Planning Workshop (May 26-28, 2012)


A Planning Workshop on Translating the Words of the Buddha (Tibetan <–> Chinese) was successfully held in Robert Black College, Hong Kong University, on May 26-28, 2012.

This conference was organized by Khyentse Foundation in co-operation with 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha; Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California at Berkeley; and Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship, Hamburg University. It was attended by over 20 scholars and representatives from Bhutan, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.

The key objective of this conference was to explore the possibility of embarking on cross-translations of the Chinese Tripitaka and Tibetan Kangyur with the aim of completing both canons. The conference unanimously affirmed the importance of this work, and agreed to proceed with the following:

(1) Chinese –> Tibetan: Alak Zenkar Rinpoche (Tudeng Nima Rinpoche) will lead a pilot project to translate the Ksitigarbha Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra from Chinese into Tibetan.

(2) Tibetan –> Chinese: All parties agreed to do research and preparatory work in the next 12 months to lay the ground for translations from Tibetan into Chinese.

The Khyentse Foundation and 84000 team are very pleased with the outcome of the conference, and look forward to moving ahead with these two plans. More information on the conference and its proceedings will follow in the coming months.


Posted: 9 Jun 2012