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

Approaches to Translation & Transmission

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:12-07:00

In this session, two world-renowned specialists in the area of translation and translation theory engaged in discussion with Buddhist studies scholars Luis Gomez and Jonathan Gold. Luis Gomez begins the session with a wide ranging and detailed speech on translation theory and practice, including challenges faced by the translator of a family of discourses that try to be both specialized and inspirational, as well as translation into more than one language and what that may reveal about the nature of the “source” and the “target” texts. Jonathan Gold then provides a short discussion of Sakya Pandita’s insights on translation. In […]

Approaches to Translation & TransmissionMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:12-07:00

The Proto-History of Buddhist Translation: From Gāndhārī and Pāli to Han-Dynasty Chinese

Marcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:12-07:00

Discussions of the history of Buddhist translation usually begin with China, where in the middle of the second century Buddhist scriptures were translated into a non-Indian language for the first time. Yet the process of translation itself began many centuries earlier, when the words of the Buddha were rendered into a multitude of Indian vernaculars. Beginning with a brief sketch of these intra-Indian translations, I will then turn to the earliest Chinese Buddhist translations, focusing on the variety of “translation policies” used by their second-century translators and comparing them with the strategies subsequently employed in Tibet and elsewhere. I will […]

The Proto-History of Buddhist Translation: From Gāndhārī and Pāli to Han-Dynasty ChineseMarcus Perman2022-11-16T23:34:12-07:00

Translating: What and How?

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

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 […]

Translating: What and How?Marcus 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

Unique Registers and Specialized Terminology: Sanskrit and the Tibetan Language in Translation

Marcus Perman2022-10-26T05:35:53-06:00

Art Engle has translated both Vasubandhu’s Pañcaskandhaprakarana (ཕུང་པོ་ལྔའི་རབ་ཏུ་བྱེད་པ་) with Stiramathi’s commentary and Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས་). Over the course of many years of close textual study and Buddhist practice his insights into the translation of Sanskrit and Tibetan texts will be of interest to a great number of those translators faced with issues arising from translating Tibetan texts that are themselves translations of older Indian texts. Similarly, Christian Wedemeyer has translated Āryadeva’s Caryāmelāpakapradīpa (སྤྱོད་པ་བསྡུས་པའི་སྒྲོན་མ་) and annotated translations of short works on the Guhyasamāja, including sādhanas and instructional works by Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Nāgabodhi, Candrakīrti, and others. His recent work on these texts […]

Unique Registers and Specialized Terminology: Sanskrit and the Tibetan Language in TranslationMarcus Perman2022-10-26T05:35:53-06:00

Working with Old Tibetan Sources

Marcus Perman2022-10-26T05:36:47-06:00

Journey into the world of old Tibetan orthography and explore some of the oldest existing Tibetan writing through the eyes of two specialists who have worked on documents from Dunhuang and Tibet’s earliest historical record, focusing on a range of topics including early tantra and the early kings of Tibet.

Working with Old Tibetan SourcesMarcus Perman2022-10-26T05:36:47-06:00

Working with the Medium of the English Language

Marcus Perman2022-10-26T05:38:51-06:00

A craft person’s medium is one of the most essential aspects of their work. Although translators spend much of their time learning the Tibetan language, the target language is just as important when looking at the final product of a meaningful translation that reaches modern readers. Spend a session with master translators Thupten Jinpa and Wulstan Fletcher exploring the essential medium of communication in the modern world.

Working with the Medium of the English LanguageMarcus Perman2022-10-26T05:38:51-06:00

Accuracy and Inspiration: Translating Mahamudra Texts

Marcus Perman2022-10-26T05:39:16-06:00

The craft of translation often involves the tension between the need for accuracy and the need to express inspirational text in appropriately inspirational language. In this session, Elizabeth Callahan shares her experience wrestling with these issues on her work with Dakpo Tashi Namgyal’s Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā (Phyag chen zla ba’i ‘od zer) and the Ninth Karmapa’s Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance (Ma rig mun sel). Professor Mathes discusses difficulties arising from translating quotations of Indian texts found in Tibetan works, such as Phyag rgya chen po gsal sgron and the Zla ba’i ‘od zer.

Accuracy and Inspiration: Translating Mahamudra TextsMarcus Perman2022-10-26T05:39:16-06:00

Oddities and Curiosities in Tibetan Translation

Marcus Perman2022-10-26T05:41:02-06:00

“What is an oddity,” you ask? How odd of you to ask! We all know what oddities are when we see them. It may be a subjective response, but it’s there all the same. The odd thing seems out of place, it sits there glaring out at you without an obvious explanation. Every problem has its solution, or so it’s sometimes said, but that doesn’t mean they always will be solved.

The co-organizers take turns presenting oddities from among their personal favorites. The range of possible oddities, which seems beyond all limit, were narrowed down to more manageable categories that […]

Oddities and Curiosities in Tibetan TranslationMarcus Perman2022-10-26T05:41:02-06:00