1| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Presentation of the Sakya Paita Translation Group

of the International Buddhist Academy, Kathmandu, Nepal

and their Translation of the Mahyna kagarbha Stra

This paper was presented at the International Conference Translation of Buddhist Scriptures
from around the World, organized by the Research Center for the Tibetan Buddhist Canon,
Dongguk University, Gyeongju, South Korea, November 28-29, 2014. I wish to express my
gratitude to Dr. Khenpo Ngawang Jorden, director of the International Buddhist Academy,
Kathmandu, for his thoughtful guidance of our translation work, as well as to my translation
colleagues, Ven. Ngawang Tenzin, Ven. Jampa Tenzin, and especially Christian Bernert whose
comments to this paper were of great help. I would like to thank Mr. Dai Sung Han for
translating the paper into Korean.

Introduction
In February 2014, coinciding with the Tibetan New Year, the 84000-Translating the Words of
the Buddha published online the Mahyna kagarbha Stra (phags pa nam mkhai snying
po zhes bya ba theg pa chen poi mdo) as part of their ongoing translation project of translating
the entire Tibetan Canon within one hundred years. The Sakya Pandita Translation Group who
accomplished this translation has worked with the 84000 from the initial stages of its online
publications, providing the first pilot translations for the website. The purpose of my presentation
is to provide some background information on the translation work of the Sakya Paita
Translation Group within the larger context of the 84000, drawing on our most recent experience
with the kagarbha Stra. In the first part of my presentation, I wish to give the necessary
background information to our translation work, and to discuss the main features of the editorial
policy of the 84000 which served as our guideline. The second part will focus on specific details
of our translation process. I will discuss some of the challenges that we faced in translating the
kagarbha Stra, and explain the various solutions we found.

2| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

I.

84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha

History
A translation conference at Deer Park Institute in Bir, India, in 2009, was the first step of an
initiative that culminated in the founding of the 84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha.
At this conference, more than fifty senior translators of Tibetan scriptures, headed by the Tibetan
teacher Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, discussed the importance of translating the Tibetan
Buddhist Canons. They recognized the importance of international cooperation. Translating
Tibetan scriptures had been largely left up to individual translators and translation groups, who
often had to struggle to find the financial and material support for their work. The conference in
Bir resulted first of all in founding the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project which was later, in
2011, renamed 84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha. The project was thus initiated
by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and funded by the Khyentse Foundation.1The foundation is a
registered global non-profit initiative that aims to translate all of the Buddhas words into
modern languages, and to make them available to everyone, free of charge.
The participants of the Bir conference also resolved to invite the participation of the masters and
holders of all lineages. Today, the list of 153 translators and 23 translator teams that have
participated so far in the 84000 project2 demonstrate that all major schools of Tibetan Buddhism
(Nyingma, Kagy, Sakya, Gelug) are represented, thus making it a non-sectarian, unified
enterprise.
In their published vision statement, the 84000 explains its motives:3
It is said that the Buddha taught more than 84,000 methods to attain true peace and
freedom from suffering. Of these teachings, only 5% have been translated into modern
languages. Due to the rapid decline in knowledge of classical languages and in the
number of qualified scholars, we are in danger of losing this cultural heritage and
spiritual legacy.
Therefore, the 84000s declared goal is to translate the entire treasury of Tibetan Buddhist
literature within one hundred years. The interim goals of five, ten, and twenty-five years
determine the order in which this goal is to be accomplished. For now, the 84000 focuses on
translating the more important texts of the Kangyur (bka gyur), and, to a lesser degree, of the
Tengyur (bstan gyur).

http://84000.co/about/origin/
Translators, accessed Oct 30, 2014. http://84000.co/about/translators/.
3
Vision, accessed Oct 30, 2014. http://84000.co/about/vision/.
2

3| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

The long and short-term goals are specified in the following chart:
100 years

To provide universal access to the Buddhist literary heritage

translated into modern languages.

25 years

To make all of the Kangyur and related volumes of the

Tengyur available in English, and provide widespread
accessibility in multiple platforms.

10 years

To make a significant portion of the Kangyur and

complementary Tengyur texts available in English, and easily
accessible in multiple platforms.

5 years

To make a representative sample of the Kangyur and

Tengyur available in English, and establish the infrastructure
and resources necessary to accomplish the long-term vision.

To realize its vision of translating the entire Tibetan Buddhist literary heritage, the 84000 works
simultaneously in five domains. These are:
1. Translation grants: The 84000 organizes the translations of important texts - mostly
stras so far - in the form of grant applications.
2. Publication: The editorial board of the 84000 accompanies and supervises the editing
process of the translated texts until their online publication on the website of the 84000.
3. Fundraising: The 84000 undertakes the necessary efforts to raise the funds for the
ongoing and future translation projects.
4. Translation Tools: The 84000 has started to provide information that is relevant to
pursuing its long-term goal by providing links to existing translation programs, to
translation tools, and other relevant information.
5. Dharma Events: The 84000 organizes dharma events in which the translated stras are
used for dharma practice, such as the Resounding of the Buddhas Word in Bodhgaya
(2012, 2014) or New York (2012, 2013). Apart from the meritorious aspect of such
practices, these events certainly serve the purpose of publicizing the importance of
sponsoring the translation projects.

4| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Some Facts: Works Published and in Progress

Translations in Progress and Published Online4
Pages Commissioned for Translation

Pages Published

http://84000.co/about/progress/. Accessed Oct 10, 2014.

5| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Translators Supported
Translators

Translators Affiliations

Impact of the 84000sWork

The table below provides an overview of how often the translations provided by the 84000 have
been viewed.5

Reading Room Hits:

4.4 million

Text Downloads:

110,898

hits

times

Impact, accessed Oct 30, 2014. http://84000.co/about/impact/ Information updated on: January 1, 2014.

6| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Website Visitors:

ReadingRoom
Visitors:
Readers Come From:

151,813
81,238
135

visitors

visitors

countries

The Editorial Policy of the 84000

The 84000 have developed an editorial policy which all their translators have to follow. Once a
year the 84000 invites translators to submit applications for the translation of preselected stras.
To do so, translators have to present a sample translation of 5 pages, along with an introduction
to the team of translators and a budget. The chosen teams may then start their translations based
on certain rules that have been postulated by the editorial team of the 84000 since their
beginnings in 2010, and expanded over the years.
Source and Target Languages
As mentioned previously, the 84000s primary focus is on the translation of Tibetan scriptures
included in the Kangyur and Tengyur. Translations are done primarily from the Tibetan
language, under consideration of extant Sanskrit originals or Chinese translations. There is no
plan to translate canonical texts from Pli and Chinese, since such translations are already
undertaken by other organisations.
The target language is English, with the long term vision of including other modern languages,
including Chinese, when resources are available. The target audience is an educated but nonspecialist readership. Translators are asked to use a language that is accessible to both scholars
and practitioners.
Texts, Text Comparison and Critical Editions
The source text for most translations is the Tibetan text from the Deg edition. For a large
majority of works, no Sanskrit version has been found and the English translation will
necessarily be made from the Tibetan translation. Only for a minority of works an original
Sanskrit version in a reliable edition is available. In such cases the translators will take the
Sanskrit edition as the primary source.
The translations ideally include textual comparison with, and reference to, differing versions,
when they exist, whether in Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pli, Chinese or other. For the different Tibetan
editions, this task is facilitated by the new comparative edition (dpe sdur ma) of the Kangyur and
Tengyur, published in Beijing by the Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau (bka bstan dpe sdur

7| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

khang) of the China Tibetology Research Center (krung goi bod rig pa zhi jug ste gnas).6
Translators use the Pedurma Kangyur to trace variations of the different editions. Only changes
that affect the meaning significantly should be marked in footnotes.
Research
In addition to translating stras, translators are required to do a certain amount of research and to
compose brief introductions, notes, bibliographies, glossaries and other reference material. These
are published along with the translations. All publications are online, free of charge.
Standards and Standardization
In their editorial policy, the 84000 has formulated the guiding principles for the translation work.
Generally speaking, the translations should possess the following qualities: Accuracy of
meaning, clarity, consensuality, consistency and flexibility.7 What these principles entail, the
editorial committee of the 84000 explains in the Guidelines for Translators. In the second part of
my presentation, I will elaborate on some of these details. Generally speaking, one can say that
all rules aim at producing a text of easy readability. As translators, we should think to be kind to
our readers.8
Setting standards naturally leads to the question of standardization, i.e. to the idea that all
translators use the same vocabulary for recurrent technical terms. The editorial board of the
84000 has expressed the wish to develop such translation standardization, similar to the
Mahvyutpatti project in Tibet. Standardization, however, is not possible at the moment, and it is
not clear to which degree it will be in the future. The guidelines of the 84000 give rules as to the
spelling, capitalization, use of italics and punctuation, but leave the vocabulary to the discretion
of the translators. They demand however, that each translation team develops a glossary
alongside their translation. This is done in an excel sheet in which the Tibetan, Sanskrit, and
English terms are listed, as well as a short English definition. In the final publication, the English
word is hyperlinked so that the reader can easily access the glossary entries.
The challenge of, and resistance to, standardization are problems that are better understood when
we compare the historical contexts of the translation endeavours now with the translations of
Sanskrit Buddhist literature into Tibetan. Therefore I would like to deviate for a short moment
into the history of the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. In the second part of my
presentation, I will then return to a few concrete examples of the editorial guidelines of the
84000.

Dpe sdur ma, Krung go'i bod rig pa'i dpe skrun khang /, pe cin/. 2006-2009. par gzhi dang po, 109 volumes,
accessed Oct 10, 2014. http://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=W1PD96682.
7
8

84000 Editorial Policy v8.0, IV A, 7, accessed Oct 30, 2014, http://84000.co/resources/grants/.

This expression is borrowed from Dr David Bellos, Translation and Transmission Conference, Oct 2014.

8| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Translations of the Buddhist Canons into Tibetan

The Tibetan Buddhist Canon is a translation of mainly the Sanskrit Canon, of which many texts
have been destroyed or lost over the centuries. Other translations were done from texts in
Chinese, Khotanese, Socdian, or other languages of that time, when these were believed to have
had a Sanskrit original that got lost.
Whereas the Pli Canon could be preserved, or rather reconstructed, in its entirety thanks to the
efforts of generation after generation copying individual manuscripts in neighbouring countries,
such as Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand -this is, unfortunately, not the case for the Sanskrit
teachings. Many Sanskrit texts have only survived in Tibetan or Chinese translation.
As for the translations to Tibetan, there were two clearly distinguishable phases of SanskritTibetan translation, corresponding to the periods of uptake in Buddhism known to Tibetan
historians as the early propagation (snga dar) and later propagation (phyi dar).The first, a
top-down movement, lasted from the 7th to the mid-9th century and was an initiative based on
royal initiative and support. In the 7thcentury CE, the newly united kingdom of Tibet was still
relatively young when its ruler, Songtsen Gampo (srong btsan sgam po, 569649?/605649?),
decided to sponsor Buddhism and with it the translation of important texts from India. Two and a
half centuries of prosperity were followed by a time of political collapse and religious crisis. The
second, new translation period (gsar gyur) - also called the later dissemination of the
teachings (phyi dar) - between the 11th and 14th centuries was a fragmented movement that
sprung from the grassroots, fuelled by teachers and adepts. It was a period of great individual
achievements, though less consistent in following uniform standards. Such individuals were, for
example, Bari Lotsawa,9 Drogmi Lotsawa,10and Rinchen Zangpo11 - three translators that are
revered in the Sakya School, with which the Sakya Paita Translation Group is affiliated.
After the 14th century, Buddhism had mostly disappeared from the Indian subcontinent, and no
further Sanskrit texts were translated into Tibetan. In total, 5250 texts 230,000 folio sides were
translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan. Over 870 translators and scholars were involved and their
translations have been praised by modern historians as a masterpiece of teamwork, terminology
and consistency.12
Characteristic Features of the Translation into Tibetan
Translating from Sanskrit into Tibetan had a unique feature because the Tibetans created a
Tibetan linguistic system that was modelled upon Sanskrit, even though the two languages share
no direct linguistic relation, Tibetan belonging to the Tibeto-Burmese language group. However,
Sanskrit was chosen as a benchmark in order to be able to translate Buddhist scriptures into
9

Ba ri lo tsA, also called Rinchen Drak (rin chen grags) (1040-1111).

