The Translation of Text Structure in the Western-language Translations of the Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna: A Critique of Approaches and Some Further Reflections=《大乘起信論》西語翻譯中對文本結構的處理 ──處理的方法及由此引出的若干思考
Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna=大乘起信論; text structure=文本結構; Western-language translation=西語翻譯; reconstruction of structure=重建結構; delineation of structure=標示結構
摘要
This paper offers a critique of the Western-language translation of the Buddhist treatise the Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna in the specific case of its text structure, examining what the translators have done to reconstruct and then to delineate this structure, and then discussing where they have not done enough in these two aspects. It argues that these translations exhibit a general lack of attention to this structure and in that sense to the complex technicality of the treatise. In the sense that the technicality of a text is its integral component and thus indispensable for its successful translation, this critique constitutes a call for greater attention to the text structure of the treatise in a possible future translation. It further argues, in some additional reflections, that this conspicuous lack of attention to technicality is perhaps conscious and political, resulted from the need of a cultural symbol rather than a meticulous work of philology in the cultural encounter between the West and East.
Introduction: The Problem of Technicality 171 1. What They Have Done to Translate the Text Structure 175 a. How They Have Reconstructed the Text Structure 175 b. How They Have Delineated Their Reconstructed Text Structures 184 2. Where They Have Not Done Enough to Translate the Text Structure 187 a. Problems in the Reconstruction of the Text Structure 187 b. Problems in the Delineation of the Reconstructed Text Structure 193 Conclusion: Some Further Reflections 197
