MY TRANSLATION
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When the languages are so different such as English and
Chinese, there would not be any “perfect” translation in any case. We
try our best to cover the real meanings. Not only “that’s Chinese to
me,” in case of the Shang-han Lun
translation, we have to deal with Classic Chinese. That is why I believe
we should have as many different interpretations of the
Shang-han Lun as possible to
enable us to grasp the authentic meanings of this classic.
The Shang-han Lun
was written in the beginning of the third century. If this book was
written in Europe, it would have been written in Latin*.
*In
Europe, the Imperial Rome occupied the
Not many modern European can read LATIN, as not many modern Chinese can read the
Shang-han Lun.
Moreover, we do not have any Chinese character dictionary written in the beginning of the third century. The meanings of the words could change totally in one century, we have to guess the meanings of the classic Chinese characters, without a good dictionary.
The Song Text
was compiled in 1065, and reprinted in 1599. As we know the compilers of the
Song Text tried to keep its original form as well as they changed some
parts of it, we just hope the most words of the
Song
Text kept their original characters.
I tried to choose the best English words to convert the original meaning of the Chinese characters. For instance the
word “Shang
傷”
has
meanings
of “a wound,
pain,
injury (also
to
injure
or
to
be
injured),
anxiety (heart
pain),
to
damage,
to
harm,
and
to
be
attacked
by (or
to
suffer
from)
an
illness.” The oldest Chinese
dictionary,
Shuo-wen Xi-jie, (Explanations and
Resolutions of Characters in the Sentences)
says “Shang means wound (chuang).” It is noted “sword wound (ren
shang).” Thus other meanings such as “pain” are
derivatives. “Han” means “cold.” Mitchell et al translate “Shang-han” as “Cold Damage.” The word “shang-han" is one word, not two words such as "shang" and "han." "Shang" is an adjective in the sense of English grammar, not a noun when used this manner. Thus, it should be “Damaging Cold,” not “cold damage.” This sounds like an agricultural term. I prefer to translate “Shang-han” as “Harmful Cold.”
There is a style of the Chinese medical classics to construct a book with questions
and answers entitling each chapters “lun,” such as
Su-wen and
Lin-xu. The oldest Chinese dictionary says
“Lun means discussion (yi).” Shibasaki Yasuzo, in his
“ Huang-di Nei Jing
(Ko-tei Nai-kyo So-mon)” Vol 5,
Section 8, says “With this character, the discussion
has to be articulate and logical.” As these
discussions usually are situated between a master and
his disciple, I chose the word “catechism.”
For another example, the phrase
“五行Wu-xing” is habitually translated “five
elements,” or “five phases,” but the character “行xing” never had a meaning of neither “element” nor “phase.”
Some believes this character originally signified
a four corner crossing “><,” and others believe it signified “marching legs.” In any events,
the original meaning is “to go,” or “to march.” The idea of “Wu-xing” was developed by the Early Han Dynasty philosopher, Dong Zhong-shu (177?-104? BC). He created a unique view of the nature taking an idea from the Documented Classic (Shu Jing, circa the 7th Century BC). He added the ideas of “mutual creation, and mutual conquest cycles.” In this stage the character “xing” had already obtained the meaning of “circulating.” For instance, “xing-huo” means circulating money. Thus, I translate “Wu-xing” as “Five Circulations.”
It would be very annoying for some readers to encounter “new translations,” but I strongly believe that it would be better for them to know that “Wu-xing” does not mean “five elements” or “five phases.”
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