Brog mi shakya ye shes (994-1078).
11
Rin chen bzang po (958-1055).
12
http://www.thlib.org/encyclopedias/literary/canons/about/wiki/tibetan%20canons%20introduction.html. See also
Roberta Paine, The Translator in Tibetan History: Identity and Influence. Forum 8.2 (2010): 133-161.
10

9| Julia Stenzel, The Sakya Pandita Translation Group

Tibetan.13 Not only did grammarians attempt to conceptualize Tibetan through the lens of
Sanskrit noun cases, syntax, and verbal conjugation (albeit simplified), moreover, by royal
commission the vocabulary and style of translations were highly regularized. Standardization
became maybe the most important feature of translation; and the fabricated similarity of Tibetan
to Sanskrit facilitated translation, and made it possible to produce texts of high precision.14
Lotsawa-Paita
As we know from colophons, the translations were mostly carried out by a collaboration of
Indian scholars and Tibetan translators, a model that received the name lotsawa-paita. The
Sanskrit title paita designated mastery of the five sciences: grammar, logic, medicine, artistic
crafts, and philosophy. The title lotsawa was an honorific term for the native Tibetans involved
in the translations of Sanskrit texts into Tibetan. Some of them had travelled to India or a
Himalayan borderland, had accompanied Indian paitas back to Tibet, had invested health and
wealth, effort and sacrifice, to make translations happen. Since the collaborative effort of people
with two different skill sets has proven highly successful, many translators today, including my
own translation group, try to emulate the lotsawa-paita model when translating Tibetan
scriptures into English.
Translation Tools - The Mahvyutpatti and Madhyavyutpatti
The Tibetan translations of Sanskrit stras show a high degree of conformity in vocabulary. This
is the result of an invested effort of standardizing terminology. It is documented in the
Mahvyutpatti, the Madhyavyutpatti, and similar texts. The Mahvyutpatti (bye brag tu rtogs pa
chen po) or The Great Volume of Precise Understanding or Essential Etymology is a SanskritTibetan lexicographical reference work with nearly 10,000 entries, which is still used by scholars
today. The related Madhyavyutpatti (sgra sbyor bam po gynis pa) provides a detailed account of
translation technique. These two volumes were created c. 814 at the order of King Tride
Songtsen (khri lde srong btsan, r. 799-815), i.e. during the first translation period in Tibet, with
the intention to standardize the translation of Buddhist texts into Tibetan. These texts settled
issues of orthography, grammar, and translation rules, and thus played a central role in achieving
a largely consistent standardized language for translating Buddhist scripture. Students of Tibetan
language still refer to this compendium today.15In an address to the recent Tsadra Foundation
conference on Translation and Transmission in October 2014, the scholar Peter Skillings

13

It is believed that the Tibetan script and texts on grammar date to the 7 th century. Under the rule of king Songtsen
Gampo (srong btsan sgam po) the scholar and grammarian Tonmi Sambhota (thon mi sam bho ta) is credited by the
tradition to have created a script and composed the Root Verses on Grammar, the so-called sum cu pa, and the
Guide to the Signs (rtags kyi jug pa)
14
For a detailed account, see Stephan Beyer, The Classical Tibetan Language, (New York: State University of New
York, 1992/ Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993).
15
David
Weldon,
Guardians
of
the
Sacred
Word,
accessed
Oct
10,
2014.
http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/covers/intro. html.

10 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
advised translators to study the Mahvyutpatti attentively. He even suggests that these texts be
taught in university seminars.16
Apart from the royal supervision of the early translations in Tibet, another factor facilitated the
creation of a standardized language: Tibet, unlike China, did not have a well-developed
philosophical tradition prior to the arrival of Buddhism. Therefore, translators coined technical
terms that were assigned to Sanskrit expressions with little danger of being misunderstood in the
light of some other context. Thus the Tibetan translations, though literal and somewhat dense
and unnatural are considered relatively reliable in representing the Sanskrit originals. They have
proven to be an invaluable source for the reconstruction of lost Sanskrit texts.17
Language reforms
During the two translation phases, three major language reforms (skad gsar bcad) took place.
During these reforms numerous words were labeled old signs (brda rnying) and were replaced
with new terms. These revisions were instrumental in establishing standardized spelling,
vocabulary, and grammar. The last reform dates to the 10thcentury CE. The literary language has
been more or less frozen since this time.18 During each of these revisions, older, existing
translations were updated to reflect the new standards.

Translation from Tibetan to English

Jumping forward in time now for about half a millennium, the situation for translators looks very
different. The first thing to note is that the translation of Tibetan Buddhist Texts into English (or
other European languages) does not have a very long history. At the Tsadra conference in
Keystone, Colorado, Tsadra founder Eric Colombel, shared his experience as a young student in
Paris, France, where the only books in French available numbered two, and were very difficult to
understand. However, the interest in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism in the Western world progressed
very quickly from being the reserve of a few Indologists and Tibetologists in the 19thcentury to
an accepted mainstream phenomenon 150 years later. Older translations of texts often exhibited
some influence from the particular groups that were cultivating contact with Buddhist cultures,
be it colonialists, Christian missionaries, or followers of Jungian psychology.19
At present, with the social and political situation in Tibet and in Tibetan exile communities,
leading Tibetan masters have recognised the very real risk that in one or two generations time
there will simply be too few people with sufficient understanding of the language or contents.
16

Peter Skillings, Dr. Peter Skillings address to the conference, http://translationandtransmission.org/videos.html.

