eNews 8

Posted on April 22, 2012 by sk

84000 2

84000 eNews

Issue 8 | April 2012

84000 Opens Third Grant Cycle!

Translators Wanted

We are pleased to announce the opening of 84000’s third grant cycle!

If you are experienced with Tibetan-English translations, we invite you to join in this global endeavor to make the words of the Buddha freely available to the world.

In the past two years, we commissioned nearly 8,000 pages of translation (67 texts). We are now ready to select the next 4,000 pages to fund through the third round of grants.

Visit www.84000.co/grants and download the latest grant and editorial documents. The application period is from April 15, 2012 through July 15, 2012. For enquiries, please contact us at grants@84000.co.

Reading Room Launch

The 84000 Reading Room (read.84000.co) was launched on Losar, with the first eight completed English translations of texts from the Tibetan Kangyur made available free to the public.

Since its opening in late February 2012, more than 3,500 people visited the reading room, with close to 75,000 page views site-wide.

One delighted visitor summed up the reactions of many when she said, “It’s a great start. I’ve really enjoyed reading the first few sutras and anxiously await the others!” Read more…

Sponsor A Page

More than 3,800 pages have so far been sponsored by more than a thousand generous donors. To keep up the pace of translating all 70,000 pages in the Kangyur, we need your help.

A page of translation costs US $250. You can sponsor one or more pages with a one-time gift, a monthly pledge (e.g. US $21 a month sponsors one page in a year), or you may also give any amount to help preserve the timeless words of the Buddha through translation.

We are now able to receive donations via PayPal and credit cards. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by US law.

To make monthly donations, click here.
To make a one-time donation, click here.

Guided Video Tour of Reading Room

Did you miss the live online tours of the reading room, or would you like to take the tour again? A video recording of the tour is now available on 84000‘s website. Read more…

Translation Momentum Builds

More than a hundred translators from 25 universities and 20 dharma centers are now hard at work on more than 10% of the Kangyur (nearly 8,000 pages) under their grants from 84000.

Inspired by the traditional pandita-lotsawa approach, our translators work in teams consisting of both source language experts (Indo-Himalayan masters well-versed in Tibetan and the subject matter), as well as target language experts (Western translators from the academic community).

84000’s editorial committee has developed very detailed translators’ guidelines and editorial policy to define our editorial standards and help translators meet them. An editor-in-chief and a professional external review board consisting of both Indo-Himalayan and Western scholars provide rigorous in-house and external review of the translations. We are very grateful to these highly professional volunteers, who help us keep our translation quality high and our costs low. Anyone who visits our reading room at read.84000.co can see the results for themselves––translations that are meticulously accurate and annotated, elegantly crafted, and intelligible to a modern English-speaking reader.

84000’s ability to keep up the translation momentum has been enabled by the generosity of our 77 Founding Sponsors and more than a thousand page sponsors. We must not only keep up with the resource requirements of works already in progress, but also to have sufficient funds on hand to support the next grant round. That amounts to achieving and maintaining a minimum of 4,000-5,000 pages (at US $250/page) in working capital.

If you are inspired to help us build our working capital, or if you would like to be one of our 108 Founding Sponsors (only 31 opportunities remaining), please contact deborah@84000.co.

“O Bhagāvan, where does birth come from?

Where does ageing come from?

Where do they go?”

Find out how the Buddha responded in our featured
translation “The Questions of an Old Lady” at read.84000.co.

An Invitation to Share

Please tell us how you are using the reading room as a teacher, student, scholar or an interested reader, and we will share examples on 84000’s website.

For example:

Lama Phurbu Tashi from the Gampopa Center in Annapolis, Maryland has begun a series of teachings for his students on the 84000’s featured text “The Questions of an Old Lady”.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, interim Chair of the 84000 Working Committee, will be teaching on “The Questions of an Old Lady” in Taipei, on May 16-18, 2012.

Help Spread the Word

Do you belong to an organization whose members might like to know about 84000’s translation efforts and reading room?

We are happy to provide brief informational notices for inclusion in newsletters or social media postings. We also appreciate opportunities to put up an easel or tabletop display at Buddhist, interfaith and cultural preservation events.

For the US and Canada, please contact deborah@84000.co; for Asia and other parts of the world, please contact jingrui@84000.co.

Send Us Your Photos

Do you have beautiful pictures taken of ancient Tibetan texts and collections of the Tibetan Kangyur and Tengyur? We welcome you to help us expand our photo archives by sending these photos to info@84000.co.

We will select suitable images to be shared with our readers on our website, eNews and publicity materials. Kindly let us know who to credit the photos to, and, if possible, please provide us with some background information about the pictures––when and where they were taken, who is in the photo, etc. Please only submit photos that you have rights to and that you are willing to allow 84000 to use royalty-free.

Coming Attractions

Another 120 pages will be published in the Reading Room by the end of summer.

Hold the date! “Found in Translation––an 84000 Sutra Resounding” will be held at the Friends Meeting House in Washington, DC near Dupont Circle from 7-9pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012. The resounding will be a free, participatory public reading of the translated words of the Buddha. WeChi: Empathy Amped and an anonymous foundation have generously agreed to be the financial patrons of the event. Two local dharma groups, Rigpa DC and Sakya Phuntsok Ling will co-sponsor the event. Read more…

“The translation of the Kangyur is a cultural transfer and a spiritual transmission.”

–– Dr. Peter Skilling, Fragile Palm Leaves Foundation