唐代的佛经翻译及其影响

论文总字数：30197字

摘 要

本文在研究唐代佛经翻译的历史和人物的基础上，分析了佛经翻译对我国历史的影响。从汉语、文学和哲学三个方面论述了佛经翻译对中国文化的影响。自我国佛经翻译开始以来，佛教文化渗透到人们生活的各个角落。它已经对中国的语言，文学和意识形态产生了重大影响。佛经翻译促进了中华文化的繁荣，佛教文化已成为中华文化的重要组成部分。

关键词：佛经翻译；历史影响 ；玄奘

Contents

1.Introduction………………………………………………………………1

2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………1

3. The Development of Buddhist Translation ……………………...………4

3.1 The Traits of Buddhist Translation…………………………………………4

3.2 The Buddhist Translator: Xuan Zang ………………………………………4

3.3The Institution of Buddhist Translation…………………………………6

4.The Influence of Buddhist Translation……………………………………..8

4.1Effect on Chinese Language………………………………………….....9

4.2Effect on Chinese Literature………………………………………....10

4.3 Effect on Chinese Philosophy ……………………………………………..11

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………11

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...13

1. Introduction

The translation of Buddhist scriptures occurring in Han, Wei, Tang and Song Dynasties is the first translation climax in China, and it is also the first large-scale collision and fusion between Chinese culture and exotic culture. Before it came to China, Buddhism, which is of Indian origin, had already undergone several centuries of development. Its impact upon the world was profound—it not only helped reshape man’s outlook and way of life, but added a written script and unique art, literature, and philosophy to the common wealth of mankind. Buddhist culture infiltrates into every corner of Chinese people＇s lives and creates a significant impact on Chinese language, literature, thought and philosophy, etc. Translation of Buddhist scriptures has greatly enriched Chinese vocabulary, and plenty of imaginative analogies in Buddhism arose Chinese writers＇imagination with a fantasy wings; the Ultra-realistic space concept in Buddhism greatly inspires Chinese people＇s thought, the history of Chinese philosophy since Han and Tang Dynasties is inseparable from the development of Buddhist philosophy. The translation of Buddhist scriptures promotes the prosperity and diversity of Chinese culture and Buddhist culture also becomes an inalienable part of Chinese culture. During the Tang Dynasty, the Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures were translated in a comprehensive and systematic manner. The scale of the translation institution by the official organizations was even greater and the organization was more complete. At this time, the translation workshop organized by Xuan Zang is the most famous one. His translation scale, rigorous style of translation and rich translation contributions have left a brilliant example in the history of Chinese translation.

2. Literature Review

In this flourishing period of translation, Xuan Zang was the most eminent of all the learned monks. He became interested in Indian Buddhist philosophy when he was still very young, and he left the country in 629 for the West in search of answers to the problems that bothered him. After a sixteen-year stay as a devoted pilgrim in the West, he returned to Chang-an, the Tang capital, bringing back with him hundreds of pieces of sutras. He remained there for nineteen years, translating the classics. He took care to translate entire works, rather than being content with excerpted translations. Thanks to him, the corpus of Mahayana scriptures was made available, as well as its most important treatises and commentaries. In the 19 years before his death, he completed the translation of 75 works, amounting to 1,335 volumes, which is more than half the total translations of Buddhist scriptures done in the Tang Dynasty . Xuan Zang also wrote Da Tang Xi Yu Ji (Records of the Western Regions under the Reign of the Great Tang), a work of great value to historians and archeologists.

As discussed in the above, the encounter of Chinese and foreign cultures began with the diffusion of Indian Buddhism in China. The translation of Buddhist classics lasted over 1,000 years, exerting a far-reaching influence upon Chinese culture in the fields of philosophy, religion, literature, phonology, language and linguistics, music and dancing, painting and sculpture. During this period, countless people participated in the translation of Buddhist scriptures, many of whom were masters. A large number of sutras were translated. Apart from the discussion of the significance of the sutra translations in ancient China, there are some further points that need to be considered.

Firstly, the translation of Buddhist scriptures underwent three stages of development with respect to those engaged in the process of translating. In the initial period, translations were done by foreign monks; then Chinese and foreign translators worked in tandem, and finally Chinese translators took over the job of translating. This transition indicated a shift from passive to active acceptance of foreign cultures on the part of the Chinese people in general and the Buddhist believers in particular.

