回归翻译本质:解读鸠摩罗什的翻译思想

Return to Translation Essence: Interpret Kumarajiva's Translation Thought

鸠摩罗什是佛典汉译史上与玄奘齐名的大翻译家,他摒弃用儒家、道家术语格义佛学,回归翻译本质,率先把印度佛学按照本来面目翻译到我国,开创了佛典汉译的新纪元。鸠摩罗什主持长安译场长达十多年,创新了边译边讲、中外人共译的官方译场合作模式,翻译的《金刚经》《维摩诘经》等很多译本非常流行,尤其是《法华经》译出了原汁原味,被人们誉为具有"天然西域之语趣"。学界对鸠摩罗什的研究主要侧重于佛学领域,对译本的语音、词汇、主题、流行原因和译场合作等方面也有所涉及。但是作为一位在翻译实践上取得如此成就的翻译家,鸠摩罗什的翻译思想却很少有人研究,我们主张回归翻译本质,通过文献解读鸠摩罗什的翻译思想。其翻译思想主要包括不可译论、文派翻译、翻译诚实誓、译文简约、摈弃格义、精益求精和边译边讲、中外人共译的官方译场合作模式。在中华文化走出去的今天,鸠摩罗什的翻译思想对我们如何将中华文化翻译到世界各国依然具有很好的参考价值。

Kumarajiva is a great translator as famous as Xuanzang in the history of translating Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.He spums using Confucian and Taoist terms to geyi Buddhism,returns to translation essence and is the first person to translate Indian Buddhism into China as what it is,thus creating a new era of translating Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.Kumarajiva presided over Chang'an Yichang for more than 10 years,innovating an official Yichang model of combining interpretation with preach and co-translation between Chinese and foreign people.Many sutras he translated such as Vajracchedika Sutra and Vimalakirti Sutra are very popular.Especially the translation of Saddharmapundarika Sutra presented original taste,which is praised to have "natural language interest of Xiyu".However,as a translator who has made so many great achievements in translation practice, there are few researches on Kumarajiva's translation thought.We advocate returning to translation essence and interpreting Kumarajiva's translation thought by reading literature.It is found that his translation thought mainly include untranslatability,Wen translation,Translation Honesty Oath,simplicity in translation,spurning geyi,pursuing perfection in translation,and creating an official Yichang model of combining interpretation with preach and co-translation between Chinese and foreign people.Nowadays when we face how to translate Chinese culture into many other countries,his translation thought is still of great reference value.