Translation of Sadhanas

Translation of Sadhanas

Date Posted:
April 2007

Rinpoche made the following comments on the translation of sadhanas from Tibetan into English. He laughed a lot when he made these comments.

In Tibetan, everything is in the past tense, that such and such happened. For example, “clouds of offerings appeared and were offered” and so forth. In English, this is always translated in the present tense, as “clouds of offerings appear and are offered” and so on. So, in Tibetan it’s happened and finished, and you move on to the next thing, but in English it’s still happening, so you never get to finish even one sadhana. It takes a whole lifetime just to do one sadhana!