A Study Of Influences Of Sutra Translation On Chinese Language

Buddhism was born in ancient India, and together with Christianity and Islam, is one of the three major religions of the world. From the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD, it was created by the awakened prince of Jiabiluowei in ancient North India.Translation is crucial to the introduction of western learning and the making of national culture in China. China has an over five thousand-year long history of civilization and a three thousand-year history of translation. Buddhism was only known in India for a very long time, and it began to penetrate into China toward the middle of the first century. During the Han Dynasty, Buddhism came eastward to China. Its distinct religious belief penetrated into the spiritual life and traditional cultures of the Chinese people, and in its long process of evolution and development, it brought many new things to old China and put vigor into the Chinese culture..Buddhist classics are numerous, and the Sutras that were written in Sanskrit needed to be translated into Chinese to meet the needs of Chinese Buddhists. Although the task was very hardt, the translators knew their mission which was glorious, thus, trying to make this translation possible in China, a Buddhist classics translation movement began in China that lasted for more than 800 years. In it, more than 1,600 Buddhism classics and 6,400 versions were translated.These translation activities experienced four historical periods (embryonic development, growing, flourishing and decline) in China. During the four periods of the translation movement, many translators, such as Kumarajiva, Zhen Di, Xuan Zang and Bu Kong were committed to translating scriptures and made tremendous contributions to the great cause. They constantly summerized experiences and made innovations. Consequently, they succeeded in introducing Buddhist doctrines to the Chinese native culture. Therefore, Buddhism took root in the soil of Chinese culture through the translation. It played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, it has a broad and far-reaching influence on Chinese aesthetics, politics, language, literature, philosophy, medicine, architecture, painting, statue and translation theories. In other words, Chinese culture absorbed a large number of Buddhist ideas.On the basis of predecessors' study of influences of Sutra translation on Chinese Language, this thesis aims at exploring and studying the following two issues:First, the influence of sutra translation on Chinese writing, in terms of spiritual strange story, the Tang legend, the storytelling, the drama and the popular literature. Second, the influence Sutra translation on Chinese language:the influences of Sutra on Chinese phonology, lexis, syntax, Chinese sentences, literary style, and pragmatics. It is hoped that this study can be of some help to our understanding of the significance of Sutra translation in China.