The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Buddhist Treatise Translated into Western Languages
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- The Bodhicaryāvatāra: A Buddhist Treatise Translated into Western Languages
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- The Meaning of Sugata in the Bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā
- The Way of the Translators: Three Recent Translations of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra
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Description
In this article I offer the initial findings from my research on translations in the West of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, a 8th century Buddhist treatise by Śāntideva. The orientation of this study falls within the field of descriptive translation studies (Holmes, 1988) and presents a descriptive analysis of some of the translations from Sanskrit and Tibetan and their sociocultural function.
In contrast to the numerous scholarly studies on Buddhism itself in the West since the 19th century (Jong, 1987; Webb, 1974; Schwab, 1950; Takugai, 1942), studies on Western translations of Buddhist texts are scarce and have only appeared in very recent years. From those publications more directly related to my research which discuss the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan, I would like to make particular mention of the following: the article by Ruegg (1992) "Some Reflections on Translating Buddhist Philosophical Texts from Sanskrit and Tibetan", published in an Asian studies specialist journal; and the book Buddhist Translation: Problems and Perspectives (Doboom Tulku, 1995), a collection of papers read at an international seminar on this theme in New Delhi in 1990.
My own particular interest in Western translations of the Bodhicaryāvatāra arose from a significant publishing event; this being the appearance of seven translations of this text in the space of just five years, between 1992 and 1997: two in French, two in Spanish, and three in English. This Buddhist treatise, which enjoys a privileged position in Mahāyāna Buddhism, particularly in the Tibetan tradition, has never awoken such curiosity in the West since it was first translated by La Vallée-Poussin (1907).[1]
Notes
- The Mahāyāna, or "great vehicle", reform movement which was born out of a reaction to the first Indian schools (called Hinayāna, or "small vehicle"), is the path of the bodhisattvas (see note 8). It consists of the practice of universal compassion and cultivation of the wisdom of emptiness, the ultimate nature of self and all the phenomena. Based on the motivation and wish to deliver all beings without exception from the sufferings of the unenlightened state, it leads to the attainment of buddhahood for the sake of others. (Shāntideva, 1997: 200)
