Nanqiao丨Several "nobles" in the history of "I Ching" translation
The German sinologist Wei Lixian (1873-1930) and his translation of the I Ching, an English translation.
When a book is alive and translated into another language, it will sow ideas everywhere like a dandelion seed. But it's hard to get off to a cultural start. The quality of the text is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the success of a translation. The translation of "Journey to the West", Professor Yu Guofan of the University of Chicago spent a lot of effort, but the influence was not great. It may be that I didn't find the right cultural outlet.
Among the classics translated from Chinese, the most influential is probably The Art of War. With its short and concise "signature cake" wisdom, it quickly spread and became one of the most frequently cited books on high-end speech PowerPoint. It's just that some of the strategies in "The Art of War" are suspected of unscrupulous means for the sake of the end, which may not be good for the image of the Chinese. The other is the Tao Te Ching. It's short and concise, and there are many versions. It's just that most of the time, everyone just excerpts one or two sentences out of context, so that people can get a glimpse of a hole, and it is difficult to know the whole picture. The same is true of the Analects. The greatest effect of the Analects is to create a kind of "He who......" facial sentence structure. Many "wisdom" quotations of unknown origin have been included in the name of "Ziyue".
Another influential work is the Book of Changes. In overseas Taoist cultural circles, this book is considered a classic. The "Tao" of "Taoism" and the "Tao" of "the Tao of the Beginning" in Christian culture are inseparable at first glance. Culturally alternative people, people who want to come up with a Christian house but are reluctant to take on its cultural roots, many find a sense of déjà vu in Taoist culture. It is true that this similarity may also lead to Zhang Guan Li Dai, and once there is a deviation, it will be more difficult to correct the deviation. The pursuit of Taoism flourished especially in the early 20th century. Nobel laureate Eugene O'Neill is also an obsessive of Taoist culture. Later, in the era of the hippies, meditation became popular. Nowadays, intellectuals sometimes seek mindfulness, spiritual infusion, and I don't know if it comes from Buddhism or Taoism. When an American colleague of mine was talking about this concept, a Korean colleague turned his head and asked, "Do you think they are mistaken, and the East is talking about mindlessness?"
The most influential translation of the I Ching was originally in German by the German sinologist Richard Wilhelm. American psychologist Kelly M. Cary F. Baynes translated it into English based on Wei Lixian's version. Although it is a translation, the translator has received the guidance of the German translator, and there is also a strict back-translation and correction process, with good quality control and high recognition. The book remains the most acclaimed edition on Amazon.
In the process of writing this book, there are some characters that are worthy of Shi Hai's hook. The German translator of this book was Wei Lixian, who we now call a sinist, but like many sinologists of his time, he was originally a missionary. He entered China in 1899 and lived in China for more than twenty years, where he had a talent for languages and mastered the Chinese language proficiently. In addition, he was also one of the first Westerners to "open his eyes to the East", and found a cultural bonanza in China, which was regarded by Westerners as a cultural wilderness, and he was also known as Marco Polo in the cultural and spiritual fields.
Lao Naixuan and the Book of Changes.
The reason why Wei Lixian translated the Book of Changes was because of a "Chinese sage" Lao Naixuan. Lao Naixuan was a strange man in the late Qing Dynasty. He served as the "Prime Minister" of Zhejiang Qiushi University Hall (later Zhejiang University Hall) and the general supervisor of Beijing Normal University Hall, and was talented and knowledgeable. After the death of the Qing Dynasty, Lao Naixuan became a widow, and he suggested that Yuan Shikai follow the example of Zhou Gong Zhaogong to achieve a "republic", and return the great government when Pu Yi became an adult, Yuan Shikai was noncommittal. After Lao Naixuan, he lived in seclusion in Laishui and Qingdao, where he met Wei Lixian, studied Sinology with him, and founded the Confucian Literature Society and Lixian Academy.
