A Comparative Study Of The Grammar Of The Three Translated Versions Of The Vimalakirti Sutr

The Chinese-translated Buddhist scriptures are important documents for the study of the grammar of ancient Chinese,while the Vimalakirti Sutra has several different versions with certain translators and translation dates and high translation level,which are good materials for the study of the historical development of Chinese grammar.This paper compares and combs the three different versions of the Vimalakirti Sutra(Zhiqian,Kumarashi and Xuanzang)into adverbs,prepositions and conjunctions,summarizes their respective characteristics,and summarizes the development of some grammatical phenomena from the perspective of Chinese history.This paper is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which mainly expounds the value of the topic,summarizes the existing research results and introduces the research methods.The second chapter discusses the differences between the different translations of adverbs in the three versions of the Vimalakirti Sutra.Focus on the selection of scope adverbs,negative adverbs,the highest degree adverbs and several representative adverbs.The object position of the general adverbs tends to move backward.Zhi Qian’s version uses the translation part of general adverbs,while Xuanzang’s version uses time adverbs or adds collaberative adverbs.Kumarashi and Xuanzang often use double negation to express the general concept.Negative adverbs have a neat correspondence in the three versions.The functions of negative adverbs have changed from confusion to clarity.For example,bu(不)has three functions in Zhiqian’s version,while in Kumarashi’s version and Xuanzang’s version,there is only general negative function.There are different tendencies to use the negative adverbs of persuasion and prohibition.Zhi Qian’s version tends to use mo(莫),while Kumarashi’s version and Xuan Zang’s version tend to use wu(勿).The highest degree adverb part discusses the nature,usage and differences of zui(最)in the three versions.Gege(各各)and juzu(具足)have the usage of the general adverb.The discussion of bijing(毕竟)is mainly to introduce Buddhist scriptures to prove the age of adverb usage.Zhuanzhuan(转转)means"mutual"in the Buddhist Sutra of Vimalakirti.In the early Medieval Buddhist scriptures,bi(必)was mainly used to express the concept of certainty,and with the development of the times,the adverb jueding(决定)was used more often.The study of prepositions in the three versions of the Vimalakirti Sutra is divided into four categories: location and time,reference,object,cause and purpose.The location-time category mainly involves the replacement of prepositions,the transfer of functions,the formation of fixed collocations.The category of reference mainly analyzes the difference of the corresponding Sanskrit text in the three versions with or without yi(以).Object class describes the growth and decline of some prepositions,such as yi(以)and yu(於).When the Sanskrit text does not have the grammatical elements to express causation,a certain number of sentences in Zhi Qian’s version are translated into causation,and the preposition yi(以)is used.The phenomenon of preposition suspension has been decreasing,and the main reason for the preposition suspension is the omission of the object and the imitation of the word order of the Sanskrit text.The fourth chapter focuses on the conjunctions in the three versions of Vimalakirti.The focus is on the coordinate conjunctions,choice conjunctions,causal conjunctions,hypothetical conjunctions and concession conjunctions.The section of coordinate conjunctions mainly analyzes the differences of the functions of ji(及),yu(与)and bing(并)in the three versions,and analyzes the hierarchy of the use of coordinate conjunctions.The choice conjunctions focuses on the different uses of huo(或)and ruo(若)as well as the tendency of translation.Describe the different forms of the conjunctions connecting NP in the three versions.To sort out the usage of the conjunctions huo(或)and ruo(若)in the Buddhist scriptures of the Middle Tang Dynasty.The causal conjunction part briefly describes the differences in the use of the three versions.In the part of hypothetical conjunctions,the grammatical markers used to express the hypothetical relationship are the most complex in the Zhiqian version.There are several different situations in the translation of hypothetical conjunctions in the three versions.From Zhiqian’s version to Xuanzang’s version,there was a process of......zhe(……者)>ruo.....zhe(若……者)>ruo......(若……).In the part of concessional conjunctions,briefly describe and investigate the tendency of the conjunctions of X-shi(X 使)to be used in hypothetical sentences/concessional sentences in the Middle Ancient Buddhist scriptures.The fifth chapter is the conclusion,which mainly summarizes the translation strategies and grammatical changes of the three versions,focusing on the integrity and systematicness,and points out the shortcomings of the paper and the direction for further research.