Shanshan Jia (Universität Hamburg): Grammatical Analyses in the First Chapter of Yaśomitra’s Sphuṭārthā Vyākhyā, A Commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, and Their Renderings in the Tibetan Translation

13 October 2021

17:00 October 13, 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic conducted online via Zoom.

A large part of the learned literature in Sanskrit takes the form of commentaries, and for advanced study of classical Sanskritic thought and culture it is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the techniques and conventions of commentarial literature, a complex and multi-faceted genre with its roots in the traditions of grammar (vyākaraṇa) and Vedic exegesis. Nonetheless the study of the linguistic and stylistic features of the genre of commentary remains rather undeveloped; and very little indeed has been done in the way of systematic study of the ways in which classical Tibetan translations have dealt with the challenges of translating such literature.

In this lecture I will focus on some grammatical, syntactical and semantic comments and the Tibetan rendering of Sanskrit commentarial explanations and analyses that make use of the techniques and terminology of vyākaraṇa. My examples will be drawn mainly from the text of Yaśomitra’s Sphuṭārthā Vyākhyā, a justly famous commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, and its Tibetan translation by *Viśuddhasiṃha and dPal brtsegs. I will present a preliminary classification of different strategies used in the translation. This may be a fruitful starting point for the collection of material of this type to enrich the study both of Tibetan translators, with or without Indian collaborators of commentarial literature, and more broadly of the reception of vyākaraṇa in Tibet.

• Click here to download the invitation [PDF]

The lecture is held online via Zoom. For those who whish to participate, please write a short mail to Prof. Dr. Wangchuk: dorji.wangchuk@uni-hamburg.de

Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk (Director)

Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS)
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets, AAI, Universität Hamburg
Alsterterrasse 1, D-20354 Hamburg