来源：http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/08/28/stories/13280373.htm The Hindu How Sanskrit should be taught 如何教学梵文 IF ONE assumes that Sanskrit should be taught, as indicated by some recent moves by the government, then the question arises: how should it be taught? 如果有人认为应该教导梵文，如印度政府的指示下，而问题也跟着产生。 这应该要怎麽教？ It is an axiom in some schools of Indian philosophy that a question can be fully addressed only if it is approached negatively as well as positively. This means then that a consideration of how Sanskrit should not be taught is integral to a discussion of how it should be. 这是印度哲学的原则所在，这问题可以完全被正面或负面的表述。 这表示当时考虑梵语不应该教导是必要的，且讨论梵文应该如何。 My experience suggests that Sanskrit should not be taught as it is traditionally taught either in India or the West, when instruction in it is extended to the general curriculum. In the traditional mode of teaching Sanskrit in India, grammatical (Panini) and lexical (Amarakosa) learning precede its actual deployment in conversation (if ever). It is taught as an `eternal' language rather than as a contemporary language. By contrast, in the West, it is traditionally taught as a ``dead'' language rendering posthumous service to historical linguistics, rather than as a living language. But treating Sanskrit as an eternal or a dead language is really just two ways of killing it! 我的经验建议梵文不应该被教导，如同它传统上在印度及西方都是不可语的。 当教学梵文已扩及普通的课程。在印度传统教学梵文的方式－语法(Panini)与辞汇 (Amarakosa)先於他的实际对话的实践(假使有)。梵语是被认为是不朽的语言， 而不是被当作当代语言使用。相对的，在西方，时常称他为「死亡语言」，说他是 历史语言而不是活语言。但是对待梵文如同「永恒」或「死亡」的语言都是让他毁灭的 方式。 A living language 活动的语言 However, I hear the reader object — is Sanskrit a living language to be treated as such? I offer three responses to this question: (1) that Sanskrit is a living language inasmuch as it is recorded as such by the Indian census. It is true that only a few thousands cite it as their mother tongue — but the fact remains that some tribal languages, considered living, have even fewer speakers. (2) More significantly, Sanskrit lives through the regional languages whose vocabularies, in varying degrees, overlap with Sanskrit. This means that the teaching of Sanskrit should proceed in tandem with that of the regional languages. (3) Just as by treating a language as a dead language one can kill it, by treating it as a living language one can bring it back to full life. The resurrection of Hebrew is a case in point. It may be hard to believe but even as one reads this somebody is actually reading a Sanskrit newspaper, listening to a Sanskrit news broadcast and making one's first acquaintance with another Indian in Sanskrit. This has happened to me twice within the last week when I met an engineer from Haryana and a social worker from Kerala through the medium of this language here in the U.S. 然而，我听到读者纳闷梵文是否要当作活语言呢？我对这问题提出三个答案： 1.梵文是活语言，鉴於他被如此多的印度人记录着。他的确只有数千人指出他是母语。 但是事实仍在一些部落语言中，存在但很少的话语者。 2.更精确地说，梵文藉由各个区域不同的程度与梵语重叠(Overlap)。这表示教导梵文 应该在之前先教懂像似的方言(regional languages)。 3.对待梵文如同死语言会杀了他；对待他如活着可以把他带回来。希伯来文的复兴是个 重要的例子。很难去相信但可能地会有某人阅读真正的梵文报纸、听着真正的梵语广播 、藉由梵语认识另一位印度人。这发生在我（印度作者）身上两次，就在上周我碰到一 位来自Haryana的工程师，还有一位来自Kerala的社工，藉由梵语沟通，而且在美国呢。 In the matter of Sanskrit then the assumption cannot be divorced from the outcome. 梵文这件事情比假设它不可行更重要。 Sanskrit should be taught as a living language and not merely as a classical or historical language. Instruction in its grammar and vocabulary should succeed and not precede its active use by students. Numerous initiatives have demonstrated the viability of this approach, e.g. www.samskrita.bharati.org. Volunteers from such organisations might even enable the government to minimise its outlay on such a programme. 梵文应该被称为活语言，而不只是经典或者历史的语言。教材中的文法与辞汇应该在学 生实践前完成。众多提倡者展示梵文的可行性。譬如： http://www.samskrita.bharati.org 这个组织的志工可能还能让政府减少支出，在梵文上获得更大的成效。 