Text Intention Research Articles

Analysis of Shi Longlian’ translation of the extensive commentary on the bodhisattva's way of life from the perspective of relevance theory

This paper explores the intersection of Relevance Theory and translation through an analysis of Shi Longlian's The Extensive Commentary on the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. The study begins with an introduction to Santideva, the esteemed 8th-century Indian philosopher, whose work laid the foundation for Mahayana Buddhist ethics and practice. Following this, it examines Shi Longlian, a prominent contemporary translator and scholar, highlighting her contributions to Buddhist literature and her extensive commentary that enriches the understanding of the Bodhisattva path. By applying these Relevance Theory as theoretical frameworks, this paper focuses on how Shi Longlian’s commentary achieves optimal relevance, facilitating comprehension for contemporary readers while remaining faithful to the original text's intent. This study emphasizes the importance of Relevance Theory in translation, showcasing how it enhances the audience's understanding and appreciation of Buddhist teachings in the modern context.

Scholastic Literary Theory: Intentionalism and the Desire for Stable Sense

Scholastic intentionalism was a complicated and hardly consistent affair. Theologians sought security of meaning in the principle that a biblical author's intention could be found in the literal sense of his text. But the ultimate author of scripture, God, could have inscribed truths that transcended the intentions of inspired but merely human authors. Perhaps a text's intention was not curtailed by the temporal and historical circumstances of its composition? Further, scholastic debate rested on the assumption that truth emerges through vigorous confrontation. In practice, quotations were plucked from the full contexts that secured their meaning and conveyed authorial intention; those isolated excerpts were themselves treated as having sufficient authority to advance arguments. This history is related to present-day controversy about how the American Constitution (that modern authoritative text par excellence) should be implemented. There are striking parallels and intersections between scholastic literary theory and the “originalist” theory of constitutional interpretation; they share a common language of intentionalism, along with difficulties of interpretation.

Surgery: A Problem-Solving Approach

Surgery : A Problem-Solving Approach is a two-volume set with 90 well-chosen contributors. The first edition, edited solely by John H. Davis and titled Clinical Surgery , was released in 1987 and consisted of both a mammoth two-volume set (3213 pages) followed in 1991 by a companion abridged version (572 pages). The 1995 update, reduced to 2477 pages, has been well crafted through elimination of some material, combining of chapters, and more precision, remaining consistent with the text's intent. The 1400 graphics, both new and updated material, are informative and well intergrated with the text. The algorithms and how-to drawings are particularly well thought out and should prove very helpful for residents in training and clinical surgeons. A general textbook in most instances serves as a primary source of information but of necessity cannot cover everything, hence the problem-solving approach, which also characterized the first edition. In an exemplary fashion, the material

Love without Elegy: The Remedia amoris and the Logic of a Genre

At a prominent point in the middle of the Remedia amoris, Ovid momentarily interrupts his series of therapeutic lessons to make room for a statement of poetics. Such statements are customary in the register of literary polemics; some evil-minded people had criticized Ovid for his daring teachings in the Ars amatoria, and the polemic tradition (of Callimachean origin) requires that the poet, in justifying the literary techniques he has chosen, also attack the envy of his critics (v. 389 livor) and vaunt his own title of author, indeed hope for ever greater successes. Ovid's declaration of principles is inspired by the same general rule that Horace too, in his Ars poetica (v. 86), had thought important: Descriptas seruare uices operumque colores-respect for the distinctions among the various literary genres and the appropriate use of expressive and stylistic devices. This is a simplified form of the theory of the prepon: Every genre has its own competence, each should do its own job. For the wrath of Achilles there is the solemn hexameter of Homer, for the loves of Cydippe the elegiac distich of Callimachus, never has stern Andromache played the part of the courtesan Thais. Thais is the character who symbolizes Ovid's poetry (the Amores, the Ars, and now the Remedia). Ovid has made no mistake; the Musa proterva who sings in distichs the free loves of women like Thais is a perfect image for his elegiac intention. If a text's intention is considered as an active tension between vir-