Chinese Translation Theory - Dao An (314-385AD)

Dao An (314-385AD)

Dao An focused on loss in translation. His theory is the Five Forms of Loss (五失本):

1. Changing the word order. Sanskrit word order is free with a tendency to SOV. Chinese is SVO.
2. Adding literary embellishment where the original is in plain style.
3. Eliminating repetitiveness in argumentation and panegyric (頌文).
4. Cutting the concluding summary section (義說).
5. Cutting the recapitulative material in introductory section.

Dao An criticized other translators for loss in translation, asking: how they would feel if a translator cut the boring bits out of classics like the Shi Jing or the Classic of History?

He also expanded upon the difficulty of translation, with his theory of the Three Difficulties (三不易):

1. Communicating the Dharma to a different audience from the one the Buddha addressed.
2. Translating the words of a saint.
3. Translating texts which have been painstakingly composed by generations of disciples.