"Recreating the Image of Chan Master Huineng: An Interpersonal Approach to Translations of the Platform Sutra"

Abstract

The study is a comparison of four English translations of a Chinese Chan Buddhist text, the Platform Sutra. It investigates translators’ choices on the level of lexico-grammar, the semantic consequences of such choices as the image of Huineng and the underlying contextual factors contributing to the variations among translations. Interpersonal system of SysFan, a computational tool specialized in systemic functional analysis, is used and choices in terms of SUBJECT PERSON, MODALITY and MOOD TYPE are analyzed and compared. It is demonstrated that in translation, lexico-grammatical choices will lead to variation in meanings, and there tend to be contextual motivations for the seemingly unconscious choices.