Khyentse Foundation has announced scholarships for students who are enrolled in a program of translation studies or Buddhist philosophy, and who are on track to become or are currently working as translators. Applicants must already be attending an MA, PhD, or MPhil program, and are required to submit letters of recommendation, a sample of their translation work, a budget proposal, and a 400-word essay giving the reasons why they should receive the scholarship. The application deadline is 1 March, and the maximum scholarship is US$5,000.
Yudro Nyingpo, one of the 108 great translators of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
From Dorje Kirsten
Established by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 2001, Khyentse Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of Buddhist study, scholarship, and practice worldwide. The foundation has developed the scholarship in order to foster a new generation of translators to work on the collected works of Tibetan Buddhism. Rinpoche has said, “It is entirely possible that the survival of the Buddhadharma could depend on its being translated into other languages” (Khyentse Foundation). The most immediate and pressing obstacle to this goal is the lack of qualified translators.
For this scholarship, Khyentse Foundation is teaming up with another of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s projects, “84000–Translating the Words of the Buddha”—a global non-profit initiative set up for the purpose of translating the Buddha’s words into modern languages, with an initial focus on rendering the Kangyur and related Tengyur texts into English in 25 years. 84000 grew out of the “Translating the Words of the Buddha Conference” sponsored by Khyentse Foundation at Deer Park Institute in Bir, India, in 2009. This was a gathering of the foremost translators of Tibetan Buddhism, in which they set forth the goal of making the entirety of the words and teachings of the Buddha available in other languages.
According to the 84000 organization’s website, of all the words spoken by the Buddha and the commentaries on them, “only 5% have been translated into modern languages. Due to the rapid decline in knowledge of classical languages and in the number of qualified scholars, we are in danger of losing this cultural heritage and spiritual legacy” (84000).
There are currently 173 translators working to translate the Kangyur and Tengyur. As the translations are finished, they are published in an online reading room available on the 84000 website, free of charge to all who are interested. As of now, 765 pages have been published, and 20,000 pages are being actively translated.
“By translating and making available the Tibetan Buddhist texts to modern people, a vast swath of Buddhist civilization and culture may be saved from annihilation” - Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche (84000).
Successful applicants for the scholarships will be notified by 1 July.