Secondly, the translation of Buddhist scriptures was a big project, demanding collaboration among translators and a division of labor. During the mature stage of translation, teams of translators were organized as follows: chief of translation; translator who recited the foreign text and translated it into Chinese; verifier of the meaning in the Sanskrit text ; scribe who wrote the translation down in Chinese; verifier of the meaning of the written Chinese; polisher of style; proofreader; and corrector of the Chinese characters. This well-organized team of translators easily matched the Arab Translation Academy at Baghdad or the Translation Academy at Toledo, Spain.

Thirdly, as time went on many remarks or opinions on the translation were recorded, the earliest example of which was by Zhi Qian in his “Preface to Dharmapade,” a foreshadow of Yan Fu’s Three-Character Criteria of translation: faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance. Dao An’s translation principles included literal translation (Qian Zhongshu, 1979: 12-62)and translation discrepancy from five different aspects that caused by the different language and culture , three points uneasy to do that also caused by cultural difference, which were observed by later translators. Kumarajiva put forth the idea of free translation (Shi Huijiao,1992:52-54） and the smooth of the translation should be based on the original. These translation theories guided the translation work of the time and enriched Chinese translation theory.

Fourthly, the translation of Buddhist scriptures developed from immature literal translation to immature free translation, then from comparatively mature literal translation to more mature free translation, and finally to an integral practice of both literal and free translations. Theoretical justification of literal and free translations by modern theorists can be traced back to the rule-of-thumb experiences of these early masters of translation.

Fifthly, the translation of Buddhist scriptures was conducive to the growth of the Chinese language. Lexically, some 35,000 new words found their way into the Chinese word-stock; phonologically, the practice of translating Buddhist scriptures sensitized the ears of the Chinese to the tonal qualities of individual Chinese character-words, and a four-tone scheme was devised as a result, which made poetic composition much easier. Liang Qichao pointed out 10 great changes in syntax and style that evolved over the centuries, such as the increased number of inverted sentences.

Sixthly, the Buddhist classics are of great literary value, and the translation of these classic works enriched Chinese literature with new motifs, imagery, and techniques. They prompted the rhymed poetry of the Tang Dynasty and the mystery and ghost stories of the Six Dynasties. Romantic literature appeared and great literature flourished thenceforth.

1. The Development of Buddhist Translation
   1. The Traits of Buddhist Translation

The translation and import of knowledge became common practice from the Sui dynasty (581-618) to the Tang dynasty (618-907), a period of magnificence, extension and a flourishing of the arts. This period was the first peak of translation in China, though the translations were mainly the Buddhist Scriptures.

Translators in this period were mainly Buddhist monks. They not only had a very great command of Sanskrit but had also systematically studied translation theory. Since the translations were mainly on religious scriptures, they thought translators should: (1) be devoted to the Buddhist doctrine, (2) be able to benefit the readers (Buddhist supporters), (3) concentrate on the translation of the Buddhist doctrine rather than translating for fame.

The Tang Dynasty saw a boom of Buddhism and translation of the Buddhist literature. Translation during this stage was characterized by (1) the appearance of more Chinese monk-translators proficient in both Chinese and Sanskrit, and conversant with the Buddhist tenets; (2) the translation of entire works instead of just excerpts; (3) support from the Court; and (4) better management of the translation project.

• 1. The Buddhist Translator : Xuan Zang

The most important figure of Buddhist Scriptures translation in Tang dynasty was the famous monk—Xuan Zang (600-664). In 628, he left Chang An (today"s Xi"an), the capital of the Tang empire, where he had gone in search of a spiritual tutor, and set out for India on a quest for sacred scriptures. He returned in 645, bearing culture relics and gold statues of Buddha, along with 124 collections of Sanskrit aphorisms and 520 other documents. These treasures were transported by a convoy of twenty-two horses. The emperor Tai Zong gave him a warm welcome, provided him with much comfort, and built the "Great Wild Goose Pagoda"（大雁塔） for him in Chang An. Xuan Zang spent the rest of his life in the sumptuous pagoda, working with partners on the translation of the precious Buddhist scripts he had brought back. In nineteen years, he translated 1335 works of Buddhist manuscripts. These translations helped to make Buddhism popular throughout China; even the emperor himself became a Buddhist.(Zhong Weihe ,2010: 3)

Xuan Zang was additionally the first Chinese translator. He translated some of Lao Zi"s (the father of Taoism) works into Sanskrit. He also attempted to translate some other conventional Chinese works for the people of India.

