Sakya Kongma Series: Poetic Wisdom (Volume 1) by ~ Christopher Wilkinson* The present volume is devoted to the writings of Sakya Pandita, and includes a biography of him written by the King of Gungthang, Zhang Gyalwa Pal. Sakya Pandita is famous among the Tibetans for his contributions in the fields of logic, ethics, and folklore. His Treasure on the Science of Logic (Tshad ma rig gter), Discrimination of the Three Vows (sDom gsum rab dbye), and Treasure of Eloquent Aphorisms (Legs bshad rin chen gter) are monumental contributions to their classes of literature. These works have attracted enormous attention throughout the world, particularly among the scholarly. The present collection of translations is intended to reveal Sakya Pandita’s character as a poet who contributed to many fields of art and leaning. In his lifetime he worked hard at the reconstruction of Samye Library, one of the very first edifices constructed during Tibet’s dynastic period. He contributed largely to efforts at public education and a clear presentation of the Buddhist teachings. He is best known to political historians for his travel to China, where he went with his two nephews and was effectively Tibet’s ambassador to the Mongol court there. In his senior years he retired to Wu Tai Shan. I have translated short works, correspondence, and poetry he wrote over the course of his life in an effort to let my readers see Sakya Pandita’s humanity and enlightened spirit as he himself expressed it. I do not wish to analyze or comment on these works, as I believe they speak for themselves. The Sakya Kabum, or Collected Works of the Sakya Founders, consists of about fifteen thousand pages of writings in fifteen volumes by five men: Kunga Nyingpo, Sonam Tsemo, Dragpa Gyaltsan, Sakya Pandita, and Chogyal Phagpa. Sakya Pandita’s writings take up three volumes of this collection. The translations you are reading represent a sampling of the contents of Sakya Pandita’s life’s work, and are part of a larger translation effort for which I have, at this writing, completed volumes representing the works of all five Sakya Founders, soon to be published. My intention is to continue with this translation effort toward a comprehensive collection of their writings, while it is my hope that the present compendium will give readers a taste for the quality and variety of the literature you may discover. Critical readers will, of course, find much room for improvement. Please note that I have followed Sakya Pandita’s own spellings of Sanskritic loan-words in his work, rather than normalize them into a corrected form of classical Sanskrit. Throughout most of these translations, Tibetan names are converted into a form that will be easy for English readers to read and pronounce. In the case of historical passages, such as those you will find in Sakya Pandita’s Biography of his guru, I have transcribed the Tibetan into Wylie Romanization, so that the historically minded will be able to use this information in their research. I apologize for any inconvenience this compromise in the rendering of Tibetan words may cause. There are many loan words that are already commonly used in English, such as “nirvana.” You will see a very few loan words that I have not translated. One of these is “Upadesha,” which refers to a kind of direct, person to person, often mouth to ear, and experiential advice regarding a teaching or practice. The word “samaya,” indicating the vows or obligations one takes on in entering the esoteric Vajrayana path, is another. I do my best to employ the King’s English, avoiding hybrid usages and terminology that might be confusing for all but a certain class of insiders. The present volume does not contain esoterica for which special empowerments or privileges are considered requisite. There will be content that excites inquiry and discussion, which I consider a good thing. About the Author About the Translator~ Christopher Wilkinson* began his career in Buddhist literature in 1972 at the age of fifteen, taking refuge vows from his guru Dezhung Rinpoche. In that same year he began formal study of Tibetan language at the University of Washington under Geshe Ngawang Nornang and Turrell Wylie. He then received many instructions from Kalu Rinpoche, completing the traditional practice of five hundred thousand Mahamudra preliminaries. He became a Buddhist monk at the age of eighteen, living in the home of Dezhung Rinpoche while he continued his studies at the University of Washington. He graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Asian Languages and Literature and another B.A. degree in Comparative Religion (College Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). After a two year tour of Buddhist pilgrimage sites throughout Asia he worked for five years in refugee resettlement in Seattle, Washington, then proceeded to the University of Calgary for an M.A. in Buddhist Studies where he wrote a groundbreaking thesis on the Yangti transmission of the Great Perfection tradition titled “Clear Meaning: Studies on a Thirteenth Century rDzog chen Tantra.” He proceeded to work on a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the 20,000 line Perfection of Wisdom in Berkeley, California, followed by an intensive study of Burmese language in Hawaii. In 1990 he began three years’ service as a visiting professor in English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploring the remnants of the ancient Sri Vijaya Empire there. He worked as a research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation for several years, playing a part in the early development of the famous Rubin Museum of Art. In the years that followed he became a Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de lAsie Orientale, Collège de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He is currently completing his doctoral dissertation, a study of the Yoginitantra first translated into Tibetan during the Eighth century of our era, at the University of Leiden’s Institute for Area Studies. Wishing to bring the literature which has inspired him through his many years of Buddhist study and practice into fruition he has spent the years from 2009 to the present translating the works of the Sakya Founders, a portion of which forms the contents of the present volume. Publication date: May 20, 2014 Source: amazon/gp/aw/d/149952675X?vs=1#
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 18:50:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015