Balancing Form and Content
Jann Ronis (Buddhist Digital Resource Center) begins this session with a brief tour of evocative definitions of literature, form, and content from a variety of perspectives and muses that form is not the external shape, but the energy behind the making of a poem. And if this is so, can we also think of the form of a translation in the same way? He takes us one step further to consider the importance of intertextuality–when we approach translation by way of understanding the work as it was meant by the author, we can be supported by our own extensive contextual knowledge of the classics.
Then, Stephen Gethin (Padmakara, Tsadra Foundation) presents practical examples of attention to sophisticated intertextuality in his own work on the sixteenth volume of Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Precious Instructions. He speaks in detail about the choices affecting form and content while producing a translation of a poetic work. He describes how rhythm and resonance might inspire and the intricacy of choosing a form–one with which we feel comfortable–supports this process. Stephen expertly illustrates how content is then massaged to fit the chosen form. Participants contribute their own experience and expertise to the discussion as further examples of the art of balancing form and content in translation.
Event: Lotsawa Translation Workshop – Breakout Session
Date: October 8, 2018 – 11:00 am
Speakers: Jann Ronis, Stephen Gethin
Topics: Translation, Transmission
Stephen Gethin
Padmakara Translation Group; Tsadra Foundation
Stephen studied veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, where he was also awarded a choral exhibition, a position he was subsequently obliged to resign when his interest in Buddhism grew to the point where he had to choose between meditation classes and Sunday evensong. After a number of years in professional practice, during the 1980s he undertook two three-year retreats in France, where he now lives. He became a Tsadra Foundation Translation Fellow in 2005. His published translations include Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, Zurchungpa’s Testament, A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom, and Jamgön Mipham’s commentary on the Mahāyāna-sūtrālaṃkāra, A Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicle (2018). He is currently working on the sixteenth volume of the gdams ngag rin po che'i mdzod, and a detailed preliminary practice commentary by Shechen Gyaltsap.
Jann Ronis
Buddhist Digital Resource Center
Jann Ronis is a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism and completed his PhD at the University of Virginia in 2009. His dissertation was about the history of a large monastery and Buddhist academy in eastern Tibet, located on one of the major trading routes linking Tibet to China. More recently his research has explored contemporary Tibetan literature. After completing his PhD he held postdocs in Paris and UC Berkeley. He taught at the latter for 7 years until becoming the executive director of the Buddhist Digital Resource Center in 2018.
