Mokṣadeva’s little secret―Wow! It has been always here!(Chinese character literacy required)

Gait, gait, the gait done together!

Big mystery in little Heart Sutra
Something is missing
What is “度一切苦厄”？
“度厄” in other literatures
What does it mean “Smoking out all the dukkha”?

Big mystery in little Heart Sutra

Heart Sutra, or Prajñā-pāramitā-hṛdaya is Sanskrit version made in 7th-8th is found in 1880s and prominent for first introduced to the western world by Max Müller in 1881. Chinese translations by Kumaradiva and Mokṣadeva are widely read over East Asia.

Something is missing

In Sanskrit manuscript, there is no expression equivalent to 21th to 25th characters (“度一切苦厄”) in Chinese translation by Mokṣadeva in Sanskrit manuscript. (here)

What is “度一切苦厄”？

一切苦

Or “Sarvadukkha” is “every suffering”.

度厄 is “smoking bugs out” from Laozi

〔太平広記、一に引く神仙伝〕（老子）人生各厄會り。其の時に到りて、(も)し名字を易(か)へて、以て元氣の變に隨はば、則ち以て年度厄すべし。here
[From Taiping Guangji, Chapter 1, Biography of Immortals] (Laozi) Every person experiences misfortune in life. If, at that time, one changes their name and follows the change in their vital energy, then they will skip the misfortune for that year. Translation by Google Translate, modified by me.

The term “度厄” is first found in Laozi, not Buddhism. It means a kind of magical spells eliminating the misfortune.
度 originally means “smoking out bugs from a house” (here).

Conclusion: 度一切苦厄

It is “smoking out the every suffering.”

“度厄” in other literatures

In Mokṣadeva translation “薬師瑠璃光七仏本願功徳経” “Bhaiṣajyaguru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra” shows

“復次阿難。彼琰魔王主領世間名籍之記。若諸有情不孝五逆破辱三寶壞君臣法毀於信戒。琰魔法王隨罪輕重考而罰之。是故我今勸諸有情然燈造幡放生修福。令度苦厄不遭衆難”.

This phrase teaches the Confucianism ethics, not Buddhism. Highlight by the quoter.

Moreover, this part is not found in another Chinese translation by 達摩笈多 or Sanskrit manuscript found in Gilgit.

It is an evidence that “度厄” signs the Mokṣadeva’s creation.

What does it mean “Smoking out all the dukkha”?

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, Boddhisattvas, the Buddhism trainees, can’t achieve the Buddha or the nirvana if not the other sentient’s also achieved the nirvana. In conclusion, this word “度一切苦厄“, “smoking out all the sufferings(dukkha)” is the ultimate goal of the Mahāyāna Buddhism.