[Buddha-l] Translating the Words of the Buddha conference

[Christopher Fynn]

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Landmark Translation Conference Draws World’s Leading Translators to 
Remote Himalayan Region

Many of the world’s leading Tibetan-English translators are gathering 
March 15-20, 2009 in the tiny Indian village of Bir in northern India to 
map out the future of Dharma translation for generations to come. What 
they decide could help make Buddha Shakyamini’s core teachings available 
to millions worldwide.

The Translating the Words of the Buddha Conference will be hosted by 
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and the Khyentse Foundation at Deer Park 
Institute, a centre for study of classical Indian wisdom traditions. 
Leaders of all four Tibetan Buddhist lineages, including H.H the Dalai 
Lama, H.H the Karmapa, and H.H the Sakya Trizin have offered their 
blessings and supported to this landmark initiative.

Participants include seven Rinpoches:
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche
Trulku Pema Wangyal Rinpoche
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Doboom Trulku Rinpoche
Trulku Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche

Also attending are luminaries such as Gene Smith, Matthieu Ricard and 
Bob Thurman, and top translators from all four Tibetan Buddhist 
lineages, representatives from the major Tibetan-English translation 
houses around the world, and a number of publishers and patrons. The 
agenda includes topics such as initiating the full translation of the 
entire Buddhist canon, including the 108-volume Kangyur—the Buddha’s 
direct teachings that include many sutras never before translated into 
English. Translating those teachings from Sanskrit to Tibetan 1,000 
years ago took nearly 100 years under Tibetan royal patronage. This 
gathering is intended to generate the collaboration among translators 
required to realize this vision in the west.

According to the conference chair, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche:

“I have arrived at the conviction that we cannot have a goal to make 
‘Tibetan Buddhism’ a Western institution. For the Buddha’s teachings to 
truly thrive in our cultures and take root in our hearts, we must have a 
genuine Western Buddhism. For this genuine tradition to flourish and 
become fully integrated in the West, we must, in my view, have the words 
of the Buddha in English. A comprehensive English compilation of the 
Buddha’s words will serve as an authoritative bedrock for a living 
tradition.”

The conference host, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche says:

“My main reason for convening this conference is that I believe it's 
entirely possible that the survival of the Buddhadharma could depend on 
it being translated into other languages. I also believe that by 
translating and making available the Tibetan Buddhist texts to modern 
people, a vast swathe of Buddhist civilization and culture may be saved 
from global annihilation. It's clear we need to act quickly, and I 
believe the only way we can accomplish this monumental endeavor is by 
working together—pooling our skills, resources, experience and energy 
and coming up with a plan for translating the Buddhadharma. We must 
decide where we want this process to be in 10 years, 25 years, 50 years 
and 100 years”

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There is  a discussion board at:
http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=59296950597
where some of the talks given at the conference are being posted.