A Study On The Translation Of Buddhist Thoughts In Arthur Ley’s Monkey

Xi You Ji is one of China’s four great classical novels. Its content is exquisite,humorous and full of magical imagination and profound thoughts. The novel contains a lot ofthoughts of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It is an effective way to understand theoriental religious cultures by reading the book. And translation of Buddhist thoughts in thebook also reflects the spread of Chinese culture. Among many English versions of Xi You Ji,Arthur Waley’s Monkey has the greatest influence in the English-speaking world and plays animportant role in the spread of Xi You Ji. Its author Arthur Waley was one of the most famoussinologists in twentieth Century, and made outstanding contributions to the spread of theChinese classical literature in the western world. At present, Waley’s poetry translations andphilosophical classics have been fully studied. Though his only novel translation Monkey hasbeen so popular in western countries; it has not been paid enough attention by scholars athome and abroad.Before we understand a translation and the translator, we should first understand thetranslator’s thoughts and the corresponding background, which will help us understand thetranslation process and translation purpose better. Translation is closely related to thebackground of the translating activity and sometimes is greatly influenced by it. All thetranslation activities occur in a certain historical environment and cultural context, and thetranslator’s purposes are different in different historical conditions. Hans. Vermeer’s Skopostheory tells us that end justifies the strategies. Combined with Waley’s personal experiences and the background when Monkey was born; and based on the past studies on Waley and hisworks, we can easily find that his purpose was to heal the wounds of the victims in the warand encourage them spiritually. According to Hans. Vermeer’s Skopos theory, the paperpoints out that the special social background has a great influence on the translation aim; anddiscusses translation of the Buddhism thoughts in Waley’s Monkey under the socialbackground when Monkey was born.The paper adopts the analytical method, induction methods, qualitative method andquantitative methods. Monkey is a selected English version, of which the Buddhist thoughtsare not completely translated. According to the Skopos theory, it has a great relationship withthe aim of the translation which is influenced by the corresponding social background andtranslator’s personal experiences.