Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

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Vajrabimba
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Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

Post by Vajrabimba »

In Chris Weh-Chao Li's translation of the Heart Sutra, he translates the mantra as

Go forth, go forth -
Go forth past the pearly gates
Where enlightenment awaits!

which he calls a "cultural paraphrase of the mantra". It's almost as if he transliterated "paragate" as "pearly gates!" Of course, the Sanskrit gate is the source of English gate, but still the idea of "pearly gates" is not found in the original words. In Edward Conze's version, he translated the word "bodhi" as "Oh, what an awakening!" which also reads as somewhat sweet.
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curtstein
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Re: Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

Post by curtstein »

Yet more evidence that mantras should be left untranslated? To be clear, I am all for drilling down into the original Sanskrit (Chinese, Pali, Tibetan, Sogdian, etc) to extract whatever meaning or significance you can find. But "translations" like the one cited in the OP, inevitably just get in the way of coming to any understanding of what Sanskrit words like "gate", "bodhi", "svaha", etc, actually mean.
"there's no one here. there's only you and me." leonard cohen
https://www.mindisbuddha.org/
HauntedHotel
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Re: Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

Post by HauntedHotel »

Yet more evidence that mantras should be left untranslated?
That was certainly Xuanzang's position.
curtstein wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 7:43 pm To be clear, I am all for drilling down into the original Sanskrit... to extract whatever meaning or significance you can find.....understanding of what Sanskrit words like "gate", "bodhi", "svaha", etc, actually mean.
You can check out the work of Lin Guangming. He has done a lot of great research into this and has published some amazing books
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curtstein
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Re: Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

Post by curtstein »

HauntedHotel wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 7:56 am You can check out the work of Lin Guangming. He has done a lot of great research into this and has published some amazing books
Thank you for the suggestion. Has Lin Guangming written anything in English (or are there any English translations available)? My Chinese is still very rudimentary!
"there's no one here. there's only you and me." leonard cohen
https://www.mindisbuddha.org/
HauntedHotel
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Re: Chris Wen-Chao Li & other creative interpretations of Heart Sutra mantra

Post by HauntedHotel »

Those arent really books a person would just sit down and read the whole thing, you know. Probably would only look at the parts that matter to you.

All the mantras that he has reconstructed the sanskrit he will use the english charachters to show how it is pronounced.
His research though I dont think any english yet.
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