Indeed, different version.Zhen Li wrote: ↑Sat Dec 04, 2021 9:59 am
The DSBC is Vaidya's. As I said, the prose is largely the same, Kumarajiva's verse is similar but comes across as a bit different. I think that whole passage is probably largely the same as the Sanskrit we have today. There are definitely parts of the Sanskrit that are entirely different today than whatever Kumarajiva was looking at.
As for "asti," there is not really a word for the English "yes" in Sanskrit or Buddhist Chinese. The closest would be something like "evam asti," or "thus it is." The 有 functions just like the asti in the Sanskrit I quoted, "there is a..." It could never be "yes." The BDK translation is just so unreliable that nobody should be referring to it.
I have heard that different Sanskrit scholars would give different meaning to same passage; one factor is that earlier model of writing which one can see in old Sanskrit manuscripts. There are other factors, too.
Here is the meaning from V S Apte’s dictionary.
If one gives meaning to asti as “so it is”, one may read the narrative differently.4) अस्ति asti (p. 287)
अस्ति asti ind. [अस्-शतिप्] 1 Being, existent, present; as in अस्तिक्षीरा, ˚कायः -2 Often used at the commencement of a tale or narrative in the sense of 'so it is', 'there', or merely as an expletive; अस्ति सिंहः प्रतिवसति स्म
Even after reading whole naga princess story, one might say “yes it is” at the end.
In one version, “Thereupon Bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa spoke these verses in praise.” It might mean he did not have doubt and praised the Manjusri. He knew Manjusri was leading those being by expounding the essential character of dharmas. He was already accepting Manjusri causing them to quickly attain enlightenment. And at the end, he and Sariputra accepted and believed in silence; even assembly accepted it.
In another version, “Then the bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa asked Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta questions by chanting these verses”. It might mean he had doubt and he asked the question. He was asking about “through whose power”, “what sutra”, and “what dharma”. And at the end, he and Sariputra fell silent.
Those three questions were already answered in praise of earlier version. Those versions have dramatic difference. Even though one may think one is reading same sutra, but one could have very different understanding.
The meaning of sukhavati intended by some vajrayana literature is very different.