COMMUNIQUÉ

                                                                                   A publication of Khyentse Foundation   May 2009

A 100-YEAR VISION: TRANSLATING THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA

This issue contains everything you need to know to become inspired to share Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision for the future of dharma. Read on for details of the Translating the Words of the Buddha Conference, including resolutions, two first-person accounts, links to video and slideshows, and much more.

FEATURE

Answers to those who wonder about the urgency of spending the next 100 years translating the words of the Buddha.

FOCUS ON "TRANSLATING THE WORDS OF THE BUDDHA" CONFERENCE

Buddhist Literary Heritage Project Launched
At Rinpoche’s invitation, translators of Tibetan to English from all over the world gathered in India.

Conference Proceedings Published Read Alex Trisoglio's comprehensive compilation of the conference proceedings for an insider's view of the day-by-day unfolding of events

Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche
Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche placed the aspirations of the translators solidly in the Buddhadharma framework of bodhicitta, wisdom, and compassion.

IMPRESSIONS: FIRST PERSON

Light Shines on Historic Conference
By Steven Goodman
Steven Goodman, co-director of Asian and Comparative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, takes you along for the wild ride from a participant’s point of view.

Never Stop Asking
By Lynn Hoberg
Lynn Hoberg shares what it’s like to volunteer behind the scenes of a historic event when emotions are running high and so much is at stake.

MULTIMEDIA

Video of highlights of the conference.

A colorful slide show of the conference participants, lamas, volunteers, and locals.

Rinpoche’s keynote address at the translation conference.

Conference Proceedings: A comprehensive guide to the conference.

NEWS FROM
SIDDHARTHA’S INTENT

Rinpoche’s teachings on Parting from the Four Attachments, June 2 through 11, at the International Buddhist Academy in Nepal, will be posted on the SI website. This is Rinpoche’s only scheduled public teaching for the rest of this year. Although it may not be possible for you to take part in the retreat in Kathmandu, you can download MP3 files of the teachings and do your own retreat at home.

Visit the Siddhartha’s Intent website often for messages from Rinpoche and updates about his  teachings. Here’s information about a few of the recent postings.

• Podcast of Rinpoche’s opening address to the conference “Translating the Words of the Buddha.”
• “A Short Note from Someone Pretending to Do Retreat: A Message from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.”
• Rinpoche’s commentary on “The Sutra of the Recollection of the Nobel Three Jewels.”

The great Translator Vairochana

"Before the conference began I was skeptical about the need to translate the Kangyur, a body of text that is mostly used as an object of worship and is not actually read.  It seemed that Western Buddhists could just as easily prostrate to the Tibetan volumes as we could to an English translation.  But by the close of the first day of the conference, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoch had me convinced that in order for Buddhism to authentically develop in the West, the words of the Buddha must be accessible to Western practicioners, and therefore must be translated."

-- Laura Lopez, Conference Volunteer

RECENTLY HEARD

Here’s what some of the conference patrons and participants have to say about the importance of translating the words of the Buddha.

"[Translating Buddhist books will make] an invaluable contribution to a deep and lasting understanding of the Buddhist tradition in western lands.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“Presentation of the dharma in non-Tibetan and non-Sanskrit languages will create great merit and through this so many people can attain liberation and enlightenment.” His Holiness Sakya Trizin

“Translating the words of the Buddha and commentarial treatises from Tibetan into English is a necessary foundation for the genuine study and practice of the Buddhadharma for English speakers.” His Holiness the 17th Karmapa

“What we are doing here is really serving mankind and the world at large.” Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Doboom Tulku Rinpoche emphasized the importance of “a new spirit of objectivity and respect for the indigenous Tibetan Buddhist tradition” (in translation) to ensure the survival of pure Buddhadharma in the modern world.

Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche called the Kangyur, which the translators aspire to translate within 25 years, “the most precious of all the scriptures” because they are accepted by all Buddhist schools.

“Having the Kangyur in Western languages, starting with English, is crucial to establishing a genuine lineage of Western Buddhism.” Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.  PHOTO BY COREY KOHN

"[The words of the Buddha are] a treasure and heritage of mankind that needs to be preserved and translated into other languages” and that can “bring peace and harmony to the world.” Pema Wangyal Rinpoche

More than 11,000 people from around the world wrote letters of support to the translators during the conference. The letters were presented to conference participants in the form of an impressive scroll.  See more photos in the

new KF slideshow.

MORE CONFERENCE MATERIAL

• For more information about the conference, including archived blogs from Deer Park, see Recent News.
• Join the Translation Conference Facebook page.
• Watch conference participant David Kittlestrom’s personal slide show and read his blog about the conference.

AND THEN...

Coming in the next issue:

• Beneficiary Profiles: Getting to knowsome of the recipients of KF scholarships and grants.
• New developments in the Buddhist Literature Heritage Project

Khyentse Foundation is now on Facebook. 

We will be posting volunteer opportunities, news, and other updates. Join us!

MULTIMEDIA

For all the latest downloads, audio, video, slideshows, and more, visit the KF downloads page. We have lots of new material this month.

