跨信仰的经典翻译何以可能?——李提摩太《大乘起信论》英译研究

How Is It Possible to Translate a Religious Classic into Another Religious Tradition:On Timothy Richard’s Translation of the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana Doctrine

李提摩太作为活动于晚清中国的传教士和政治家,翻译过中国佛教经典《大乘起信论》,但他的译文带着浓厚的基督教色彩,因此引起了中国佛教界的抗议。本文旨在探讨李提摩太译文中知识和信仰是如何交织的,以及这一现象蕴藏的跨宗教问题。为了深入探讨这个问题,首先需要梳理李氏的《起信论》英译的历史社会背景:当时英国学者对于佛教的认识、李氏佛教知识的来源、他与杨文会的相识与翻译合作,以及当时中外读者对其译文的看法;其次围绕《起信论》中两个关键概念,“真如”和“心”,揭示李氏通过引入柏拉图哲学和“道成肉身”思想,完成《起信论》英译中的基督教神学建构,即使其代价是使文本偏离了原本的佛教思想;最后阐释李提摩太信仰和知识的立足点位于基督新教自由主义神学和欧洲东方学之间,而这两者正是英国社会对于维多利亚时代精神危机的回应。事实上,李提摩太的宗教信仰限制了译文中的知识生产,该话语实践的结果和他在中国试图实现社会福音的初衷都是源于基督教信仰,而佛教知识被扭曲则揭示了文化融合过程中的权力关系问题。

A missionary and politician active in late Qing China,Timothy Richard translated the Buddhist classic Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana Buddhism into English.However,his translation had a strong Christian flavor,which aroused protests from the Chinese Buddhist community.This article seeks to explore how knowledge and faith are intertwined in Timothy Richard’s translation,as well as the trans-religious issues underlying the aforesaid phenomenon.In order to explore this issue in depth,it is necessary to sort out the historical and social background of Richard’s English translation of Awakening of Faith in the first place:British scholars’collective understanding of Buddhism at that time,the sources of the translator’s knowledge about Buddhism,his acquaintance and cooperation with Yang Wenhui,and reader response to his translation.Next,focusing on two key concepts in Awakening of Faith,“zhenru”(tathatā)and“xin”(citta),we will find that by introducing Platonic philosophy and the Christian idea of“Incarnation,”Richard successfully completed the theological construction of Christian principles in his translation of Awakening of Faith,even if the cost is that the eventual translation deviates from the original Buddhist thought.Finally,it is arguable that the foundation of Richard’s religious faith and knowledge lies between Protestant Liberalism and Euro-Orientalism,both of which are literally British society’s 4response to the spiritual crisis of the Victorian era.As a matter of fact,Richard’s religious beliefs limited the production of knowledge in his translation.The results of this discourse practice and his original intention to preach the gospel in China both derive from his Christian beliefs,while the distortion of Buddhist knowledge reveals the problematic of power relations in the process of cultural syncretism.