Lao Naixuan is a figure who is called a Chinese saint by foreigners, but it is a pity that his son Lao Ziqiao, together with Ruicheng and Cen Chunxuan, is known as the "Three Evils in Beijing". For some reason, the saints have been alone since ancient times, and the wicked have always appeared in three or three: Hitler, Mussolini, Hideki Tojo, Chen Guilin, Aberdeen, Lin Lu and ...... Lao Ziqiao has no entries on the Internet, far less than Ruicheng and Cen Chunxuan. If he crosses over, will he be so angry that he will go back and kill Rui Cheng and Cen Chunxuan again, so as to improve his ranking in the second young single, so as to shine in the annals of history?
However, Lao Naixuan became famous in history through the translation of the Book of Changes. According to Wei Lixian and his son in the preface to the translation and reprint, Lao Naixuan "was the most modern figure of his time. During the Chinese dynastic era, he carried out reforms of the system, law, education, and even language with astonishingly progressive ideas", and Wei Lixian and his son honored Lao Naixuan as "sage" (sage). In the past, this title was often given to cultural figures of Confucius's magnitude, which shows that Lao Naixuan has a high status in Wei Lixian's mind. He regarded Lao Naixuan as a teacher. Lao Naixuan knows the Book of Changes well and is an indispensable figure for Wei Lixian to complete the translation. This kind of Sino-foreign cooperation in translation is almost the "standard" for foreign Chinese translation, such as the cooperation between James Li and Wang Tao, Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie, which can be described as a perfect combination. However, in the past, in the mode of one person as the main translator and one person as the assistant, the assistant lacked the aura and usually disappeared into oblivion. Not many people remember Lin Qinnan's English collaborators. Pearl Sai's translation of "Water Margin", and the collaborator Long Moqian was completely forgotten by Pearl Sai, so that the preface to the English version written by Long Moqian was not included in the translation.
Lao Naixuan was repeatedly mentioned by Wei Lixian. In 1910, Wei Lixian fell ill with dysentery. Lao Naixuan used Chinese food and exercise methods to help him heal his illness. In terms of translation, leaving Lao Naixuan, Wei Lixian suddenly had nothing to do. In the preface, he said: After Mr. Lao, the son-in-law of the Confucian family, went to Qufu, the translation work was immediately put on hold. During this period, Wei Lixian served as the head of the Red Cross Society of China, but he still worked tirelessly on the study of Chinese classics every day. In the barracks outside the city, "Kimio, a Japanese general, was reading Mencius." I, a German, also have my free time studying Chinese wisdom. But the happiest person is an old Chinese man, who has been immersed in hard study. During this time, a grenade fell beside him, and it did not disturb his indulgence in the books of the sages. He just reached for the grenade (it was a dud), said it was hot, and went back to reading. "I don't know who this old man is, it may be that after Lowe's left, the other Chinese assistants that Wei Lixian found were obviously also a figure with high determination and attainment. Later, Lao Naixuan wrote a letter, saying that he would come back and continue to teach him Chinese studies, and Wei Lixian was overjoyed. "He came, and the translation was done. The time I spent with this elderly Master was especially precious. It's a pity that he had no choice but to return to Germany, and Lao Naixuan also passed away.
Famous psychologist Carl Jung.
After Wei Lixian returned to Europe, when the famous psychologist Carl Jung met him for the first time, he felt that his speech and demeanor were all Chinese. But Carl Jung, a researcher of the conscious and subconscious, noticed a gradual split in Wei Lixian's spiritual world. Wei Lixian's speech on China sounded more like a Christian sermon to Jung. And the Chinese tradition that Wei Lixian learned later has infiltrated the subconscious. According to the Society of Wisdom, a German civil society founded in 1920, the split led to the resurgence of germs that had been suppressed by Lao Naixuan using traditional Chinese methods, causing him to suffer from dysentery again. Jung tried to treat him, but "the internal psychological conflict between East and West was too strong", and Wei Lixian died at the age of 57.
