This project is a translation of the biography of Shakyamuni Buddha. Although there are many biographies of the historical Buddha available, mostly written by academics and non-Buddhists, this is a rare glimpse into how this story is understood within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition itself. This text is a very different account compared to how most of us have come to see the life of the Buddha. It serves as both an inspirational model for Buddhist practitioners, as well as a guidebook on how to put the teachings into practice.
This will be the first in a series of biographies that will be
translated from the texts of Khachen Yeshe Gyaltsen.
The sponsorship goal is based on a figure of $25 per page of
translation (some translation projects, such as the 84,000 project,
seek $250 per page of translation). This text runs a little over 130
pages in the original Tibetan (it will be close to 200 pages in the
English translation) and will take approximately 3 months to complete.
The funds will allow me to continue my work translating these
important texts, as well as enable me to launch another project of
cataloguing and scanning the enormous volumes of texts the exist
within our monasteries. Sponsoring the translation of Buddhist texts
has a very long history and is the primary means from connecting all
of the many lineages to the modern world.
My goal is to translate texts and make them available for as
little cost as manageable. Any profit from the sale of the completed
texts will be spent on delivering the books to those who can not
afford to purchase them. In other words, I do not intend to make any
personal profit from the sale of the completed texts I translate. It
is for this reason that I choose to go the traditional route and seek
sponsorship and support for the translation itself. What this means is
that all those who help in sponsoring the texts I translate are also
helping get the Dharma into the hands of others at a bare minimum cost.
Thank you for your kindness. May your virtue bring you a rain of blessings.