Not only was he a great translator and manager of translation, he was also a great translation theorist. He set down the famous translation principles that translation "must be both truthful and intelligible to the public." In a sense, Xuan Zang, with such a formulation, was trying to do the best of two different aspects—literal translation and free translation. Before Xuan Zang, Dao An in the Sui dynasty focused on a strict literal translation, i.e., the source text should be translated literally; Kumarajiva in the early Tang dynasty was on the opposite and he advocated a complete free translation method for the aim of elegance and intelligibility in the target language. Thus, Xuan Zang combined the advantages of both Dao An"s literal translation—respect for the form of the source text—and Kumarajiva"s free translation with his own translation practice, pointing to achieve an fluency of the translation for the target language readers, and developed his momentous translation criteria that translation "must be truthful and intelligible to the public." Therefore, in practice, Xuan Zang attempted a lot of translation methods. He was the first Chinese translator who tried translation ways like: amplification, omission, borrowing equivalent terms from the target language etc. He was considered as one of the very few real translators in the history of China for his great contribution to translation theory and translation practice.

Xuan Zang"s period is known by today"s translators as the "New Translation Period" in the history of translation in China compared with Dao An and Kumarajiva"s Time. The quality of translation was greatly improved in Xuan Zang"s "New Translation Period," because the translations were mostly performed by Chinese monks who had studied Sanskrit abroad. Those monks, after years of study, had a great command of both the religious spirit and the two languages involved in the translation. On the contrary, in Dao An and Kumarajiva"s period, the translation of Buddhist scriptures were mainly made by Indian monks who occasionally had to offer rigid translations for they lack the linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language.

One of the major features of Xuan Zang"s translation works is the definition of five things not to be translated （五不翻）

1. Esoteric language, ( dharanis陀罗尼, mantras etc.)

2. Words with several meanings, (eg. bhagavan-薄伽梵 which has six levels of meaning which couldn"t possibly be preserved in a Chinese translation）

3. Words without an equivalent in Chinese (eg. Jambu tree)

4. Terms which have already been established in Chinese for centuries( eg. 阿耨菩提 ，annutara samyak sambhodi)

5. Words which Sound less impressive when translated (eg. 般若vs智慧i.e. prajna vs wisdom).

By clearly defining these categories, Xuan Zang has made the further progress in the systematisation of the Chinese Buddhist terminology. The process of systematisation has been going on nearly ever since the period of the first translations during the late Han, when the two extremes of either translating all terms and names or transliterating them were syncretized into a first system of Chinese Buddhist language. This system was then progressively upgraded by later translators, most importantly by Kumarajiva, who reviewed the terminology to divorce it from the anachronisms.

Apart from Xuan Zang during the Tang dynasty, there were also other monks like Yi Jin, Bu Kong and Shi Cha Nan Tuo who translated a great number of Sanskrit Sutras into Chinese. But they were not as influential as Xuan Zang who contributed to both translation practice and theory.

During the late Tang dynasty, fewer people were sent to the west (India) in a quest of sacred texts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures gradually withered.

• 1. The Institution of Buddhist Translation

In ancient times, translation didn’t just mean understanding foreign languages. It was necessary to understand the philosophy of the translated classics. They were explaining the profound implication to the assistants in the Translation Institution while translating the original text. The word “institution” in the “translation institution” refers to the “ashram”—a place for sermon or sacrificial altar. The “translation institution” is a “ashram for translation.”

Buddhist Scripture is religion instead of pure literature. Accurate translation of doctrine is the most important requirement of religion. Therefore, literal translation that emphasizes accuracy is the mainstream translation style. However, in order to win more believers, it is necessary to pay attention to literary translation to attract the masses. Mr. Liang Qichao said: “Buddhism is a foreign study, and it mainly developed based on translation.”（Liang Qichao, 2001: 202） The translation of Buddhist scriptures determines the development of Chinese Buddhism. Therefore, the objective accuracy of Buddhist scripture translation must bear the brunt. There are three types of transmission and spread of Buddhist scriptures: interpretation, translation, and transmission. The main way for the spread and acceptance of the Buddhist scriptures is the translator"s translation system and being widely read by the monks. Ancient translations are often collective cooperation with many procedures such as interpreting, writing down dictation and clear responsibilities for participants.