Roberta Raine, Translating the Tibetan Buddhist Canon: Past Strategies, Future Prospects, Forum 9.2 (2011):
157-186.
18
Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas), Treasury of Knowledge, Buddhism's Journey to
Tibet, (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publication, 2010), 220.
19
Roberta Paine mentions H. Kerns translation as an example for Christian influence in translation (in The
Translator in Tibetan History: Identity and Influence. Forum 8.2 (2010): 133-161). Jungian influence can be found
for example in Evans-Wentz, W. Y., Tibetan Book of the Dead: or, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo
Plane, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927. It contains a "Psychological commentary" by Carl Jung.
17

11 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
The growing awareness of this risk has not only led to the founding of the 84000, but to a few
similar events that are concerned with the preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist literary legacy:

2008 Light of Berotsana, Colorado, USA: http://www.berotsana.org/conference-oftranslators/

2009 BLHP/ 84000, Bir, India: http://84000.co/about/origin/ , previously mentioned
2011 Tengyur Translation, Sarnath, India: http://www.aibs.columbia.edu/conference.html
2014 June: Translation Conference and Workshop at University of Vienna, Austria:
http://buddhism.tibetan-translation.com/2014/05/translating-and-transferring-buddhist.html
2014 October: Translation and Transmission Conference in Keystone, Colorado, USA:
http://translationandtransmission.org/index.html

Translator Types
Who are the people, who participates in these events? Apart from a few Tibetan teachers
committed to translating, they are men and women mainly from Europe and America, who have
a particular connection to Tibetan Buddhism, culture and language. During the latest conference,
which I attended along with 200 other participants, senior translator Wulstan Fletcher and others
discussed the distinction between two types of translators:
1. Dharma practitioners who become translators and interpreters they are often self-professed
or designated by a Tibetan teacher. Often not subject to professional oversight, their focus is
on the religious significance of a text, the accessibility for the target audience of
practitioners, and/or the use of a text as practice liturgy. As practitioners they are sometimes
bound by religious rules of samaya (dam tshig) and secrecy.
2. Academics whose fields of expertise often include philology, buddhology, philosophy,
anthropology, religious studies, etc. - they are not necessarily trained as interpreters or
language experts. The oversight of their translation work comes from within academia in the
form of peer-review. Their focus in translating is on accuracy, comparison of editions,
historical and philosophical contextualization and significance. Academics are not bound by
the traditions norms of secrecy, but follow the code of critical investigation and unrestrained
curiosity.
Both types of translators often work as individuals, seeking occasional help from advisors or
colleagues. A peculiar fact is that many translators that work with text translations cannot
necessarily speak colloquial Tibetan. Both groups generally consider the literary language to be a
classical Tibetan which is distinct and separate from spoken Tibetan. However, the more
experienced translators, and particularly those who have been immersed in Tibetan communities
for some time, emphasize the importance of the oral tradition. Spoken Tibetan is not only
important for the collaboration with Tibetan scholars, but also allows a richer understanding of
the subtleties of the language.
Concluding Remarks
These glimpses into the history of the translation of Buddhist scriptures, however brief and oversimplified they may be, show sufficiently the different contexts in which translation has taken

12 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
place in the past and is taking place today. The most important difference in my view is the fact
that translation started as a state-supported endeavour in Tibet which entailed a strong
centralizing and standardizing power right from the beginning. In comparison, todays
translation projects do not enjoy royal or state support, and only a few efforts to centralize a
translation effort. The 84000 is probably the most important of them. The short but successful
story of the 84000 shows the importance of concerted efforts in this field. The recent surge in
Tibetan Buddhist translation conferences worldwide is most likely another outcome of a shift in
thinking about translation, a shift moving away from the individual achiever towards mutual
support and team efforts.
There is another significant difference in the translation context then and now - a difference on
which I do not elaborate in this presentation because of time restrictions - and that is the
immense supply of translation tools available today. Starting with digitized dictionaries, digitized
and searchable texts, online resources such as the TBRC, ACIP or AIBS data bases, cloud
search, etc., translators are able to benefit from the accumulated and recorded knowledge of
Buddhist scholarship like never before in history.
In the second part of my presentations, I would like to present and reflect upon my personal
experience as translator of the 84000 within the context that I have outlined so far.

II.

The Translation of the kagarbha Stra

In the summer of 2011, the Sakya Pandita Translation Group signed a contract with the 84000
for the translation of several stras, among them the kagarbha Stra. This stra is a text of 20
folios in the Dege Edition,20 or 44 pages in the Pedurma edition. Its complete name is
kagarbha-nma-mahyna-stra ('Phags pa nam mkha'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen
po'i mdo). In the Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons [Tokyo: Thoku University, 1934],
it is Th. no. 260. It was translated into Tibetan by the scholars kyaprabha and Ratnarakita.
In the following I will present our translation work of this sutra. I will briefly introduce the text
and our translation team, and then focus on the challenges we encountered in the work process,
as well as the solutions we found.

Introducing the Stra

This stra is named after the Bodhisattva kagarbha, in Tibetan Namkhe Nyingpo, which
means essence of space or matrix of space. The sutra tells of a situation in which Buddha
kyamuni resides in the Khalatika Mountains, which refers probably to the Barabar mountains
near Bodhgaya. Buddha kyamuni and his retinue are joined by the bodhisattva kagarbha,
who arrives displaying his magical powers. At first, a bright ray of light, coming from the jewel
on top of his head, transforms the whole of the world into a pure land. Thereupon the bodhisattva
Maitreya requests Buddha kyamuni to give a teaching on the powers and capacities of
20

Deg Kangyur, vol. ZA, folios 264r.4-283v.2.

