Translating Vajrayana Commentarial Materials
Presenters approach the delicate process of translating Vajrayana commentaries and consider the importance of the combination of study and practice to support this kind of work. Lama Chonam speaks about receiving teachings on these commentaries in order to understand the deep meaning of terms. Jake Dalton brings light to the historical context as a way to approach the differences that might appear between commentaries of the same root text, and Elizabeth Callahan talks about the importance of using multiple commentaries to approach root texts so that multiple meanings emerge in the translation.
Event: TT Conference 2014 – Workshop
Date: October 3, 2014 – 4:30 pm
Speakers: Elizabeth Callahan, Jacob Dalton, Lama Chonam
Topics: Commentaries, Translation, Vajrayana Commentarial Materials
Lama Chonam
Light of Berotsana
Lama Chönam, Chöying Namgyal, was born in the Golog area of eastern Tibet in 1964. His root teacher, Khenpo Münsel, was a direct disciple of Khenpo Ngagchung and was himself one of the great authentic Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century. Lama Chönam escaped Tibet in 1992 and later came to the United States, where he resides today. Over the past sixteen years Lama Chönam has been teaching Tibetan language and the Buddhadharma. He is one of the founders of the Light of Berotsana Translation Group.
Jacob Dalton
University of California, Berkeley
Jacob Dalton, Associate Professor and Khyentse Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tibetan Buddhism, received his PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan in 2002. After working for three years (2002-05) as a researcher with the International Dunhuang Project at the British Library, he taught at Yale University (2005-2008) before moving to Berkeley. He works on Nyingma religious history, tantric ritual, early Tibetan paleography, and the Dunhuang manuscripts. He is the author of The Taming of the Demons: Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism (Yale University Press, 2011) and co-author of Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library (Brill, 2006). He is currently working on a study of tantric ritual in the Dunhuang manuscripts. His most recent translation work has focused on the recently discovered biographies of two tenth-century Tibetan figures: Nupchen Sangye Yeshe and Lha Lama Yeshe Ö.
Elizabeth Callahan
Tsadra Foundation Fellow
Elizabeth has been engaged in contemplative training and Tibetan Buddhist studies for more than thirty-five years. A Tsadra Fellow since 2002, she has engaged in both written translation and oral interpretation including working closely with Khenpo Tsültrium Gyamtso, as well as completing three-year retreats at Kagyu Thubten Chöling, New York. Elizabeth specializes in translating texts related to esoteric tantric commentaries and has published the Ninth Karmapa’s Mahāmudrā: Ocean of Definitive Meaning, Jamgön Kongtrul’s The Treasury of Knowledge Book 6, Part 3, and the soon to appear Profound Inner Principles by Karmapa Rangjung Dorjé (with Kongtrul’s commentary). She is currently working on Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s nges don phyag rgya chen po’i sgom rim and several short mahāmudrā texts by the Ninth Karmapa. Elizabeth is also the Director of Advanced Study Scholarships at Tsadra Foundation and is the executive director of Marpa Foundation.