The organization of translation of the Buddhist scriptures is divided into "translation institution" and "translation school". The development path of the Buddhist scripture translation institution is "from private translation to co-translation, and from the small translation field to the large translation field organization and division of labor."（Shao Lu, 2004: 82） The Tang Dynasty"s most famous translator, Xuan Zang, was the most famous translator in the Tang Dynasty. After traveling to the west for more than ten years, he was welcomed by Emperor Taizong. He organized larger translation sites in Chang An’s Hong Fu Temple and Da Ci En Temple（大慈恩寺） as well as other places. The monastery built the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and moved to the Yu Hua Palace（玉华寺） in the later years (today is the Yao Zhou of Tong Chuan). He continued to translate the classics. He had the largest number of translation works and the quality was better. The phenomenon was called the “new translation” era, unlike Momosh"s "Old Translation."

The significance of establishing translation sites for Buddhist Scripture lies in the scientific expansion of production. One is the accuracy of the translation and the second is the scale of translations. Organizing the translation of the Buddhist Scriptures in the translation field can be beneficial to helping put heads together to provide the foundation and guarantee for the scientificness and accuracy of the translation. Since the period of Dao An, the government-run translation institution had established a perfect translation system. Buddhist scripture translation is generally translated collectively with the support of the royal court. It is the result of group collaboration and makes the translating object more objective; in contrast, literature is an act of privatization with a strong subjectivity. Although there are also co-authorships, it is not encouraged. Therefore, literature is a personal behavior and has a strong subjectivity. In addition, literary works are mostly used for entertainment of the readers. In order to increase attractiveness, rhetorical devices such as absurdity and exaggeration are often adopted, and there are more virtual components. When translating literary works, it is generally allowed to ignore some translation strategies “faithfulness” in order to achieve “expressiveness” and “elegance”. The translation of Buddhist scriptures and literary translation is different. The chanting scriptures are all Buddhist believers, and the chanting of the Scriptures is the inner pursuit. Therefore, in some conditional monasteries, the ancient Sanskrit language is used by the public to chant the scriptures. It is believed that it will not be distorted and they can get the blessing and exaltation of Buddha. Of course, there are only a few believers who understand Sanskrit and mostly still rely on reading translations. Therefore, the accuracy of translation is the first pursuit, and the vast majority of translators are Buddhist monks and believers, and the inner freedom makes them be more in pursuit of the true validity of the translation. The style of literal translation remains alive for a long time. It is difficult for Chinese to meet the conceptual categories of the target language. They prefer to transliterate or do not translate, and they do not want random translation. As for quantity, due to the finer and more streamlined operation of the translation field, the rate of translation has been greatly increased. In the hands of experienced organizers of translation sites, the efficiency is significantly higher than that of early translations or simple organizations. It has large-scale development and improvement. This shows that China’s ancient translation career has reached a new level.

4. The Influence of Buddhist Translation

4.1 Effect on Chinese Language

The greatest influence Buddhism has on Chinese is vocabulary. On the one hand, Buddhist scriptures translators of different generations have used a variety of translation methods to create a large number of new Chinese words related to Buddhism, such as a large number of transliterated or created words such as "Buddha, Bodhisattva, Arhat, cassock, Nirvana, moksa, ksana "and so on. On the other hand, many of the existing Chinese words have been given the meaning of Buddhism. A large number of "Buddhist words" have arose, such as "emptiness, law, cause, nature, and inaction" that express the basic teachings of Buddhism. According to the "Dictionary of Buddhism" compiled by the Japanese, there are as many as 35,000 words imported from Buddhist scriptures translation.

The emergence of a large number of new words demonstrates the influence of Buddhism on the Chinese language. What is especially noteworthy is that with the spread of Buddhism, Buddhism has become a common idiom, saying, proverb and idiom commonly used by people because it has infiltrated a large amount of social life and lost its Buddhist meaning. For example, "spotless", the Buddhist called color, sound, smell, taste, touch, law "six sense." If we can eliminate all the distractions while practicing, the Buddha language is called "spotlessness", and it means cleaning after becoming a social language. Another example is the "Wu Ti Tou Di"（五体投地）, meaning extreme admiration. “Pu Sa Xin Chang”（菩萨心肠） means having a heart of gold and “Wu Shi Bu Deng San Bao Dian” （无事不登三宝殿）means no one comes to the Hall of Trinity without a reason. They are all from the Buddha language and derived from the Buddhist life even more language.

