the II-III centuries. and very early became popular among Mahayana adherents. It has been extensively quoted and interpreted in the writings attributed by tradition to Nagarjuna. In the fourth century, one of the founders of the Yogachara school of philosophy, Asanga, wrote a dogmatic treatise on the content of the Diamond Sutra, which included 77 karikas. Later, Asanga's disciple Vasubandhu wrote commentaries on this treatise. There are a great many Indian commentaries on the Vasubandhu commentary, as well as directly on the text of the Diamond Sutra. The Sutra was widely accepted in Buddhist countries as the fundamental canonical text of the Mahayana. This is evidenced by its numerous translations into both Eastern and European languages. It is significant that after the invention of printing in China, the very first dated printed text was the Chinese version of the Diamond Sutra (published in 868 and found in Dunhuang).

Like the" Diamond Sutra", the" Heart Sutra " appeared in China, according to researchers, no later than the fifth century.and quickly became widespread. Chinese scholars believe that the Heart Sutra evolved from the Maha-prajna Paramita Sutra (skt. Maha-prajna-paramita-sutra), since in one of its parts there are almost identical lines with the "Heart Sutra" (in the appendix, in the form of a table, a comparison of the passage from the "Maha-prajna-paramita-Sutra" in the translation of Kumarajiva and the "Heart Sutra", as well as translations of both, made by Xuan Zang). However, as to when it began to be used as an independent text, scientists have not yet come to a final conclusion. Most likely, this happened at the beginning of the fifth century, since the earliest translation (translation of the short version of Kumarajiva) refers to this time.

Any translation or commentary of a text (something that Buddhology deals with) can be done either from the point of view of the time in which this text was written, and try to understand how it was perceived by the author and the audience for which it was intended, or from the point of view of modern knowledge, giving it a certain applied character, i.e. trying to make it relevant to the needs of modern society. Most Chinese authors in their works tend rather to the second position, trying to popularize initially sacred texts in order to please the mass reader. Numerous works devoted to Buddhism and Buddhist texts published in Chinese (mainly in mainland China) can not always be considered as scientific, more often they are intended for the average reader, sometimes not even familiar with the full hieroglyphics. Thus, in modern Buddhology or the near-scientific branch close to it, sutras are mainly considered in terms of the general cultural tradition of China, being perceived more as a literary than a religious monument. Because of this, they are commented on as a phenomenon of purely Chinese literature, and not as translated texts (of course, we are talking specifically about texts of sutras translated from Sanskrit, such as the" Diamond Sutra"," Lotus Sutra "and" Heart Sutra", and not about sutras written directly by Chinese Buddhist monks). Modern Chinese commentators usually do not make philological or textual comments, but rather philosophical or cultural ones. Because of this, they simply explain certain terms of Buddhist philosophy, without paying attention to the language of transmission of these terms, i.e., what caused the choice of these characters in the translation of this philosophical term or what caused this or that construction in the Chinese text.

Thus, the content of Chinese translations is commented on, which absolutely does not solve the problems of the translation text itself, and most importantly, does not clarify the content of the original, because the choice of constructions and terms in the translated Chinese text is largely due to the specifics of the original language and the translator's commitment to a certain translation school. Moreover, sometimes the characters themselves are commented on, their meanings are listed, and through these meanings the content of the Buddhist language is explained.

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This is, firstly, a gross distortion of the original meaning contained in the Sanskrit original (since the Chinese translation was at least secondary), and secondly, an absolutely unconstructive attitude to, I emphasize, the translated text, and not to the original text.

The authors of the studies on the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra from the series under consideration also did not avoid this incident (although I am quite ready to admit that this was not part of the task assigned to them, since, from the point of view of the religious-philosophical and religious-historical information they provide, these volumes really resemble encyclopedias). However, for example, in the volume devoted to the Diamond Sutra, publishers are content to take as a basis the translation of Kumarajiva, and the remaining five translations are listed in chronological order in the appendix: Kumarajiva's translation (401, Jin Dynasty); Bodhiruchi's translation (509, Northern Wei Dynasty); and the translation of Kumarajiva (401, Jin Dynasty). Paramartha's translation (562, Chen Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties); Dharmagupta's translation (590, Sui Dynasty); Xuanzang's translation (660-663, Tang Dynasty); I Ching's translation (703, Tang Dynasty).

In the main text, these versions are given only two pages, and the emphasis in the presentation is placed on the relationship between the translator and the ruling power, i.e., the statement of the "state order" for translation, and on the status of Buddhism as a "court religion". The authors, unfortunately, do not even mention the fact that, as can be seen from the names of the translators, four translations of the Diamond Sutra were made by Indians, and the two most recent ones were made by Chinese, which determined a lot in their translations. They confine themselves, as they do in other publications, to mentioning the fact that Kumarajiva's translation was and remains the most popular in China, without asking why it happened. Indeed, when comparing all six versions in Chinese, it is clear that Kumarajiva is the most fluent translator in the Indian text, which is undoubtedly a sign of his deep knowledge of the language. He omits the repetitions that the Sanskrit original is full of, and in every possible way avoids the pretentiousness and complexity of phrases. Lapidary and simplicity of presentation become its main principles in translation. In Kumarajiva's version, I never found any redundant sentences: his translation is a concise and artfully constructed text that meets all the rules for constructing a Chinese text. It is these features that make its version the most "Chinese" of all existing in the Chinese language.

