By the variants found in the textual expression amoung different versions of the Pra jñāpāramitāhṛdaya, the Heart Sūtra, this article tried to ask and answer the questions which nobody has asked before in the academic fi eld: Why the exta nt Sanskrit texts are treated as the original form? If they are something that have been altered, in what sense that they can be used as the base of comparison? Simply speaking, how do we know that they are the most primitive appearance? By some basic arguments and the study of the two crucial differences among different versions of the Sūtra, the researcher discovered that the scripture had been undergoing a chain of alternations due to sectarian thoughts differences between schools. The earlier version consists of thoughts of the Mādhyamika school was later altered into a form which is correlated to the doctrinal ideas of the Yogā cāra school. These ideas involved the concept of seeds, Ālayavijñāna, its related aspects as well as the Three-natures. All of these ideas are the core doctrines of the Yogācārian teachings which gave them no choice but to delete the Mādhyamikan sole acceptable sentences in the original Sūtra. The extant Sanskrit text also shows such alternations which means it is without doubt belong to the product of the later stage of Buddhism development.
目次
1. Introduction 166 2. Translated Versions of the Heart Sūtra and The Basic Arguments 166 3. The Lost of Conceptions (相, Nimitta or Lakṣaṇa) 173 4. The Omission of the Three Periods 181 5. Conclusion 183