13 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
Bodhisattva kagarbha. The answer of Buddha kyamuni forms the major part of the stra.
The Buddha explained the qualities and the powers of kagarbha. His particular power is his
ability to help practitioners purify their wrongdoings, in the sutra called downfalls. The
Buddha explains each of the twenty-three downfalls, or transgressions, separately, in more or
less detail. They include general unwholesome actions such as killing and stealing, and also the
eight transgressions of bodhisattvas which are deeds like teaching emptiness to disciples that are
not mature enough for comprehending it; or trying to convince somebody that the Mahyna
path is not the right path to practice; or trying to deter somebody who wants to take the monastic
vows of self-liberation. The Buddha also explains various methods of purification of these
negative deeds and transgressions, such as praying to kagarbha, giving special offerings,
reciting dharais, and so forth. A special emphasis is on a dream incubation type of practice. The
person invites kagarbha to appear in her or his dream and to listen to the confession of
wrongdoings, and it is in the dream that kagarbha purification will take place. The sutra ends
with the Buddha giving a teaching on the emptiness of phenomena.
Because of its systematic presentation of the twenty-three transgressions this stra has gained
special importance among Mahyna stras and is mentioned as reference work for Bodhisattva
ethics by masters such as ntideva, Sakya Paita or Jamgon Kongtrul.21 The famous
Bodhicaryvatra (translated as The Way of the Bodhisattva) by ntideva recommends the
kagarbha Stra as the first reference text to study for bodhisattva training.
This sutra was translated by four members of the Sakya International Buddhist Academy, which
I will briefly introduce before turning to the work process of our translation group.

Introducing Sakya IBA and its Translation Team

The International Buddhist Academy (short: IBA) is located in Kathmandu, Nepal, and was
established in 2001 by the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche, an eminent Sakyapa scholar and
teacher, whose students include prominent teachers such as His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, and
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.22
In 2009, an intensive translator training program began that educated simultaneously Tibetan and
Western scholars to prepare them for collaborative translation programs in the future. The
Tibetan monastic scholars who were admitted to the IBA all had completed seven to nine years
of philosophical studies at various Sakya monastic colleges, such as Dzongsar Shedra (Bir,
India), Sakya College (Dehradun, India), Rimbik Shedra Sakya Chopelling (Darjeeling, India),
or Sakya Institute (Puruwalla, India). Thus, all of them are highly qualified in Buddhist
philosophy and have attained either a Shastri (ka chu pa) degree - equivalent to a Batchelors
21

ntideva was an Indian master of Nalanda, lived around the 8 th century. Sakya Paita (chos rje sa skya paN Di
ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan) (1184-1251), is one of the five founders of the Sakya School. Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam
mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas), (1813-1899), is a renowned master of the Rim (ecumenical) movement.
22
Welcome
to
the
International
Buddhist
Academy,
accessed
October
10,
2014.
http://internationalbuddhistacademy.org/about/

14 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
degree - or an Acharya (slob dpon) degree, equivalent to a Masters degree, prior to entering the
IBA. Their education at the monastic colleges had included extensive training in logic and
debate. This discipline of philosophical debate has become so ingrained in the monks way of
thinking and speaking that, even though not formally on the curriculum at the IBA, debates can
often be witnessed during tea breaks and recreation time. At the IBA, the monks training
focuses on English language which most of them had received only to a very little degree before
arriving at the IBA.
The non-Tibetan (mostly Western) students of the IBA translator program focused on studying
Tibetan language: classical Tibetan (chos skad) as well as colloquial Tibetan (phal skad). Tibetan
exists as a diglossia, i.e. as two different co-existing language habits, namely classical, literary
Tibetan which has seen very little change since the Buddhist canon itself was translated, and
colloquial Tibetan, spoken dialects, which have continued to evolve into new usages of
vocabulary and grammar. Both aspects of Tibetan intersect in the field of Buddha Dharma. The
monastics at the IBA are familiar with both, and therefore it is deemed necessary also for nonTibetan translators to study not only literary language, but also its practical application in
conversations about Buddhist teachings, as well as colloquial Tibetan. At the IBA, Tibetan
scholars also spoke Kham and Amdo dialects but these were not taught to non-Tibetan students.
The non-Tibetan, or Western students at the IBA come from various backgrounds, some hold
academic degrees in Buddhist studies, others have a strong affiliation with a Tibetan lama who
advised them to learn the skill of translation. In a two year program, they receive an education
consisting of three areas: Tibetan grammar, translation of Buddhist scriptures, and conversational
Tibetan. They study Tibetan grammar (sum chu pa and rtags jug pa) with Tibetan teachers, i.e.
from a Tibetan perspective without the attempt to apprehend Tibetan grammar through western
grammatical concepts. Translation into English is taught in workshop style with experienced
senior translators such as Gavin Kilty (Institute of Tibetan Classics), Dan Martin (PhD,
independent researcher), Khenpo Jorden (PhD Harvard, Director of the Institute), and others.
Tibetan conversation is practised daily in one-on-one modules, and informally during lunch and
tea breaks. According to Gavin Kilty, for translating a classical text you must have knowledge of
spoken Tibetan. You need to discuss it, not only with khenpos and lamas that you might ask, but
with yourself.
At the end of the first two year intensive program in 2011, a small number of students committed
to working in the two translation groups associated with the IBA, the Chodung Karmo
Translation Group which focuses on the translation of specific commentaries of the Sakya
tradition, and the Sakya Pandita Translation Group, which translates stras and is funded by
grants of the 84000.
Team Translation
The ideal model that these translation groups follow is that of the lotsawa-paita as explained
previously. Since different text translations demand various ranges of language expertise, the

15 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
translation teams are complemented with Sanskrit experts, English editors and proof readers as
needed. In the case of the kagarbha Stra, the text was translated into English by a team
consisting of the monastic scholars Jampa Tenzin and Ngawang Tenzin, and the western
academics Christian Bernert and myself. It was edited by Pamela Gayle White and the final
proof reading was done by Vivian Paganuzzi, an English professor at the IBA. Our team was
supervised by Dr Khenpo Ngawang Jorden, the director of the IBA.

