Recreating the image of Chan master Huineng: the roles of MOOD and MODALITY
Yu and Wu Functional Linguistics
Recreating the image of Chan master Huineng: the roles of MOOD and MODALITY
Hailing Yu
Canzhong Wu
The article investigates the roles of MOOD and MODALITY in the recreation of the image of Chan master Huineng in four English translations of The Platform Sutra by Wong Mou-lam, (Sutra Spoken by the Sixth Patriarch, Wei Lang, on the High Seat of the Gem of Law (Message from the East), 1930), Heng Yin, (The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, 1977), Thomas Cleary, (The Sutra of Hui-neng, grand master of Zen: with Hui-neng's commentary on the Diamond Sutra, 1998) and Cheng Kuan (The Dharmic Treasure Altar-Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, 2011). MOOD refers to the mood types of indicative and imperative, and MODALITY covers the semantic space between 'yes' and 'no'. Adopting SysFan, a computational tool for doing systemic and functional analysis, the study investigates the choice of mood types and the values of modality (low, median and high) in each translation. Heng and Cleary favour high-valued modality more than Wong and Cheng though the mood type of declarative is adopted by all. They also use more imperative clauses and indicative clauses with high-valued modality than the latter. Consequently, two types of image are recreated of Huineng: an authoritative and forceful Huineng presented by the two American translators, and a prudent and polite Huineng presented by the two Chinese translators. The investigation shows that the phenomenon cannot be accounted for by the translators' linguistic competence. Instead, the context of the translation, especially the tenor, should be taken into consideration to interpret these two types of image of Huineng.
MOOD; MODALITY; Huineng; Image; Systemic functional linguistics; Context; Tenor
Introduction
Huineng (638–713) is a great Chan master in the Tang Dynasty of China. He is
venerated as the founder of Chinese Chan, Japanese Zen, Korean Sŏn and
Vietnamese Thiên
(Jorgensen 2005, 1)
. The source text, The Platform Sutra (1291),
is a collection of the public sermons and personal conversations of Huineng and
‘one of the best known, most beloved and most widely read of all Chan texts’
In systemic functional linguistics (SFL), MOOD refers to the mood types of
indicative (declarative and interrogative) and imperative, and MODALITY covers the
semantic space between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and provides different ways ‘in which a
language user can intrude on his/her message, expressing attitudes and judgements
of various kinds’
(Eggins 1994, 179)
. The role of MOOD and MODALITY in an
exchange is closely related to the speech functions of the clause, that is, what the
speaker is doing through language.
As the basic question of religion is ‘how to be and what to do’
(Downes 2011, 42)
,
this study focuses on how Huineng provides information and gives commands to his
audience and disciples in different translations, and the types of image recreated of him
thereby. Direct speeches of Huineng in five chapters from four translations
(Wong
1930a, Heng 1977, Cleary 1998, Cheng 2011)
are extracted and then analysed in SysFan
(Wu 2000), a computational analytical tool for systemic and functional analysis. It is
shown that though statements are realized through declarative clauses in all the four
translations, there is a significant difference in the certainty/uncertainty of Huineng in
the information provided, as illustrated through different values of MODALITY. The
realization of commands is more complicated, with a difference in the selection of
major mood types (imperative vs. modulated indicative) and values of MODALITY in
modulated indicative clauses. Consequently, two types of image recreated of Huineng
can be recognized: the authoritative and forceful Huineng presented by the two American
translators, Heng Yin and Thomas Cleary, and the prudent and polite Huineng
presented by the two Chinese translators, Wong Mou-lam and Cheng Kuan. A possible
cause for this is lack of competence in the source language (pre-modern Chinese) on the
part of the two American translators. However, as will be explained in this study, linguistic
competence cannot account for the phenomenon. The recreating of the two types of image
is interpreted from the perspective of the context of translation, especially the tenor
between the translator and target readers. Translating for an audience who are not part of
their own culture, the two Chinese translators are confronted with greater social distance
with the target readers than their American counterparts, who serve either as an
information provider for Buddhist practitioners or a cultural mediator bringing in exotic Eastern
ideas to ordinary English readers.
The significance of the study lies in its pioneering attempt to apply SFL to the study of
translations of The Platform Sutra, an influential text which still has not received enough
attention from either SFL or translation studies. Moreover, the study provid (...truncated)