Liberal elements of culture 文化中的自由元素 What should be taught is also a crucial part of how Sanskrit should be taught. The liberal elements of Sanskritic culture should constitute the examples and the exercises in the curriculum. Unlikely as it might seem on the face of it, Sanskrit can spark a social revolution through what is taught. One problem this culture faces is the negative stereotyping of the position of women and lower castes in its presentation. I provide below some samples in English translation of the kind of material which could form part of the textbook, and which could undo such unfortunate portrayal: 梵文应该教甚麽相对於如何教是个极重要的部分，教材很重要。梵文化的自由元素是构成 教材中的例子与习题重要因素。不同於现在所面对的困难，由梵文所教诲的可以激发出社 会的大变革。一个梵文化面对的问题是负面的偏见於女人以及低种性。我提供例子如下列 英文翻译，可以当作教科书的题材以消除这种不幸： A high caste male should emulate the praiseworthy conduct of a woman or a person of low caste. 高种性男人应效仿女人或低种性之可嘉之举。 (Manusmriti II.223) 《曼奴法典》 One should obtain knowledge of supreme dharma even from a dalit. 人应汲超我之法智慧，甚至来自达利特。 (Manusmriti II.238) 《曼奴法典》 All the four yugas result from the conduct of the ruler. The ruler is (the shaper of the) age. 治者造四种瑜珈。治者塑造岁月。 (Manusmriti IX.301) 《曼奴法典》 Sudras of good conduct are entitled to the Sacred Thread. 首陀罗之善行皆神圣之端。 (Paraskara Grihya Sutra 2.6) Women should study the Vedic texts. 女人应习吠陀经。 (Gobhila Grihya Sutra 1.2) That spiritual knowledge which nervous men take a year to acquire confident women acquire in twelve days. 确信其圣灵智慧需男人一年，女人需十二天。 (Jayadratha's Commentary on Abhinavagupta's Tantraloka) There is no differentiation beyond the human race. 人类无差别。 (Bhavishya Purana 1.40.21) Other citations with a contemporary application could be added on such themes as terrorism (``One terrorist can intimidate a hundred intellectuals'', Chandogya Upanishad VII. 8.1) and charity (``Beings crowd around the fire sacrifice like hungry children around the mother'', V.24.5) 其他引文及其当代的实践可能被当作恐怖主义或者慈悲的牺牲，如同母亲身旁饥饿的孩子 们。 This is also true of other reading materials such as stories. People who read the Mahabharata will realise how empowering it can be for women. In it, not only does Savitri choose her own husband Swayamvara style, Sakuntala virtually gives herself away in marriage! 阅读的内容，像是故事也是事实。阅读摩诃婆罗多的人将了解如何授与女人同样的奥义。 其中，不只萨维特里选择她的丈夫的Swayamvara试炼，Sakuntala几乎让自己远离婚姻！ Indic tradition 印地传统 One final thought. The question of how Sanskrit should be taught is also intimately related to who teaches it. Instruction in Sanskrit should be imparted by women and by men belonging to all the castes and communities in equal measure. The Indic tradition has suffered by functioning in a situation in which knowledge of Sanskrit tended to get confined to an elite circle of first male members of the higher varnas and then to a priestly circle of Brahmins who made ritual use of it. The last two aphorisms of the Apastamba Dharma Sutra identify two constituencies by whom the tradition may be shaped: (1) by male members of the three higher varnas or (2) by all the members of the community, male and female. 最後的思考，梵文的教导也密切的依赖导师。梵文教材应该由妇女与男人传授，以相同标 准属於全部种姓与社群。印地传统已在梵文中的知识下运作趋於局限於最高种性的男性菁 英，婆罗门的僧侣圈，他们使用这种仪式。最後两个Apastamba Dharma Sutra的格言确定 两个选区传统上会发生：一、三层种姓上之男众。二、社群中所有的成员，男及女。 The Indic tradition has sometimes erred in the past in choosing the first option. It is now time to try the second, and what could be a more effective way of doing this than by drawing Sanskrit instructors from all communities, including all their male and female members. In this way the Sanskrit language, which is often perceived as an impediment to social progress, will become its greatest stimulant. 印地传统过去选择首选有时会犯错。现在是时候选第二次了，相较在所有社群男女中教导 梵文，是更有效率的方法（指政策）。如此一来，往往梵语文被视为阻碍社会进步，这次 将会成为其最大的振奋与鼓动。 作者：ARVIND SHARMA Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University 译者：Peter Peng aka sinsun ([email protected]) 版权为ARVIND SHARMA教授所有 注：此篇文章发表於2001年，其中连结已经失效。但类似教学网仍相当多。 ※ 编辑: cinson 来自: 219.84.86.97 (05/31 21:20)