Challenges
In the process of translating the sutra, we faced different kinds of challenges. Roughly speaking,
one could group them into four categories: [1] human resource challenges, [2] structural
challenges,[3] textual challenges and [4] challenges of the Tibetan language.
1. Human Resource Challenges
Our first challenge consisted of the fact that we were junior translators. The two Tibetan scholars
had no prior experience; Christian Bernert and I had academic training, both holding a M.A. in
Buddhist Studies, but had each translated only a few shorter texts before embarking on this
project. All four of us had studied Tibetan Buddhism for more than a decade, albeit in different
contexts. None of us had, however, focused particularly on the study of stras. We were,
therefore, in many respects, in a training process.
The solution for this challenge was that we were very well framed. The head of our translation
team was Khenpo Jorden, the director of the IBA. A student of Khenpo Appey Rinpoche, he is
excellently trained in the Tibetan monastic college system, as well as in the Western academic
System, holding a PhD from Harvard. He helped us with difficult passages and verified the end
result. Moreover, we were well connected via email with translators and editors of the 84000
who helped us with a number of problems. An online community of translators has since started
a Google group, which is regularly used for conversations on translation issues.
2. Structural Challenges
Our second challenge could be called a structural challenge because it had to do with how we
structured our work flow. We decided to divide the text in two parts. Acharya Jampa Tenzin and
myself translated the first half, Acharya Ngawang Tenzin and Christian Bernert translated the
second. Afterwards we exchanged our translations and verified the section of the other party.
The advantage of this work style was that we had a fresh, new reading of our translated text by
two other translators, which we hoped would reduce the amount of errors. The challenge was,
evidently, to harmonize two different styles, and to verify that passages that had the same
wording in Tibetan would have the same wording in English. This work style was quite timeconsuming. It elicited numerous discussions between the translators which were helpful for
gaining experience in translating but, generally speaking, we concluded that it would be
reasonable to have one text translated by only one pair of translators in the future.

16 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
3. Text Edition Challenges
The translators of the 84000 are requested to research existing versions and editions of the stra
they are translating. For the kagarbha Stra, no Sanskrit version is available, but there is, in
the Chinese Canon, the Stra on the Bodhisattva kagarbha, translated by Buddhayaas
between 403 and 413 CE. The Chinese version of this text differs, however, significantly from
the Tibetan translation found in the Kangyur. It has been translated into German from the Korean
and Chinese versions by the Korean monk and scholar Sunim Tenzin Tharchin together with
Elisabeth Lindmayer in 2010.23 Christian Bernert and I both read this translation, but decided
that although the basic content of both texts is the same, their structures are very different, i.e.
the Chinese contains numerous passages not found in the Tibetan, and vice versa.
The solution to this challenge was simply to acknowledge that there were two different versions
of the kagarbha stra in the introduction to our translation, but to treat our text as an
independent work. We did not attempt to compare our translation with the translation from the
Korean-Chinese version.
4. Challenges of Translating the Tibetan Language
The fourth and most important challenge in my list is found in the Tibetan language itself.
Unlike the inflectional language of Sanskrit, classical Tibetan is an agglutinating language that
uses particles, or connectors (phrad) to express person, number, gender, and case. The particular
challenge in understanding Tibetan texts is due to the transcategorical and optional nature of the
use of case markers.24 This means that the same particles (phrad) may designate different cases,
or that particles may be omitted altogether. This elliptical style that overrides rules of syntax was
dubbed The Tibetan Telegram Principle by Stephan Beyer.25 In order to produce an accurate
translation, it is therefore indispensable to possess a large contextual understanding. Knowing the
vocabulary and grammar rules alone is not sufficient; the understanding comes from background
knowledge. In a teamwork of paita-lotsawa, it is often the Tibetan scholar who can provide
such a background.
Specific Examples:
4a. Archaic Language
The first challenge that I would like to address among the many linguistic challenges in
translating Tibetan texts, especially stras, is the challenge of archaic language. Even though we
do have wonderful resourceslexica, dictionaries, data bases and so onthey are not able to
answer all of the translators questions. In the process of translating the kagarbha Stra, we
had a few terms that posed a challenge even for learned Tibetan scholars. Living at the
23

Tenzin Tharchin and Elisabeth Lindmayer. Das Akashagarbha- Sutra. Allumfassende Liebe und Weisheit: Heilend
und Wunscherfllend, (Mnchen: Diamant Verlag, 2010).
24
Nicolas Tournadre, The Classical Tibetan Cases and their Transcategoriality: From sacred grammar to modern
linguistics. Himalayan Linguistics 2010, Vol. 9(2): 87-125.
25
Stephan Beyer, The Classical Tibetan Language, 195.

