Kurtis Schaeffer – Tsadra Conferences

Notes from the Cave: ‘Jigs med gling pa on buddha-nature

Gwen Witt Dorring — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 06:19:35 +0000

‘Jigs med gling pa (1730-1798) was a key figure in the development of late-period Great Perfection thought in Tibet. His major philosophical work, the Treasury of Precious Qualities (Yon tan rin po che’i mdzod), was much-studied in the years after its composition in 1789. The Treasury’s presentation of Great Perfection ontology is grounded (if you will) in buddha-nature. Perhaps more interestingly, much of ‘Jigs med gling pa’s debate with interlocutors about Great Perfection revolves around buddha-nature rather than Great Perfection per se. ‘Jigs med gling pa was also deeply skeptical about the possibility of expressing anything of value about buddha-nature, as opposed to the value of experiencing buddha-nature for oneself in meditation. “The best commentary on buddha-nature I’ve ever seen is the one I made in my cave!” he quips. This paper portrays ‘Jigs med gling pa’s antinomian approach to buddha-nature in the context of Great Perfection thought, as well as his more ephemeral bits of commentary, conversation, and opinion about buddha-nature that can be found scattered throughout his life writings and occasional pieces

The State of the Field

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:19:05 +0000

Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia) begins a reflective conversation about the State of the Field of Tibetan translation by acknowledging Janet Gyatso’s book Apparitions of the Self (1998). Kurtis notes that the work has fueled discussion about embodied engagement with literature that takes form and style in literature seriously. Since its release, it has inspired workshops and served as the basis of other significant work on the impact of thought, philosophy, and devotion on literary production.

The two scholars continue by contextualizing a major theme of current translation work: the fact that we can now focus on Tibetan literature as literature. Janet Gyatso (Harvard) reminds the audience to step back from the question of translation–before we become good translators, we need to be good readers and appreciators.

Janet follows her own example by giving a short presentation on her collaboration with Pema Bum, a Tibetan intellectual and scholar of literature, on three examples of verse that illustrate the literary technology found in Daṇḍin’s Mirror of Poetry (Kāvyādarśa, Tib. snyan ngak me long), an Indian text that exerted significant influence on Tibetan literature. Kurtis then acknowledges the humanness that can emerge from poetry–the social and interpersonal aspects evinced through these literary techniques–and reminds us to attend to the sensuousness and humor of the artform, and the awe evoked by the experience of it.

Collections of Songs (mgur ‘bum)

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:13:53 +0000

By taking a bird’s-eye view of collections of songs (mgur ‘bum), Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia) and Andrew Quintman (Wesleyan) examine gaps in our knowledge based on the extant collections and their experiences both as translators and as historians of literature. They elicit an exploratory discussion by beginning with a series of key questions and positing ways in which we can think about songs as an autonomous literary form as well as how we might approach the provenance of songs and the process of their production and reproduction from the standpoint of history, in addition to other stimulating topics. What were the earliest song collections (mgur ‘bum)? When did they appear and how were they constituted? What are non-Kagyu examples of such collections?

Lotsawa Translation Workshop Closing Remarks

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:04:26 +0000

In this short session, Dominique Townsend (Bard), Holly Gayley (University of Colorado, Boulder), Marcus Perman (Tsadra Foundation), Janet Gyatso (Harvard), Kurtis Schaeffer (UVa) and Lama Jabb (Oxford) offer their gratitude and brief reflections to responders, participants, and sponsors. Four participants of the workshop share their impressions of the weekend including having developed a deeper understanding of what is at stake in, and the challenges of, the practice of translation, and the importance of one’s disposition as an ambassador of a text’s content and context. Overall, attendees expressed appreciation of the collaborative process and how the community of translators of Tibetan language literature is growing and developing in a warm, familial manner.

Translating: What and How?

Marcus Perman — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 06:00:21 +0000

On the second day of the conference, the nuts and bolts of the craft of translation became the focus and the main questions asked in this session were: What tools are in your translation workshop? What skills should one cultivate to be a good translator? How do we cultivate those skills? Elizabeth Napper begins the session by looking at the perennial issue of literal vs. aesthetic translation from a practical standpoint of needing to adjust to the intended audience of the translation. Thupten Jinpa continues this discussion of the tension between fidelity to the text and consideration of the reader and begins by making note of the paradoxical nature of translator and translation and highlights the need to have competency in the target language. Kurtis Schaeffer uses humor and intelligence to bring up core issues for translators, all the while presenting a four-fold rubric for analyzing Tibetan poetry: form (lus), content (srog), figure (rgyan), and feeling (nyams). Janet Gyatso discusses her idea of ‘referential resonance’ and the ability to let the text speak to you, the place from which translators make key decisions about how to translate, and the importance of quieting oneself and learning to pay attention to the relationship with a Tibetan teacher trained in a text when reading and translating.

Kavya in Tibet

Marcus Perman — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:00:05 +0000

Kavya in Tibet is a session following from a workshop on Tseten Zhabdrung’s commentary on poetics (Snyan ngag spyi don) that was hosted at the Latse Library with Gendun Rabsel, Nicole Willock, Andy Quintman, and Kurtis Schaeffer. The Tibetan system of poetics and ornate poetry is highly influential in the history of Tibetan writing and is based on the most important Indian manual of poetics, Daṇḍin’s Mirror of Poetics (Kāvyādarśa). This session introduced some of the fundamental theory and practice of this snyan ngag type of literature. The intellectual gravity of snyan ngag did not make itself felt until 1267 and 1270 when the Kāvyādarśa was translated fully into Tibetan. From that point onward we see hundreds of major and minor works on snyan ngag and its influence on writers throughout the Tibetan world can hardly be overstated. The organizers of this session give four main reasons for presenting a more extended public presentation of kavya and why that would be useful and enjoyable for people who engage in different kinds of work with Tibetan texts: 1) snyan ngag is one of Tibet’s major art forms and most other types of writing are heavily influenced and often include snyan ngag; 2) This classical form of literary art is still alive today, and snyan ngag is at the center of contemporary discussions and debates about the relationship between innovation and tradition in modern Tibetan literature; 3) it is notoriously difficult to learn, but useful for a deeper understanding and appreciation of Tibetan literature; 4) historically it is now possible to approach this challenging technical literature because of the work being done be a few scholars and translators these days.

Translating Biographical and Historical Materials

Marcus Perman — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 02:57:03 +0000

This workshop addresses the motivation and practical considerations of translating historical and biographical works. Amelia Hall talks about her experience with the construction and translation of a namtar (Wyl. rnam thar, hagiography) and the idiosyncrasies of balancing the needs of the academy and the world of spiritual practitioners as it relates to such a genre. Kurtis Schaeffer walks us through the practical decisions he made while producing a translation of an eighteenth century text to keep his specific audience inspired and engaged. Dan Martin offers a perspective about dating texts in an historical context using available resources.