On The Essence Of Translation From The Vijnanamatra School

The essence of translation is one of the core subjects in western translation theories and different schools have different opinions on it.According to different research methodologies,it can be divided into four schools,namely the philological school,the linguistic school,the cultural school and the philosophical school.In Chapter One,different opinions home and abroad on the essence of translation are retrospected and the gaps therein are analyzed.The philological school regards translation as an art.The linguistic school believes that the essence of translation is language transformation on all levels of linguistic units including words,sentences and discourses.The cultural school pays much attention to the cultural factors which may influence the translators and their choices in translation.The philosophical school,including deconstruction and the philosophical hermeneutics,sees the essence of translation as regulated transformation or interpretation.After analyzing the gaps in these schools,this thesis tries to investigate the essence of translation from a different perspective,the vijnanamatra school.In Chapter Two,the major thoughts of the vijnanamatra school are introduced according to the works “Yogacara-bhumi-sastra”,“Vijn?ptim?trat?siddhi” by Xuan Zang and “Hetuvidy?ny?yadv?ra??stra” by Dign?ga and they include human mind structure,the seed theory,the essence of cognition and the pramana theory.In addition,its related studies on translation are also introduced.However,since translation studies from this perspective is only at its initial stage,further research must be done through this thesis.In Chapter Three,the essence of translation is re-defined from the perspective of vijnanamatra school with detailed investigations into the object of translation,the cause of translation,the translation process and the translation product.It is argued that the object of translation is not the object itself,but the image arising from it,namely the division of appearance.The cause of translation is difference and difference occurs from the very moment life begins and it helps make translation happen to some extent.The translation process is a kind of cognitive and comparative one from partyaksa to anumana,with the help of the former six consciousnesses and the mingyan seed.The translation product is influenced by three major factors,namely the source,the translator and the patronage.In conclusion,translation is anumana pramana.