“翻译驱动”与中国的印度学

Translation-Driven Indology in China

中国古代佛学、现代梵学与印度学都是在翻译先行、翻译推动、"译"与"学"一体化的情况下起步和发展的,这种现象可概括为"翻译驱动"。一部中国佛学史,其实就是翻译驱动的佛典汉语转换及阐发与吸收的历史。在中国宋代以前的古代佛学中,"翻译驱动"表现为佛典汉译,是佛学的基础和出发点,译经(翻经)与佛学融为一体。进入20世纪后,当翻译对象由佛典转为印度教的梵典时,翻译驱动的传统得以接续,翻译驱动研究,但有时两者挤得太紧,致使著与译两种形式未加严格区分,其标志人物是徐梵澄。而以季羡林、金克木、黄宝生为代表的中国当代印度学家,全面展开梵典及印度经典的翻译,并在翻译的基础上展开研究,著译既严格区分又相辅相成。从古至今,翻译驱动的表现方式虽有不同,却形成了悠久的传统,决定了我国印度学的独特风貌和基本特点。

Ancient Buddhist studies,modern Sanskrit studies and Indology in China all start and evolve with translation,a phenomenon that can be generalized as translation-driven.Before the Song Dynasty,Buddhist studies went hand in hand with Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures.In the 20th century when translation switched from Buddhist scriptures to Hindu scriptures,this tradition continues.However,for some time,writings and translation have been indistinguishable with the scholar XU Fan-cheng as a representative of this approach.In contemporary China,Indologists like JI Xian-lin,JIN Ke-mu and HUANG Bao-sheng extensively translate Sanskrit classics and Indian classics,but there are clear boundaries between their translations and writings.Indology in China has taken different forms in different periods of history,but one characteristic remains unchanged:It has been and still is translation-driven.