Selfhood, Secrecy, Singularity: Reassessing the Early Life of the Tathāgatagarbha in India

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-11-16T23:39:24-07:00

The early history of buddha-nature teaching in India is in the process of some reassessment. Michael Radich’s contention that there is good reason to take the Mahāparinirvāṇamahāsūtra as our earliest source for an account of the tathāgatagarbha invites a fresh look at the wider corpus of Indian literature concerned with this expression, and with it the affirmation that what is essential to a Buddha (buddhadhātu) abides in all sentient beings. My research has focused on a revised trajectory of how buddha-nature was conceptualized in the first five hundred years of the Common Era, informed by the hypothetical primacy of Indian […]

Selfhood, Secrecy, Singularity: Reassessing the Early Life of the Tathāgatagarbha in IndiaGwen Witt Dorring2022-11-16T23:39:24-07:00

Examples of the Term tathāgatagarbha Appearing in Indic Tantric Literature

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:07:03-06:00

This presentation focuses on the term tathāgatagarbha appearing in tantric scriptures and commentaries composed by Indic authors. In general, it has been pointed out that the tathāgatagarbha teaching has a strong doctrinal impact on tantric teachings, but actual examples of tathāgatagarbha appearing in tantric literature are rather rare in comparison with other terms of non-tantric Mahāyāna origin, such as the five jñānas of the Buddha, buddha’s bodies, etc. Through this investigation I shall clarify purposes of integration of this term into tantric contexts in each example. I have in my previous article in 2012 dealt with the literature of the […]

Examples of the Term tathāgatagarbha Appearing in Indic Tantric LiteratureGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:07:03-06:00

Rong-zom-pa on the Tathāgatagarbha and Pratītyasamutpāda Theories

Gwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:10:16-06:00

The critique of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine by the two Japanese scholars Shirō Matsumoto and Noriaki Hakamaya has compelled scholars engaged in the study of Buddhism to reflect on the Buddhist status of the doctrine. While the agenda and the underlying motives of these two scholars may be different, their dismissal of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine as non-Buddhist may have been inspired by some position found in Tibetan Buddhism. To my knowledge, however, Tibetan Buddhist scholars have never gone to the extent of apodictically rejecting the theory as non-Buddhist while some Tibetan Buddhist (e.g. Dol-po-pa’s or Jo-nang-pa’s) interpretation thereof has certainly been. […]

Rong-zom-pa on the Tathāgatagarbha and Pratītyasamutpāda TheoriesGwen Witt Dorring2022-10-26T05:10:16-06:00

Translation Theories Made Practical

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:10-07:00

See the text discussed and presentation slides here.

Holly Gayley and Roger Jackson begin the discussion session with some provocations and a quote:

“Had translation depended for its survival on theory, it would have died out long before Cicero. Yet its practice has always assumed principle, the professional conscience of 2,000 years being summed up in Roman Jakobson’s ‘translator of what messages? betrayer of what values?’” – L.G. Kelly, The True Interpreter.

What makes for a good translation?
What are the translations you like to read and why?
What are the kinds of translations you like to create and why?

“Up to a point, each […]

Translation Theories Made PracticalMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:10-07:00

Working Together: Approaches to Collaboration and Negotiation

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:10-07:00

This discussion session was designed for maximum audience participation and covered topics provided by the audience, as well as touched on issues of collaboration with native speakers of either source or target language, competition between individuals and within groups, negotiation (with collaborators, but also with and between author and audience, translator and reader), and other questions of restriction, qualification, and inclusion. Some of the topics brought up by the audience included: differing intentions within groups, networking and connecting with a team, how to work together with one’s own guru, agreeing on hierarchies of correspondence, large-scale collaborations, and online forums.

Working Together: Approaches to Collaboration and NegotiationMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:10-07:00

Who Gets to Be a Translator? Qualifications and Questions of Authority

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

An open discussion about qualifications and questions of authority related to translating and being a translator. Who decides what to translate? How and why? How do translator’s learn from each other? What qualities seem most important to cultivate as a translator? What are the qualifications of a translator? What trainings were the most important in your development as a translator? Or what was lacking? How does one measure the qualifications of a translator and how does one improve? How do you take ownership and responsibility for your work?

Who Gets to Be a Translator? Qualifications and Questions of AuthorityMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

The Translator’s Intention: Motivation, Intended Impact, and Why They Matter

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

This open discussion session focused on the themes of intention and motivation. Thomas Doctor and Eric Colombel facilitated the exploration of many topics the audience brought, including questions such as: What are the assumptions and expectations about reading audience? As a translator, do you feel the need to be clear and transparent about our background, perspectives, influences, and agenda? If so, how do you address that? What are we trying to reach in the readers? Cognitive understanding? Inspiration? Aesthetic enrichment? Somatic responses? Visionary opening? How do you assess the success of a translation?

The Translator’s Intention: Motivation, Intended Impact, and Why They MatterMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

Translation: Fidelity vs Innovation

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

As translators we create new texts while striving to transmit the authenticity of the original. What constitutes an authentic translation? Throughout the history of Buddhism in Tibet and across Asia, adaptation, assimilation, and innovation have been essential to the persistence and continued relevance of texts and the contents they transmit. As translators, do we bear responsibility for fidelity to our texts? To our readers? To “the tradition”? To what degree may we innovate in the work that we do? In sum, what are the ethics of representation in our translation work, and how do we balance our fidelity to the […]

Translation: Fidelity vs InnovationMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:11-07:00

Kavya in Tibet

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:13-07:00

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 […]

Kavya in TibetMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:13-07:00

Translating the Languages of Contemplative Experience: rdzogs chen dang phyag rgya chen po

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:14-07:00

In this panel, we draw on our respective explorations of translating Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) and Mahamudra (phyag rgya chen po) texts. Our hope is that you will come away from this session with an enriched tool-kit for your own work. The central thesis we will explore is that because these texts rise from and speak to experience in multiple ways, effective translation must be sensitive to experience on multiple registers. In particular, we look at the challenges of translation from three different experiential perspectives:

Using the rhythms of speech to find grammar and wordings through which an English translation evokes […]

Translating the Languages of Contemplative Experience: rdzogs chen dang phyag rgya chen poMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:14-07:00