法顯=Fa-xien; 佛國記=Records of Buddhistic Kingdoms; 歐洲漢學; 雷慕沙=Jean Pierre Abel Rémusat; 理雅各=James Legge; Samuel Beal; Herbert Allen Giles
摘要
法顯因慨漢地佛教戒律殘闕，西元399年自長安出發，誓志親履天竺，求取經律。乘危履險，陸去海還，七十多歲求得佛經佛像歸來。在江南講經之餘，應漢地閱聽者之請，將十五年的異國求法見聞，寫成《佛國記》。此書為五世紀中亞印度的佛教、語言、史地、交通研究，提供珍貴的史料，在十九世紀得到歐洲漢學研究者深切關注。 1836年漢學家雷慕沙（Albert Rémusat）的《佛國記》「法文」譯注本在巴黎出版，代表歐洲「漢學」對中國「旅行家」之重視；亦代表歐洲「佛學」對「漢傳佛教」的發現。其後，1869、1877、1886年陸續出版三種「英文」譯注本，譯者分別為Samuel Beal、H. A. Giles 及James Legge。1923年第四個英譯本（即H. A. Giles的重譯本）於倫敦出版；Max Deeg之德文譯注本則於2005年出版，顯見十九世紀以降，歐洲學者對《佛國記》一直保持高度關注。本文旨在對法顯《佛國記》在歐洲翻譯（以英譯為主），進行文獻整理及文獻評析，期能補充19-20世紀歐洲佛教知識史。
Written in early 5th century, Fa-xien‟s Fo Ko Chi, Records of Buddhistic Kingdoms, had been translated into French by Albert Rémusat and published in 1836, Paris. This certain “traveling records” had been the key for opening new vision for western Buddhism research. For the European sinologists, it had been regarded as the first encounter of so-called Chinese-Buddhism. Owning to its plentiful philology issues, such as linguistics, history, geography, and transportation between middle Asia, north India, and south ocean, more and more sinologists discussed about it, and three different English translations were accomplished in 1869, 1877, and 1886. H. A. Giles, the 1877‟s translator, even made a retranslation in 1923 when he was 78 years old. In 2005 the German translation and commentary were published. Why the European sinologists were so interested in Fa-xien‟s journey? How were the value of these various translations? Did the European vision enlighten the Chinese traditional view? This thesis will focus on the four English translations, introducing the translator and doing some comments for the translated texts.
