On Buddhist Sutra Translation And Chinese Culture

Buddhism was introduced into China from the early Eastern Han Dynasty and gradually developed under the specific social condition of the ancient China. Ultimately, it became a part of the superstructure of feudal society in ancient China. However, since its introduction into China, Buddhism has been always spread in accordance with the social explanation and need of Chinese feudal landlord class at that time. Buddhism was considered as a kind of Huang-Lao Daoism in Han Dynasty, while in Wei and Jin Dynasties it was reckoned as the part of metaphysics. Although Buddhist sutra has ever been extensively translated and introduced in Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was not pure Buddhism based on Indian scholasticism that had the wide popularity in ancient China. Instead, it was Chinese Buddhism based on changes and creations made by Chinese people that caused a great impact on Chinese society. It is well-known that China has one of the most glorious and profound cultures in the world. But its cultural structure and pattern presented different forms in different stages such as the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period as well as Confucianism in Han Dynasty. From then on, Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism began to develop neck and neck in ancient China. As a result, Buddhism had a chance to be step by step penetrated into the daily lives of the common people in China. Some of the Buddhist festivals became the festival of the whole Chinese people, even the Buddhist language started to be mixed into the Chinese language. Most important, some Buddhist ideas had unconsciously been the source of inspiration for Chinese philosophical thoughts, not to say its contributions to religion, philosophy, art, literature, architecture and etc. As a matter of fact, Buddhism has been integrated into the Chinese culture since its long time of development, and now it is really difficult to say whether Buddhism is still a borrowed product in China.As a foreign religion, why is Buddhism able to constitute a part of Chinese culture under the circumstances of being criticized and ostracized by Chinese scholars during the course of its development? In the final analysis, it depends on the social conditions of that time as well as its own unique features. However, as for its wide popularity in ancient China, Buddhist sutra translation played an important role in facilitating the development of Buddhism. It in ancient China could be said to be the largest translation event in the world, beyond comparison in terms of its participants, time-span and achievements in the translation history of the world. Buddhist sutra translation opened the way for the process of massive translation event in Chinese translation history, which played a very great role in facilitating the cultural exchange between China and other countries. Thus, this paper will focus on the mutual influence and interaction between Buddhist sutra translation and Chinese culture in the view of the relationship between translation and culture, which could help readers better understand why Chinese culture is able to be passed down from generation to generation without perishing from the world. In a word, Chinese culture is all the time full of vitality and vigor, willing to absorb the strengths of other cultures. Inside the culture it can bring into full play all positive factors in the creation of new inspirations, outside the culture it never ostracizes novel and fresh things in order to consistently take in what it is useful to itself. Chinese culture is open-minded and generous rather than narrow-minded and insulated. That is why Chinese culture can exist like an evergreen and hold an important position in world civilization.