“不易”并非“不容易”——对释道安“三不易”的误释及其辨正

A Note on Misunderstanding of SHI Dao-an's Key Principle in Translation

东晋释道安的"五失本、三不易"中的"三不易"之"不易",一直被训释为"不容易"。而从文字训诂及道安一以贯之的翻译思想来看,"不易"之"易"宜作"轻易"解,"不易"宜作"不变"解。"不易"并非"不容易",而是不变、"不轻易"或"勿轻易"之谓。"三不易"是为了规避"五失本"而对译者提出的三条"勿轻易而为",概言之:勿轻易以古适今、勿轻易以浅代深,勿轻易臆度原典。可视为翻译的"三戒"。假若将"不易"解释为"不容易",便会把"三不易"当做三条"不容易"做而又要努力去做的事,这不仅不符合"五失本"与"三不易"之间的逻辑关系,而且完全颠倒了道安的原意。正确训释和理解"三不易",对于中国传统译学理论的阐发和当代中国翻译理论及翻译文学的学科建设都具有重要意义。

SHI Dao-an in the East Jin Dynasty proposed a translation principle termed ＂bu yi＂,where ＂yi＂ has long been understood as＂easy＂.But from the perspective of the translation theory Dao-an advocated,this ＂yi＂ should be interpreted as ＂wilful＂ or something similar and therefore ＂bu yi＂ should be ＂not wilful＂.In fact,this principle aims to avoid wilful behaviors in translation.It follows that proper explanation of something like this in ancient Chinese literature is important for interpreting traditional Chinese translation theory and for constructing the discipline of translation literature.