关于翻译的重要性，德国文学家和思想家歌德曾这样说过：“应该这样看待每一位翻译家，即他在努力充当具有普遍意义的精神交易的中介人，并以促进这一交流为己任。在广泛的国际交往中，不管能讲出文学翻译的多少不足，他却仍旧是，并将永远是人类最重要和最高尚的事业之一。”歌德甚至认为“每一个翻译家也就是他本民族里的一位先知”。

About the importance of translation, German writer and thinker Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once said, “We should think of every translator this way: he is endeavoring to be a mediator in the spiritual exchange which has universal meaning and taking it as his responsibility to promote this exchange. Within the widespread international communication, no matter how much insufficiency we can illustrate about literature translation, translation work is and will always be one of the weightiest and noblest undertakings for humanity.” He even thought that “every translator can be regarded as a prophet in the midst of his own people."

回顾人类东西方文明发展的历程，从文明的发展趋势与翻译活动之间的关系来看，翻译活动都经历了宗教典籍翻译、人文著作翻译与实用文献翻译三个阶段。

Reviewing the development process of the Eastern and Western civilizations and examining the connection between the development trend of civilizations and translation activities, we can detect that translation has gone through three stages, i.e. the translation of religious scriptures, the translation of the humanistic works and the translation of practical documents. 

对中国社会来说，宗教典籍的翻译则集中体现在佛经的传译中。我国最早的汉文佛经，为汉明帝永平十年（公元67年）由迦叶摩腾、竺法兰所译的《四十二章经》。此后佛典在汉地的翻译一直延续到宋朝末年，历经千余年之久，其间涌现出鸠摩罗什、玄奘、义净、不空等诸多伟大的翻译家，所译经典据元代《至元录》记载共计1440部、5580卷。这些佛教典籍极大地丰富了中华文明的智慧宝藏，为中华文化输入了新鲜的血液，与儒家文化、道家文化一道重塑着中华民族的品格。自19世纪末以来，随着西方列强打开中国的大门，西方人文著作也随即成了这一时期翻译活动的中心主题，中西文明的深度碰撞激发了中华民族新的创造活力。新中国成立之后，尤其是改革开放以来，科技、经济、政治、军事、外交等各个方面实用文献的翻译又占据了主要的位置。

For Chinese society, the translation of religious scriptures is epitomized by the translation of Buddhist scriptures. The earliest Buddhist scripture translated into Chinese by Kasyapa Matanga and Gobharana was The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters in 67 BCE, the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Ming in the Han Dynasty. From then until the late years of the Song Dynasty, the translation of Buddhist classics lasted in China for over a thousand years, witnessing the emergence of many great translators including Kumarajiva, Xuanzang, Yijing, Amoghavajra, etc. According to A General Catalogue of Collated Buddhist Classics of the Zhiyuan Period of Yuan Dynasty, the translated scriptures totaled 1,440 series, i.e. 5,580 volumes. While enriching the spiritual resource of Chinese civilization and infusing Chinese culture with fresh blood, the translated Buddhist classics, together with Confucianism and Taoism, have virtually remodeled the character of the Chinese nation. Since the end of the 19th century, as Western powers opened the gate of China, the humanistic works from the West have become the main subjects of translation. The profound encounter between Chinese and Western civilizations invigorated the Chinese creativity. After the founding of New China, especially after reform and opening-up, the translation of practical documents in science and technology, economy, politics, military affairs, and diplomacy has occupied the dominant position. 

当今社会在科技与经济获得前所未有快速发展的同时，面临的全球性挑战也日益加剧：环境污染、自然灾害、疾病困扰、贫富差距、民族冲突、社会动荡、经济危机等诸多问题已经超越了国界，需要人类紧密团结起来共同面对。我们不但要在实践中摸索前进，更需要从延续数千年的宗教传统中去重新挖掘古人的智慧。因此，世界范围内宗教典籍的翻译与流通，有望重新成为未来国际翻译的主流之一。

While an unprecedentedly rapid progress has been made in science, technology and economy, global challenges in the modern society become increasingly severe. Problems such as environmental pollution, natural disasters, disease and epidemics, wealth gap, ethnic conflicts, social instability and economic crisis have spread beyond national borders, calling for united efforts of the whole humanity. We should not only grope the way forward by practice, but also discover the ancient wisdom in the several-thousand-year long religious traditions. Therefore, worldwide translation and circulation of religious scriptures are likely to reclaim the mainstream of international translation. 

佛教作为世界三大宗教之一，在认知和解决各种社会与人生问题方面，具有极其丰富的思想内涵与鲜明的实践路径，而这些都包含在浩如烟海的佛教典籍中。佛教在公元12世纪之后便在印度本土消亡了，留下的梵文经典为数甚少。所幸佛教在发展的历程中，分别于公元前3世纪传入斯里兰卡，再由斯里兰卡传入泰国、缅甸等东南亚地区，形成巴利语系佛教；公元1世纪传入我国中原地区，再由此传入朝鲜、日本等东亚地区，形成汉语系佛教；公元7世纪传入我国西藏地区，再由此传入蒙古等地区，形成藏语系佛教。这三个时期又分别代表了佛教发展的三个阶段，即上座部佛教、大乘显教以及大乘密教。因此，通过三大语系佛教的综合研究，即翻译、对比、校勘巴利文大藏经、汉文大藏经和藏文大藏经，方能够完整地再现佛典的面貌。遗憾的是，到今天为止，除了有从日文版转译的中文版巴利文大藏经之外，其他语系大藏经之间的校勘与互译工作亟待开展。

As one of the three major religions in the world, Buddhism has rich thinking and distinctive practical approaches to understanding and handling various social and life problems, all included in the vast sea of Buddhist scriptures. After the 12th century, Buddhism disappeared from India with few Sanskrit scriptures remaining there. Fortunately, during its developing process, Buddhism entered Sri Lanka around the 3rd century B.C. and from there to other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Burma, thus forming Pali Buddhism. Around the first century A.D., Buddhism spread to the Central Plains of China, and from there to other East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan, and then Han Buddhism came into being. About the seventh century, Buddhism went into Tibet and then from there into Mongolia. That is how Tibetan Buddhism took shape. These three periods also represent three phases of the development of Buddhism, namely, Theravada Buddhism, Exoteric Mahayana Buddhism and Esoteric Mahayana Buddhism. Therefore, only after a comprehensive study of Buddhist scriptures in the three languages, by translating, comparing, and collating the Pali, Chinese and Tibetan canons, can all Buddhist scriptures be fully presented. Unfortunately, up to now only Pali Canon was translated into Chinese from Japanese. It's imperative to begin the collation and translation of canons between other languages as soon as possible.