Nor do the authors cite the well-known fact that in fact the tradition has preserved seven translations recorded in the edition of the Chinese Buddhist Canon (Taisho shinshu dai zokyo. Ed. Takakusu Junjiro and Watanabe Kikyoku, 1924-1935), two of which allegedly belong to Bodhiruchi. The same seven translations are offered in the classic edition of the Sutra with Sanskrit text and commentary, published in Taiwan in 1925. When comparing the translations, it immediately becomes obvious that the second translation of Bodhiruchi differs in many ways from the first, both lexically and syntactically, but, most importantly, it almost completely repeats the translation of Paramartha. I find it impossible that there is such a huge difference between translations made by the same person in the same year, and I am convinced that the translation is most likely Paramartha's, and that attributing two translations of the Bodhiruchi text is a historical mistake. However, it is impossible to confirm or refute this statement.

The same applies to translations of the Heart Sutra. It was known in short and full versions. As stated in the volume on the Heart Sutra, the short text is presented only in the translations of Kumarajiva (402) and Xuanzang (649). The complete translation, in turn, is known in five versions related to the Tang and Song dynasties: the second translation by Fa Yue (738, Tang Dynasty); translation by Banruogongliyan et al. (790, Tang Dynasty); translation by Zhi Huilong (850, Tang Dynasty); translation by Fa Cheng (856, Tang Dynasty); translation by Shi Hu (980, Song Dynasty).

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However, in the section containing the texts of the Prajnaparamita in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, ten translations of the Heart Sutra are presented: seven-the full version of the sutra (two translations of Fa Yue - the first translation is preserved only in the Japanese Buddhist Canon, it is not in the Chinese canon) and three-the short version, which the author even mentions. doesn't mention it.

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A huge number of books have been written on Tibetan Buddhism, in particular Tantrism, in Russian, Chinese, English and other languages, but most of them, designed for the average reader, reduce all the diversity and originality of Tantric practices and goals to mysticism. Such publications aim to capture the imagination of the reader who is not familiar with Buddhology, rather than to enrich him with knowledge in this field. Many such publications appeared largely due to the" warmed up "interest of the Western audience in the esoteric teachings of the East and everything "eastern", in which the works of H. P. Blavatsky, the Roerichs, Rees-Davids and others played a major role.

The books of the series "Canons Explained through Illustrations", which certainly belong to popular science literature, compare favorably with all this literature. Their publishers were able to avoid both the primitivization of texts for the sake of accessibility to readers who are far from Buddhology, and their excessive complication, which is characteristic of individual scientific publications, replete with Sanskrit or Tibetan correspondences and references to primary sources. The compiler of" Tibetan Tantrism " was able to talk about complex issues simply and create an informative and entertaining book about the most mysterious religion in the world. A fascinating narrative with many illustrations is interrupted by various inserts and tables, which makes reading more diverse, and the content of many of the terms and concepts mentioned is more visual.

A remarkable feature of the publications in this series, which is its main advantage in comparison with other series and individual publications, is a large amount of visual material. Numerous illustrations, diagrams with detailed explanations, summary tables with conclusions and comparisons make the presentation as structured as possible, and the material itself is understandable and accessible to any category of readers. The insert tables in the Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra volumes make it extremely easy to work with Buddhist texts when, for example, you have to deal with several translations of the same sutra. Very interesting for Buddhist scholars, people interested in various monasteries in Tibet, as well as for pilgrims is the huge, full-page layout of the monasteries of most schools of Tibetan Buddhism at the beginning of the volume "Tibetan Tantrism".

The second "plus" of this series is the carefully thought-out structure and content of each volume. The structure of the books published in this series is such that all additional information, without overloading the main narrative, is allocated in tables and diagrams, which the reader can carefully study if desired. Usually, the structure is an introduction by the editor, revealing the main content of the volume, a detailed table of contents, a "navigator for readers", in which all the designations, tables, diagrams and explanations of terms accepted in the text of the book are shown on the whole spread by means of arrow pointers. At the beginning of each chapter, a list of illustrations and diagrams found in this section is provided, each of them is titled and follows its own number. Chapters are preceded by a brief introduction summarizing their content, which makes it much easier to find the right information. There are appendices at the end of the volumes, for example, in the volumes about the "Diamond Sutra "and" Heart Sutra " all surviving translations are given, in addition to the one that was taken as the main one.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize once again that this review does not claim to cover the entire Buddhist literature currently being produced in China, nor does it include a thorough analysis of each of the works. The author's task was rather to find out the main trends and directions of scientific thought in the practice of Buddhist translations and to trace the development of popularized Buddhist philosophy in modern China.

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