Title: A Study on Buddhist Hermeneutics in Ancient China: Chinese Translation of Buddhist Sutra
Abstract:Translation is a process of understanding and interpretation and also a dialogue between two different discourses or two different cultures. The unde rtaking of translation had changed from cultural c...Translation is a process of understanding and interpretation and also a dialogue between two different discourses or two different cultures. The unde rtaking of translation had changed from cultural conquest to cultural exchange since the translation of Buddhist sutra into Chinese in the Han Dynasty. Due to translator’s limitations in understanding and expressing in two langu ages, translation of Buddhist sutra was generally word-for-word translation i n the East H an Dynasty. Catering to the need of Chinese culture, translators of Buddhi st sutra used to apply free translation in the Wei and West Jin Dynasties. Durin g East Jin and Pre-qin and Post-qin Dynasties, Dao-an, a famous monk, drew up the translation rules “five losses of the original” and “three difficulti es about translation” which explained the nature of hermeneutics on translation from ti me and space. Jiumo Luoshi, another famous monk, corrected mistakes of old Chine se translation of Buddhist sutra and reinterpreted their language and meani ngs. Yan Cong monk's “eight abilities” and Xuan Zhuang's “f ive untran slatable situations”, marked the standardization of theories on Chinese transla tion of Buddhist sutra in Sui and Tang Dynasties. And then “six rules of transl ation” suggested by Zan Ning monk made a satisfactory summary of this realm i n the Song Dynasty. Chinese translation of Buddhist sutra changed the original a ppearance of Indian Buddhist sutra and made them treasured books which belonged to the whole world through a new form understood and interpreted by C hinese.Read More
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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