17 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
International Buddhist Academy, we were surrounded by Tibetan scholars with various fields of
expertise. Still, we had a few expressions that were unfamiliar to all of them. One example is the
term phyag dar ba which occurred in the passage on the seventh and eights bodhisattva
transgressions. The words meaning that was familiar to native Tibetan speakers, and which you
find in dictionaries, is sweeper, phyag dar meaning dust or rubbish. In the kagarbha
Stra, the term occurs in connection with advisors, ministers, soldiers and physicians. To
translate the term as sweeper did not seem intelligible in the context of this stra.
To solve this problem we spoke with various experts at the IBA and also consulted other texts on
the bodhisattva transgressions. We read the corresponding Tibetan and Sanskrit passages in
ntidevas iksamuccaya. This led us on to discover that phyag dar ba is the translation of
cal in the Sanskrit text, a term that means in general outcast, person of lowest value.
According to Monier Williams it can also mean a very low representative of something.26 It
seems that the context for this secondary meaning could be found in brahmanical thought, in
particular its hierarchy of pure versus impure occupations and the value judgement associated
with it.
4b. The Tone of a Translation
The second challenge I would like to discuss is the tone, or voice, of a translation. The
kagarbha Stra contains several passages of poetry, which were challenging to translate
because they were obscure, and seemed to express several layers of meaning at the same time.
Our translation group discussed the verses several times and finally opted for reading the passage
as describing the realization of Bodhisattva kagarbha. We decided to keep the translation as
literal as possible. In these verses (below), the Tibetan word kun gzhi means literally all-ground.
This term refers in numerous other texts to the laya, the eighth or so-called storehouse
consciousness in Buddhist psychology, which in some schools of thought is associated with
tathgatagarbha, or Buddha nature. However, after some discussion, we finally opted for
ignoring a possible philosophical reference and used a literal translation of the all-ground.
The verses of obscure poetry on folio 265b read as follows:
The Bhagavn replied:27
It is just as you have said.
The place where the all-basis is heard,
and where, with wisdom, sentient beings are established,
that place is the sphere of activity of meditative concentration.
It is the sphere of activity
of the Bodhisattva kagarbha,
who has demonstrated the meditative concentration free of appearances
26
27

Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 383/3.

Deg Edition, F.265.b.

18 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
and free of proliferations.
Whoever is attached to the two views
will later be in a realm of delusion.
Attachment to permanence o annihilation
is utter delusion about here and there.
Those who wish to free themselves
completely from both of these views
should meditate on that which is inexpressible,
thereby swiftly attaining the grounds.
In Tibetan this passage reads as follows:

Regarding our first translation of these verses, the reviewer of the 84000 - whose identity was
kept anonymous by the editorial committee - pointed out that the meanings of the versified
teachings on the nature of reality in this sutra are often obscure and lend themselves to
ambiguity. However, if the translation is rendered clearly and unambiguously, the reader will
have no idea of the ambiguous nature of the text, and will assume that the clarity of the English
reflects the clarity of the Tibetan. This could lead the reader to believe that the translation is
definitive, whereas future translations of the same sutra that carry contradictory readings will not
be seen as merely reflecting the obscurities inherent in the text but as either correction to the
original or mistaken readings of the Tibetan.
The suggested solution for such problems was to insert a paragraph in the introduction on the
difficulties of translating these kinds of verses on the nature of reality in general, and specifically

19 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
within this sutra. Moreover, specific instances of ambiguity could be annotated with footmarks to
the translation itself. We opted for the first solution suggested here.
4c. Technical Terms and Treatment of Sanskrit
A third challenge concerns the numerous Buddhist technical terms. Many or all of them
encompass meanings that cannot be accurately rendered with one single English term. Whereas
the Tibetan translators in the 7th century were reluctant to retain Sanskrit loan words in their
translation, and rather translated nearly everything into Tibetan including names of people and
places, English translators often resort to the original Sanskrit terms. Tibetans did not shy away
from creating altogether new words, rendering, for instance, the word Buddha with sangs
rgyas, two words that both carry new meanings, none of which directly found in the Sanskrit
budh (to awaken). Since many English translators use Sanskrit terms, over time, English
readers got accustomed to certain words such as buddha, bodhisattva, dharma. In accordance
with the 84000 guidelines, we tried to find a middle way between the necessity for, and the
overload of, Sanskrit. Our solution was to use Sanskrit whenever we could not find a satisfying
English term. We tried to reduce the amount of Sanskrit as much as we could. In our first draft
we had also bhiku, parmit, bhmi, sagha, etc., which you find now as English terms -monk,
perfection, ground, assembly, etc. - in the final, published version. The Sanskrit of these terms
can still be found in the online glossary which the reader can access by clicking on highlighted
terms in the translated text.
We used Sanskrit terms in the following instances: to describe [1] particular types of
practitioners (mahsattva, rvaka, pratyekabuddha), [2] particular types of beings that were
mentioned as part of the Buddhas entourage (deva, nga, yaka, gandharva, asura, garuda,
kinnara, mahoraga, kimbha, preta, pica, ptana, kaaptana), and [3] for Buddhist
technical terms that encompassed a spectrum of meaning too vast to capture all meanings. One
example for the latter category is dhra. This term is used in various ways. For instance, it
refers to the mental capacity of not forgetting, enabling one in particular to cultivate positive
forces and to ward off negativity. It is also very commonly used as a term for mystical verses
similar to mantras, the usage of which will grant a particular power. There is no English
multivalent term bearing equivalent meanings. Thus, the use of Sanskrit remains a necessity as
long as no satisfying English translations have been determined; and translation decisions have
to be taken in a case-by-case manner.
4d. Repetitions
Another challenge peculiar to translating stras pertains to repetitions. The editorial policies
statement of the 84000 reads: A great deal of repetition, sometimes of stock phrases, is a
characteristic feature of some Kangyur texts, and in most cases it should be reproduced in full in
the translation.
To give an example from our particular sutra: We had several passages mentioning fear, or the
absence thereof, for example, in the face of kagarbhas magical displays. In the original,

20 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
three verbs relate to being afraid: jigs pa, dngangs pa and skrag pa. In a first discussion, we
opted for a translation closer to English speaking habits. Arguing that the triple use of a word
simply meant to intensify the expression, we wrote extremely afraid. The reviewer of the
84000, however, reminded us of keeping the repetitions in order to express the character and
characteristics of the original. As you can see in the example below, we used three words for
describing fear, but we did not repeat the grammatical structure, i.e. we did not repeat the
negation and the auxiliary verb (mi byed).
At that place, the bodhisattvas dwelling on the tenth ground, who had achieved the meditative
concentration of brave progression, and who were bound by one more life and in their last
existence, looked and saw, yet were not at all frightened, afraid, or terrified, because they
realized that all phenomena are by nature endowed with final reality, suchness, and emptiness.
Therefore, they were not at all frightened, afraid, or terrified. [F.265.a]

These are but a few examples, albeit representative ones, with which I hope to have given a
glimpse into our translation work. Translating the 20 folio Mahyna kagarbha Stra took
about one month for the translation itself, and one year for the editing process, including the
various exchanges between the reviewers and editors of the 84000 and the translators. We were
not full time translators; we had other projects and studies to pursue at the same time. The long
period of one year also includes weeks or months of waiting for editors to work on our text.

