藏文典籍西传述论——以埃文斯温茨和达瓦桑珠的藏英翻译为中心

Translation and Transmission of Famous Tibetan Works to the West—Centering on Evens Wentz and Dawa Sumdrup’s Works

埃文斯温茨是20世纪初美国著名人类学家,也是向西方传播藏文典籍的先驱人物之一。他与锡金的藏英翻译师卡泽·达瓦桑珠合作翻译了《西藏生死书》《大圆满》《米拉日巴传》等重要藏文文献。这些译著的问世不但吸引了无数西方读者,还成为西方学者从文献典籍层面了解和研究藏文化的依据。文章在简述两位译者生平事迹的基础之上,结合当时的社会文化背景详尽梳理了四部藏文文献的翻译、出版和传播情况,并分析了翻译藏文典籍的目的及价值,旨在为藏文典籍的翻译及研究提供可靠参考。

This paper concerns a brief study on the life and works of two important Tibetan English translators in early 20th century.Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz was an American anthropologist and theologist,most famously,a pioneer in the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies.His Tibetan English translation works,cooperating with his lama Kazi Dawa Sumdrup,were pivotal in the early transmission of Tibetan traditional culture to the West,especially their iconic early translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead,Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa,Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines,and The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation.Based on the social and historical influences during the era,the current study discusses the publication of the works they translated.It also analyzed the motivations and values of the translating works.