DONATE ONLINE

Be among the first sponsors to provide the seed money to launch the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project. Your generous participation in this historic milestone in bringing the Buddhadharma to the world will help realize this legacy for generations to come.
Donate Now

Thank You for Reading

Translation Skeptic's Q&A

At Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s invitation, more than 50 of the Tibetan-to-English translators dedicated to the preservation of the Buddhadharma and 7 incarnate lamas traveled to Deer Park Institute in Bir, India, to discuss the aspirations and practicalities of translating the words of the Buddha and to set goals for the next  5, 25, and 100 years. The conference, held from March 15-20, 2009, brought together teachers from the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and translators from all over the world. The vision of the conference was vast, the atmosphere was enthusiastic and cooperative, and the motivation of the participants to bring the Buddhadharma to the West was inspiring.

The resulting Buddhist Literary Heritage Project is immense, ambitious, and important—but it’s difficult for some people to get their minds around it. Translating the entire Buddhist canon will take an enormous amount of energy, and some people have asked us simply: “Why?” Here we’ve attempted to address questions about the project by using the words of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 

Q: My lama is part of a living tradition. Why do we need to dredge up the past by translating old sutras?

DJKR: The living traditions of Dharma that still exist today—for example, in Japan, China, Thailand, and Burma—have only survived because they had the foresight to translate the original sacred Buddhist texts into their own languages. Also, those in the Tibetan community who are still able to understand and communicate in classical Tibetan are rare. In about 100 years there will be almost no Tibetans who can read the words of Kangyur and Tengyur and understand their meaning, and very soon it will be too late to do anything about it.  

The Dalai Lama: I often tell young Tibetans that if they cannot easily understand Tibetan, then they should read English translations. Now even my own brother uses both texts. He reads the Tibetan, and sometimes when it’s a little difficult to understand the meaning of certain terminology, then he reads the English. He compares the two, and finds it very useful. 

Q: Why do we need all this text?  I have enough practices to do already.

DJKR: Every religion has an original book—Christians have the Bible, Moslems have the Koran, and Buddhists have the Tripitaka. These are of vital importance because what Buddha taught us must always be the final word on any given subject, not what we find in the Shastras—and definitely not what’s to be found in the Tibetan commentaries…. The trend today is for teachers, priests, scholars, politicians, and fanatics to obscure the original meaning of important texts by interpreting them in a way that supports their own personal agendas. This happens in all religions, including Buddhism, and when such problems arise, our beacon of truth can only be the words of Buddha. 

Read more Q&As...

If you have questions about the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project, please send them to us and we will ask Rinpoche and/or translation team members to address them and post the answers on the KF website.

Conference participants in the Manjushri Hall at Deer Park

Light Shines on a Historic Conference
By Steven Goodman

From left: John Canti, Zagtsa Paldor, Steven Goodman and Doboom Tulku Rinpoche in discussion. PHOTO BY DAVID KITTLESTROM

It’s been two months since the conclusion of a most amazing conference on Translating the Words of the Buddha, hosted at Deer Park Institute in Bir. Here’s what stands out for me—some impressions to give a bit of the flavor of what it was like to be part of these historic events.

On the plane from San Francisco to Chicago, I remember wondering, after all the planning that went into this conference—“What will happen there? Why are we doing this? Why does it feel at once ordinary (I’ve been to India and to conferences many times) and extraordinary? Why are so many Khenpos, Rinpoches, and translators flying long distances at such an inconvenient time? What do we imagine will happen?” ...I thought about how the scholastic and practice traditions of Nalanda were brought to Tibet and, over several hundred years, translated into the mother tongue of that new nation, thereby assuring the survival of many precious lineages that did not survive the harsh ravages of time in India.

This grand adventure of cultural translation, I thought, was a heroic and visionary endeavor perhaps never to be rivaled. And as the plane touched down in India, I thought, “Well maybe, just maybe, something equally visionary is about to happen at this conference in Deer Park Institute.”

Read more from Professor Goodman…

Let them have me perform deeds that are conducive to their happiness.  Whoever resorts to me, may it never be in vain. Whether they look at me with anger or admiration, may this always be a cause for accomplishing all their goals.
—Shantideva, The Bodhicharyavatara

Never Stop Asking

By Lynn Hoberg

A group of conference participants and volunteers met with HH the Dalai Lama.  Lynn Hoberg is bottom left, next to conference facilitator Ivy Ang. PHOTO BY MATTHIEU RICARD

It’s early August of 2008 and I’m speeding through Vancouver in my rental car. I’m late, and I’m beginning to realize that, after dropping a friend in Yaletown, I’ve misjudged the distance back to the University of British Columbia  campus and I’m going to be more than 20 minutes late for my lunch meeting. As I drive, I’m thinking about my reluctance to commit to commit to being the travel coordinator for the translation conference in Bir.

I have yet to agree to volunteer for the project (although from the beginning I knew I would say yes) because I need to be sure that I can take the time to travel to India, be confident that my finances can bear the time off, and be clear about what the team will need. I have to be sure that I can actually do what is being asked of me! But as I careen through the Vancouver streets, I’m also thinking about how I pray to be asked to do things like this, and how I’m amazed and honored that people think I can do these jobs well. So I race through the university campus, hoping the conference team won’t reconsider just because I’m grossly tardy to our meeting. 

Seven months later I’m sitting in Delhi International airport, waiting for Cangioli’s plane to arrive from San Francisco, just 45 minutes after my flight from New York.

Read more from Lynn…