Conclusion
In sum I hope to have given a picture of our small translation group within the bigger project of
the 84000, which itself is part of the larger history of translating Tibetan Buddhist texts into
English, which in turn is part of the even larger 2500 year old history of transmission and
translation of the Buddhas teaching in the world.

21 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
In this presentation I have tried to elucidate the editorial policies of the 84000and our personal
experience with it. The challenges that we faced were partly specific to our team of junior
translators, and partly general difficulties that all translators of the Tibetan language encounter.
The solutions that we found have one feature in common: in order to find solutions we had to
expand we had to expand our pool of knowledge to include the intelligence and experience of
senior translators, and we had to expand our focus beyond the limits of the text we were
translating in order to find information and ideas in other texts. Generally speaking I can say that
the English translation of the kagarbha Stra would not have reached its level of quality
without the assistance of many scholars, particularly the editors and reviewers of the 84000. In a
collaborative effort, we have attempted to come close to their ideals of accuracy of meaning,
clarity, consensuality, and consistency. The organization of the 84000 demonstrates that in a
structured collaborative effort, translations can be produced in quantity and quality that represent
much more than the sum of the individuals work.

Bibliography
Tibetan Texts
kagarbha nma mahyna stra ('Phags pa nam mkha'i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen
po'i mdo). Th. 260. Deg Kangyur, vol. 66 ZA, (mdo sde, za), folios 264r.4-283b.
Dpe sdur ma. Krung go'i bod rig pa'i dpe skrun khang /, pe cin/. 2006-2009. par gzhi dang po/.
Accessed Oct 10, 2014. http://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=W1PD96682
Secondary Literature
84000 Editorial Policy v8.0. Accessed Oct 30, 2014. http://84000.co/resources/grants/.
Beyer, Stephan. The Classical Tibetan Language, New York: State University of New York,
1992/ Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993.
Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas), Treasury of Knowledge,
Buddhism's Journey to Tibet. Ithaka, NY: Snow Lion Publication, 2010.
Origin. Accessed Oct 30, 2014. http://84000.co/about/origin/.
Raine, Roberta. Translating the Tibetan Buddhist Canon: Past Strategies, Future
Prospects. Forum 9.2 (2011): 157-186
Progress. Accessed Oct 10, 2014. http://84000.co/about/progress/.
Skillings, Peter. Dr. Peter Skillings address to the conference,
http://translationandtransmission.org/videos.html.
Tharchin, Tenzin, and Elisabeth Lindmayer. Das Akashagarbha- Sutra. Allumfassende Liebe und
Weisheit: Heilend und Wunscherfllend . Mnchen: Diamant Verlag, 2010.

22 | J u l i a S t e n z e l , T h e S a k y a P a n d i t a T r a n s l a t i o n G r o u p
Tournadre, Nicolas. The Classical Tibetan Cases and their Transcategoriality: From sacred
grammar to modern linguistics. Himalayan Linguistics 2010, Vol. 9(2): 87-125.
Welcome to the International Buddhist Academy, accessed October 10, 2014.
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84000
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http://www.thlib.org/encyclopedias/literary/canons/about/wiki/tibetan%20canons%20introduction.html. Roberta Paine, The Translator in
Tibetan History: Identity and Influence. Forum 8.2 (2010): 133-161 .
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Stephan Beyer, The Classical Tibetan Language, (New York: State University of New York, 1992/ Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993)
.
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David Weldon, Guardians of the Sacred Word, accessed Oct 10, 2014. http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/covers/intro. html.
44
Peter Skillings, Dr. Peter Skillings address to the conference, http://translationandtransmission.org/videos.html.

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2009 BLHP/ 84000, Bir, India: http://84000.co/about/origin/ , previously mentioned

2011 Tengyur Translation, Sarnath, India: http://www.aibs.columbia.edu/conference.html

2014 June: Translation Conference and Workshop at University of Vienna, Austria: http://buddhism.tibetantranslation.com/2014/05/translating-and-transferring-buddhist.html

2014 October: Translation and Transmission

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Roberta Raine, Translating the Tibetan Buddhist Canon: Past Strategies, Future Prospects, Forum 9.2 (2011): 157-186.
Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas), Treasury of Knowledge, Buddhism's Journey to Tibet, (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion
Publication, 2010), 220.
47
Roberta Paine H. Kerns translation (in The Translator in Tibetan
History: Identity and Influence. Forum 8.2 (2010): 133-161). Evans-Wentz, W. Y., Tibetan Book of the Dead:
, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927 .
.
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Deg Kangyur, vol. ZA, folios 264r.4-283v.2.

8 . (chos rje sa skya paN Di ta kun dga' rgyal mtshan)
(1184-1251), . Jamgon Kongtrul ('jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas), (1813-1899),
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50
the International Buddhist Academy, accessed October 10, 2014. http://internationalbuddhistacademy.org/about/
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Tenzin Tharchin Elisabeth Lindmayer. Das Akashagarbha- Sutra. Allumfassende Liebe und Weisheit: Heilend und Wunscherfllend,
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Nicolas Tournadre, The Classical Tibetan Cases and their Transcategoriality: From sacred grammar to modern linguistics. Himalayan
Linguistics 2010, Vol. 9(2): 87-125.
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Stephan Beyer, The Classical Tibetan Language, 195.
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Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 383/3.
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