For a long time in the early period of the translation of the Buddhist scriptures, the basic method of translation was that foreign monks chanted the original texts, translated them into Chinese according to the original language order, and rewrote them according to the Chinese written language. Although this method has its drawbacks, it has played a significant role in preserving the literary and style of foreign languages. It has an obvious impact on Chinese style and grammar. There’s no or seldom inversion, affirmation, non-rhyme poetry or essay used in Chinese sentences, but they mostly in the Buddhist scriptures. After the translation, it not only retains the nature of the Western Regions, but also has gradually become Chinese common expression. In addition, Buddhist terms are generally easy to understand and Buddhist translation also conform to fluency. They use simple and plain vernacular style, neither ancient style of calligraphy nor graceful sentence. Buddhist scriptures translation has opened up a new world for the Chinese language.

4.2 Effect on Chinese Literature

To a large extent, the translation of Buddhist scriptures succeeds in incorporating the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese literature through free translation and has prospered Chinese literature in all aspects of creative thought, content and formats. Buddhism concepts like "empty and migrance", "everything is void " and others broaden the Chinese philosophical horizons. Some classic literary works are very good evidence. "Water Margin" has many Buddhism concepts such as karma and metempsychosis and the like; "A Dream in Red Mansions,"(《红楼梦》) implies the concept of life as an empty dream of Buddhism; "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"（《三国演义》） has the thoughts of full of changes, emphasizing the affairs of the world are inconstant. “Journey to the West "（《西游记》）is based on the story of Xuan Zang as the prototype, which is full of Buddhist stories, such as Monkey King, Sun Wu Kong. He is magical but eventually failed to escape from Buddha"s palm, and which is embodied that the Buddism is boundless and can subdue all the evil.

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the translation of classics appeared. The literati are interested in Tianzhu story spread in the world and they inadvertently or intentionally used, then degenerated into a state. Over twenty thousand volumes of Buddhist scriptures, covering Philosophy, logic, music and many other things, bring vitality and fresh style to Chinese literature. Dozens of volumes translated from Sanskrit classic, is indeed a great and magnificent literary work. Among them, Vimalakirti Sutra, Saddharmapundarika Sutra and Surangama Sutra are the favorites of literatis throughout the ages and they encouraged the creation of novels in Jin Tang Dynasty. The thought of Prajnaparamita influenced the poetry creation of Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi and Su Shi.

4.3 Effect on Chinese Philosophy

The Chinese traditional philosophy emphasizes experience not theoretical thinking as well as pays more attention to the discussion of life itself, and neglects the thinking about the other side. Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, the traditional Chinese thinking has been constantly influenced by Buddhist thoughts.

Firstly, the outlook on life. Confucius said: "life even unknown, how about afterlife." Buddhism mainly explores the issue of life and death. Buddhism believes that everything in life is bitter. The purpose of life should be to free itself from life and death. People even everything in the universe are in endless reincarnation. And the universe is divided into layers of heaven, earth and hell. This concept has deeply affected the thought of the Chinese people and led many people to believe that life does indeed have reincarnation. There is indeed endless troubles and pains in life. The only way to relieve suffering is to get rid of reincarnation. It also leads people to believe that people indeed have the ancestors also have the afterlife, may be placed in different forms, may be in heaven, in the world, may also be in hell.

Secondly, the cosmology. During the Qin and Han dynasties in our country, a rather complete cosmological system centered on the theory of Yin and Yang and Five Elements was formed. This system has been inherited and carried forward by Confucianism and Taoism. Since the introduction of the Buddhist cosmology, this theoretical system has been severely challenged, causing controversies in the Chinese intellectual community. The basic point of Buddhism philosophy is to deny the existence of the real world and to envision a "Western paradise" opposite the real world. Various Buddhist factions demonstrate the subjective spirit of the absolute nature of the world is a typical idealism from different perspectives with different evidence of the illusion of the objective world at the same time. Therefore, the Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism began to argue over the issue of godlessness and atheism. The controversy has played a positive role in promoting the correct understanding of the universe and exploring the mysteries of the universe.

5.Conclusion

The translation of Buddhist scriptures has a great influence on the Chinese language, literature and philosophies and it promotes the Chinese culture. Throughout the history of the translation of Buddhist scriptures, Master Translators not only succeeded in embedding exotic cultures into Chinese culture, but also opened up many areas in which Buddhism has a profound impact on Chinese culture. Chinese culture, based on a magnificent inscription, has not only achieved tremendous success in cultural blending but also enriched itself from all angles. As a symbol of the history of translation in our country, Sutra translation plays an important role in our society, politics and culture.

Works Cited

梁启超:《佛教研究十八篇》. 上海: 上海古籍出版社,2001: 202

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