论佛经翻译理论中的文与质

文质之论起源于中国古典的人论、文论,作为翻译理论贯穿于整个佛经翻译过程。就本质而言,文与质的概念内涵远远超出了后来经过翻译移入中国的直译与意译概念。文质之论不但与翻译方法有关,而且关系到翻译所涉语言、文本风格等根本性的问题。因此,研究中国传统译论中的文质之论,使其区别于今天的直译意译之争,对于澄清中国传统译论的一些基本问题及其与西方现代译论的关系,对于加深翻译的本质认识,都具有重要的理论意义。

The concepts of Wen (literary) and Zhi (qualitative) were derived from classical Chinese theories inHumanity and Writing. As a part of translation theory, Wen and Zhi, going through the whole process of translatingBuddhist Sutra, are totally different from both literal and liberal western translation terms. They are concerned withtranslation methods as well as aspects such as language and writing style. Therefore, this paper intends to prove thatWen and Zhi are typical Chinese concepts, which should be differentiated from literal and liberal translation. It triesto clarify some basic concepts in traditional Chinese translation theory and their relationships with contemporarywestern translation theory, which has both profound theoretical and pragmatic significance.