Last February, 7-8 (2020)
@ the British Library conference on Buddhism:
Unlocking Buddhist Written Heritage
Dr Camillo Formigatti,
John Clay Sanskrit Librarian
@ Bodleian Libraries,
gave a presentation entitled
Translating Manuscripts from Sanskrit
to Tibet and Vice-versa
to Tibet and Vice-versa
The link below has his presentation as a video -
the PowerPoint file synchronised with the sound recording:
Abstract:
In the 13th century, parallel to the emergence of Sa
skya power in
Tibet, the southern kingdom of Mang yul Gung thang witnessed a flourishing
cultural activity. Particularly
fruitful was the cultural exchange with Nepal under the aegis of Kublai Khan’s advisor’s ’Phags-pa Blo-gros-rgyal
mtshan. The activity of two translators stands out for its huge cultural impact
in pre-modern and modern Tibet. The Tibetan lo
tsā ba Shong ston Rdo rje
rgyal mtshan and the (probably) Nepalese paṇḍit Lakṣmīkara translated
together several Sanskrit works into Tibetan, creating a new literary language.
After a very brief introduction delineating the historical contours of Tibetan
translations, the paper will focus on the context of translations from Sanskrit
into Tibetan and the cultural exchange between Tibet and Nepal during this
period.
