Prof. Dr. Martin Delhey (Shandong University): Xuanzang’s Actual Transliteration Practice

20 October 2021

17:00 October 20, 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic conducted online via Zoom.

Reportedly, Xuanzang (玄奘) has established five principles of transliterating rather than translating Sanskrit words (五種不翻). It seems to be debated among scholars specialized in Chinese Buddhism or translation theory whether the ascription of these principles to Xuanzang is correct. This paper wants to address this problem from the perspective of a specialist in ancient Indian Buddhism. Selected textual passages from philosophical or dogmatic treatises extant in Sanskrit will be compared with Xuanzang’s translations, and it will be discussed to which extent the choice between translation and transliteration in the Chinese renditions is in agreement with the five above-mentioned principles.

• 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