James Haines wrote: > >a. > >So today we're not stuck with either learning Sanskrit or struggling >through one Victorian translation with no notes. But reading and >working with a teacher is also easier in these days of cars, planes, >phones and the internet than it was in the days of the Patriarchs. >There seems no reason why the two approaches shouldn't complement each >other, particularly since a living teacher is more likely than a >printed page to teach at just the level where the student stands. If >we have all of this richness available to us today, it seems odd to >turn our backs on some of it. > >James > > > Dear James,
If there was no difficulty in understanding a Sutra, and translations are in and of themselves sufficient, why would we need notes and commentaries? I could not agree more that one should read Sutras as a part of a larger practice including learning from a modern master who can use your language to put the whole of practice into a form that is easy for you to digest. There are aspects of the Sutras and their translations that the "just read and understand" people do not have any experience of (context for). I have read,and had read for me, Sutras in several languages. I have chanted sutras in several languages, taken part in Sutra chanting services, and performed as a priest Sutra chanting services. I have used my meager abilities to translate some original Chinese characters into English. I have assisted the Rev. Shohaku Okumura as he attempted to translates Dogen's writings into English (he is one of the foremost experts in the Soto Shu on translation from Japanese to English...and is on the committee attempting to create an officially sanctioned translations of Dogen's works and the Sutras that are used daily in the Soto Practice). I have watched him struggle trying to go back to the Chinese to figure out the roots of the character he is trying to translate. I have watched the compromises between translating exactly word for word, or trying to translate the jist of what is being said in a readable form. This does not even included trying to translate into a chantable form, which is yet another compromise. I have seen the difference in the power of a service that is chanted in Japanese,Tibetan, Sanskrit (or a bastardized form of Sanskrit) and in English. I have taken the chanting of Sutras to the streets of Japan and America in a practice of ritual begging, and seen and tested the effects of different languages in both countries. I know that the Sutras have a value even if you and those you chant for do not even understand the words that are chanted. I am not putting down the Sutras in the least. I am saying that what we have for English translations right now (and by extrapolation all translations) have very limited usefulness. I say this from personal experience in assisting in the translation of texts from Japanese to English ( I was used as a sounding board to try and help make the sentence structure more comprehensible in English ...not as someone who could understand Japanese.) I know that after a lifetime of experience and expertise in language one of the brightest men I have ever known as far as academic understanding of language has a great difficulty writing in understandable idiomatic idiosyncratic English. I know there are schools of Buddhism were Sutras are chanted as a major part or perhaps even the only part of the practice. I know there is an energy put out when Sutras are chanted that has the ability to make changes in the world and in an individual. Whether one chants "Namu Amida Buddha", "Om Namu Renge kyo", "Namu Kiye Butsu", "Om mane pedme hum" or even "Hail to Amida Buddha", I would not dispute the power of the practice. I do however dispute the understanding gleaned from reading only a poorly translated texts, and I can only rely on the experts I have known who say that translations are lousy (both from Tibet and Japan) and my own experiences with the real life applications of translated texts and texts that are in the original language. Sutras have a place in a practice of Buddhism , translated Sutras have a place in the modern practice of Buddhism, but the tool needs to be understood and applied with proper skill. Be Well Fudo ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> It is better to give.... Especially when giving to a child in poverty. Click here to meet a child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FZp9YD/0nhJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
