KHYENTSE FOUNDATION COLLABORATES WITH DHARMA DRUM BUDDHIST COLLEGE

[WisdomBeing]

This is such a fantastic project. I do hope that they will be translated to English too! What was interesting was that a friend told me that she wanted to contribute towards the translation of these texts but she was told that the foundation was not seeking donations. I was wondering why - surely people would want to gain merits from sponsoring dharma texts unless the foundation had raised the funding already. Amazing though.


KHYENTSE FOUNDATION COLLABORATES WITH DHARMA DRUM BUDDHIST COLLEGE TO TRANSLATE TIBETAN BUDDHIST TEXTS INTO CHINESE
http://khyentsefoundation.org/2014/03/ddbc/

MAR 7TH, 2014
KF and Taiwanese college closing a long-standing gap in Buddhist canon


Dzongar Khyentse Rinpoche and Venerable at the Dharma Drum Buddhist College event to announce KF's support for a landmark translation project. Photo by Pawo Choyning Dorji


March 6, 3013 (Taipei, Taiwan) – After decades of training and cultivating Buddhist scholars and translators in Taiwan, Dharma Drum Buddhist College (DDBC), in partnership with Khyentse Foundation, is launching a major translation project to make classic Tibetan Buddhist texts available to Chinese readers.

On March 6, 2014, KF and DDBC, Taiwan, held an official signing ceremony to mark the commencement of their partnership to fund the translation of Tibetan texts into Chinese and to train translators at the Dharma Drum Taipei center. This ambitious collaboration may be the first of its kind, with the potential for historically significant impact in the field of translation of Buddhist texts. More than 200 people participated in the ceremony, which was led by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Venerable Hui Min, president of DDBC.

Once they are translated, the Tibetan and Sanskrit Buddhist texts will complete the missing sections of the Chinese canon, a welcome addition to the Chinese cultural heritage. In line with its mission of supporting the study and practice of Buddhism, KF agreed to fund a one-year pilot project to explore a sustainable direction for this project and also to gather input from other experts. KF’s experience in this field includes having established 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, a massive project that aims to translate from Tibetan into English the Kangyur and Tengyur, and to make the translations widely accessible.

Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist texts have primarily been translated from Sanskrit and Pali. However, because of many historical, geographic, political, and cultural factors, some Buddhist texts are available only in Tibetan or only in Chinese. More than a thousand Buddhist sutras and commentaries are not available in the Chinese Buddhist canon, not counting the tantric texts.

Many Buddhists have long wished for the translation of Tibetan texts into Chinese. However, to carry out this project, the translation team must have expertise in classical Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit, and also a deep understanding of Buddhist philosophy. Very few academic institutes in the world are equipped to carry out such an ambitious project.

Professor Sonam Wangyal, a Tibetan scholar and the director of the project, explained that the complete Tibetan Buddhist canon has been translated into Mongolian and Manchurian four separate times in the past. To set up a Chinese translation project of Tibetan Buddhist texts in a modern academic institute will be a milestone in Buddhist history, he said.

DDBC will also set up programs to train more translators and to welcome scholars who share the same aspirations as the great Chinese translators like Master Xuan Zang and Kum?raj?va. DDBC also plans to conduct comparative studies of Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan texts.

After the completion of the signing ceremony, Rinpoche gave a talk titled “Translating the Words of the Buddha.”

[Midakpa]

This is wonderful news! The Chinese have always had the tradition of translating Buddhist texts from Sanskrit since the time of the early pilgrims like Fa-Hsien and Hsuan-Tsang. They are now translating from the Tibetan, classical Buddhist texts into Chinese in order to complete the missing sections of the Chinese Canon.

It is possible that certain Buddhist texts have been preserved in Tibetan after the original texts in Sanskrit were destroyed during the Muslim invasion.  Before the disappearance of Buddhism from the land of its birth, many translators from Tibet had travelled to India and studied in monastic universities like Nalanda and Vikramashila. Many of them became great translators and from their work the kangyur and the tangyur were produced.

[Freyr Aesiragnorak]

This is good news indeed. What is happening here needs to happen more often, and should be cultivated. It is great that the missing areas of the Chinese Canon are being completed.

What is even greater is that 2 very distinct areas of Buddhism as working closely for mutual benefit and the furtherance of the Buddhist traditions. This is an example of harmony withing the faith and how is should be. For too long now, certain denominations have put down other paths, or called them inferior. This is not the case, we are all buddhists and should come together as such.

[RedLantern]

As a Buddhist practitioner,I am delighted by this good news.This translating project will benefit many who knows nothing about Tibetan and Sanskrit texts.
Through this meritorious effort by Professor Sonam Wangyal,a Tibetan scholar and the director of the project may the teachings of Buddha spread and flourish and may all beings be nourished by Buddha's teachings.

[bambi]

Wonderful! So many people will be able to study those important canons and be passed on. With new technologies everywhere, these important canons should be kept well and archived so that it will be available for many in the future. It would also be great it they are printed and available off the shelves.

[Klein]

As China is becoming more laxed with the spread of Buddhism, it is very timely for more scriptures to be translated to Chinese. I'm surprised though that there are missing canons in the Chinese version after all these years.

Anyhow, this is truly very ambitious and meritorious as many Chinese will benefit from the complete teachings in the future. According to wikipedia, the first recorded Buddhist Chinese translations were done by An Shigao as follows.

"The first documented translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian prince-turned-monk An Shigao (Ch. ). He worked to establish Buddhist temples in Luoyang and organized the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, testifying to the beginning of a wave of Central Asian Buddhist proselytism that was to last several centuries. An Shigao translated Buddhist texts on basic doctrines, meditation, and abhidharma. An Xuan (Ch. ??), a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, also translated an early Mah?y?na Buddhist text on the bodhisattva path.

Mah?y?na Buddhism was first widely propagated in China by the Kushan monk Lokak?ema (Ch. ?, active c. 164–186 CE), who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandh?ra. Lokak?ema translated important Mah?y?na s?tras such as the A??as?hasrik? Prajñ?p?ramit? S?tra, as well as rare, early Mah?y?na s?tras on topics such as sam?dhi, and meditation on the buddha Ak?obhya. These translations from Lokak?ema continue to give insight into the early period of Mah?y?na Buddhism. This corpus of texts often includes emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration:[5]"