Tibetan Buddhist Text
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and study centres have been instructed to begin translating their class texts from Tibetan into Mandarin Chinese. This edict comes under China’s drive to sinicise religion across the country, China is requiring what it calls its “common language” to be used by monks and nuns for their interactions with each other in place of their native language, reports Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The instruction was issued at a three day conference at the Tso-Ngon Buddhist University in Qinghai’s capital city Xining, which was held on Septermber 27 and which was “attended by more than 500 religious figures and students from Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist universities and other educational organisations, including more than 300 students from Tso-Ngon University,” said the report.
Speaking to RFA, Phentok, a researcher at the Tibetan Policy Institute said that this move was intended to further the destruction of the Tibetan religion and culture, and to force Tibetan Buddhist scholars and religious teachers to obey the Chinese government.
There are thousands of classical Buddhist texts written in the Tibetan language, many of which were translated from Sanskrit many years ago. It is unclear whether the policy will also require the translation of those texts into Chinese. Geshe Lhakdor, Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamshala, has said that the Chinese language is unable to communicate the full range of meaning of Buddhist doctrine.“This policy is just an ignorant power play by the Chinese government. The question now is: who will translate these Buddhist texts, and what kind of job will they be able to do?” he said.
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