“象胥”是西周时期中国与四夷间以翻译活动为主要职能的外交官,“象教”是对佛教的别称。周王室用代表南方语官的“象”来称呼其外交人员,除了表示跟南方的交往长期和重要之外,同时也是对大象在地理分布上已离中原远去的事实的反映。以盛产于印度,而在中原本土已经绝迹的大象来称呼佛教,这其中“象”的外来性是不言而喻的。 “Xiang Xu” is a diplomat with the main function of translation activities between China and Siyi during the Western Zhou Dynasty. “Image teaching” is another name for Buddhism. In addition to expressing long-term and important contacts with the South, the Zhou royal family calls its diplomats “” like “” on behalf of southern Chinese officials and is also a reflection of the fact that the elephants have been far away from the Central Plains on their geographical distribution. In order to abound in India, while in the Central Plains natives have disappeared elephants to address Buddhism, which “image ” is self-evident immoral.