I wonder if there is a scientific basis for the theory that this clash of cultures leads to disease. It may also be that after Wei Lixian returned to Germany, there was a reverse cultural contrast, which caused a kind of spiritual discomfort and pressure to reintegrate. Many foreigners who have lived in China for many years have told me about the discomfort they feel when they return to the United States. Victor tried to weld together two cultural operating systems that he was familiar with, arguing that "the basic truths presented in the I Ching are very similar to the teachings of Christianity." As mentioned above, there are others who have found some convergence between Taoism and Christianity, especially when specific deities are not involved. Unfortunately, the academic community did not trust him because of his missionary background, and the religious community lost trust in him because of his "deviation" from Christianity. He became a non-human being between two cultures, inside and out. As a person who lives between two cultures, I know this very well.
Speaking of which, we should mention another "nobleman" in the translation and dissemination of the I Ching, that is, Carl Jung. Maybe everyone knows Jung's collective subconscious, but I didn't expect him to be a loyal enthusiast of Wei Lixian's "I Ching". He wrote a preface to his friend's translation, and began with a tirade, almost finishing it into a complete commentary. I don't know if the translation of the I Ching influenced Jung's scholarship, Jung's encouragement and the long preface he wrote himself contributed to the spread of the I Ching in the West.
The German translation of the I Ching made Jung think a lot: "It is a peculiar fact that such a talented and intelligent people as the Chinese have never developed what we call science. He said that Western science emphasizes the law of cause and effect, that is, the tireless search for a reproducible cause and effect. However, he saw through the Book of Changes that chance played a greater role. "If we leave things to nature, we see a completely different picture: every process is more or less disturbed by chance, so much so that in the natural environment, events that are perfectly in accordance with a particular law, almost exceptional. ...... What we call coincidence seems to be the main focus of this particular kind of thinking, and the causality that we worship is almost ignored...... A great deal of human effort is made to confront and limit the troubles or dangers that the coincidental factor represents. ”
Today, when the Western academic paradigm occupies the dominant position, the basic way of scientific research is still to eliminate interfering factors, find causal relationships, and distinguish causal relationships from correlations. For example, we see two things happening at the same time: bubble tea sales enter the peak season in July, but at this time the stock market plummets. Some people may say that the sale of milk tea caused the stock market to plummet. These two events are just coincidences, a correlation, and no causal relationship. If you rule out cause and effect and focus on correlation, various superstitions will appear, such as seeing a black cat will be unlucky, and walking under the drying panties will cause the height to be low.
Dong Zuobin used oracle bone inscriptions to inscribe Wei Lixian's translation of "Zhou Yi".
Although Jung did not believe in nonsensical associations, he believed that there might be a "synchronicity" between thing A and thing B. For example, the appearance of certain things may affect the subconscious mind of a person, and the subconscious mind in turn affects the behavior of the person. This makes the cause and effect relationship between things that are originally related in a winding way. Naturally, he introduced various explanations into the subconscious system he studied. For example, in response to the sentence "Jin Hexagram Words" in the Book of Changes: "Jin is sorrowful, Zhenji." Blessed by the Queen Mother. His explanation was: "A man receives great happiness from his female ancestor (Queen Mother)." Psychology can help us shed light on this unclear passage. In dreams and fairy tales, grandmothers or ancestors often represent the unconscious, since in a person's unconscious there is a feminine component of the psyche. If the I Ching is not accepted by the conscious, at least half of the unconscious will accept it, and the I Ching is more closely related to the unconscious than it is to consciousness. ”
His obsession with the translation of the I Ching led Jung to facilitate the English translation of the book. English translator Kelly M. F. Baines was a Jungian believer and a collaborator whom he trusted so much. With Jung's encouragement, she completed the English translation of the book. She sees the sixty-four hexagrams as the existence of an "archetypal world". And the existence of types is sometimes helpful for people's understanding. If we regard the 12 zodiac signs as different personality types, how different is this from the "Enneagram Personality"? This insight of hers is enlightening for the further excavation and propagation of the Book of Changes.
Nowadays, when we look at translation, we only think that it is a simple conversion from one text to another. Like the translation of the Book of Changes, it is an ideological and cultural relay race. And no one knows where the relay will end and what kind of cultural creativity will be generated. Cultural exchanges, if they are violent, will also give birth to two, two to three, and three to all things, and will be endlessly renewed over time.
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Editor-in-charge: Liu Xiaolei