2012春，无我茶会英译更名为「Sans Self Tea Gathering」

蔡荣章Rong-tsang Tsai

在中、日、韓三種語文裡，「無我茶會」都可以通用，大家也都看得懂，在英文裡，最早譯為Anatman Tea Convention, 後改為音譯的Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony, 2012年春，（2012.04.18）我們決定將無我茶會的英譯定為Sans Self Tea Gathering。

無我茶會的意義著重於對「無」的體悟，無我應被解釋為「懂得無的我」 ，茶會應被解釋為「聚會」的意思，我們沒有強調茶會的儀式性。sans 一詞取自于莎士比亞劇作《皆大歡喜》，原爲法文，是「無」，「沒有」 和「不」的意思，莎士比亞借用此詞形容人生七個階段，意境深邃；後來sans一詞被廣泛應用于英語著作中，成爲中古英語，沿用至今。gathering正表示聚會的意思，調整了ceremony被視爲是一種儀軌的表現。名稱英譯如此一改就更接近創建者對「無我茶會」的诠釋了。

Changing of Name in English (Spring, 2012)
Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony is now ‘Sans Self Tea Gathering’
When the concept and format was established in 1990, it was temporarily called the Wu-Wo Tea Ceremony in English, given the fact that it was organized to celebrate the realization of ‘Wu’, literally ‘no’, ‘the absence of’ or ‘void’. ‘Wo’, on the other hand, is ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘self’. ‘Wu-Wo’ is thus best understood as ‘I who understand the idea of nothingness’. The term has been used ever since, before a more appropriate one comes along.
In spring, 2012, we coined the term “Sans Self Tea Gathering” which we thought is closer to the intention of the founders of this activity. Sans, an archaic French word meaning ‘without’, has been made popular by some of the greatest literary works through the ages, including William Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It”. To call it a tea gathering, instead of a tea ceremony, is to better reflect its nature. (English Translator : Katherine Yip英语翻译：叶德明)

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