本文运用媒介偏向理论,结合汉晋纸张普及的历史背景,重考佛经汉译“文质论”的发展｡纸张普及前,时间偏向型的口语媒介主导传播,强调人际传承和准确复现,诵经者的个人记忆因而成为权威,导致佛经汉译“弃文存质”｡纸张普及后,书面媒介的空间偏向凸显,传播结构开始承受公共阅读与个体思辨的考验,底本与义理成为权威,使得佛经汉译转向“文质相半”｡媒介不仅是翻译的载体工具,其物理特性与媒介偏向本身即是翻译观念的生成因素｡

Drawing on the theory of media bias, this paper reexamines the evolution of the “wenzhi” debate in the Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures amidst the popularization of paper during the Han and Jin dynasties. Before the widespread adoption of paper, time biased oral media dominated communication, emphasizing interpersonal transmission and accurate reproduction; as a result, the reciter’s personal memory constituted authority, leading to a translation orientation of “rejecting wen and preserving zhi”. After paper became prevalent, the space bias of written media became prominent, and the communication structure was increasingly subjected to public reading and individual intellectual scrutiny; the written source text and its doctrinal meaning became the authority, leading to a “balance between wen and zhi”. This demonstrates that media are not merely tools for translation; rather, their physical properties and inherent bias constitute a force shaping reflections on translation.