Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Greetings,



Our chairman and founder, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, received a special honor in late April when he was informed that his translation of the Anguttara Nikaya, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, was chosen to receive the 2013 Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation Work. More here

(though those robes he's wearing are an "interesting" shade of saffron )

Metta,
Retro.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Well deserved!! It was Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations that brought me to Buddhism.

With metta
Chris

Greetings,

cooran wrote:It was Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations that brought me to Buddhism.

I'm only up to the Book of Twos at the moment, but I've been quite impressed at the translation effort, even vis-a-vis his earlier fine translation efforts.

I get the sense that nowadays Bhikkhu Bodhi is much less inclined to kowtow to and incorporate the "traditional" interpretations of the texts than he was when he was heavily involved with the Buddist Publication Society (BPS) .

Rather, he appears more prepared to approach the texts at face value and translate their meaning directly without the unnecessary accommodation of traditional interpretations. He takes various sources of information into account (primarily commentaries, agamas etc.) but he does not seem to weigh them disprortionately based upon which lineage they are typically aligned.

Or to put it another way, I feel we're getting a "translation" of the text, rather than a "Theravada translation" of the text. I find that to be honest and of great value.

Metta,
Retro.

Bhikkhu Bodhi is really deserve for this.
I manage to locate his work in the following link.

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma14/angnik.html

retrofuturist wrote: Or to put it another way, I feel we're getting a "translation" of the text, rather than a "Theravada translation" of the text. I find that to be honest and of great value.

Bhikkhu Bodhi had a lot of contact with Mahayana in his early days as a monk (he even ordained with them initially) and then more recently at the monastery where he resides. In between and throughout his career he was mostly in Sri Lanka and of course a fully ordained Theravada monk but I think the exposure to some great Mahayana masters really made him grow spiritually as a great Buddhist monk. For example, he apparently has well-developed karuna and is not dogmatic at all in regards to Theravada or the Commentaries.

A well-deserved award for one of the greatest monks of modern times.

Retro that's a common shade of robe, most common in Burma, pretty common in Sri Lanka, especially among the Galduwa and the Amarapura nikayas.

Good for Venerable Bodhi. I'm yet to get my mits on a copy of the AN, but I hear he's done a great job. Venerable Bodhi has made a massive contribution to the Dhamma. A scholar monk for the ages

May he achieve an excellent rebirth as a result.

metta
Jack

from this post: http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 437#p34058

Haha I had quite forgotten about that! But it's as true today as it was way back then.

IIRC someone had made a comment that the Dhammawheel forums could easily double as a Bhikkhu Bodhi fan club.

metta
Jack

P.S. Great win for your boys against Miami today David

retrofuturist wrote:I get the sense that nowadays Bhikkhu Bodhi is much less inclined to kowtow to and incorporate the "traditional" interpretations of the texts than he was when he was heavily involved with the Buddist Publication Society (BPS) .

I would not characterize the BPS (under the guidance of Ven Nyanaponika) as being rigidly traditional. After all the BPS gave us Ven Nanananda's two excellent none traditional works, CONCEPT AND REAITY and THE MAGIC OF THE MIND as well as his nifty little anthology of the Samyutta Nikaya.

Greetings Tilt,

tiltbillings wrote:

retrofuturist wrote:I get the sense that nowadays Bhikkhu Bodhi is much less inclined to kowtow to and incorporate the "traditional" interpretations of the texts than he was when he was heavily involved with the Buddist Publication Society (BPS) .

I would not characterize the BPS (under the guidance of Ven Nyanaponika) as being rigidly traditional. After all the BPS gave us Ven Nanananda's two excellent none traditional works, CONCEPT AND REAITY and THE MAGIC OF THE MIND as well as his nifty little anthology of the Samyutta Nikaya.

Possibly, yet in "The Heretic Sage" interviews, ven. Nanananda mentions that he felt compelled to tone down some of the texts to accommodate Nyanaponika/BPS's proclivities. Alas the link to those interviews seems to be down at the moment so I cannot provide a direct quote. Either way, I do think Bhikkhu Bodhi has progressively moved away from the conservative/traditional Theravada end of the spectrum.

Metta,
Retro.

retrofuturist wrote: Either way, I do think Bhikkhu Bodhi has progressively moved away from the conservative/traditional Theravada end of the spectrum.

He has said as much, and part of that he has attributed to the influence of living in a Mahayana vihara.

For whatever proclivities that Ven Nyanaponika may have had, he has via the BPS done great service for the Dhamma.

We should also keep in mind that Ven Nyanaponika's ABHIDHAMMA STUDIES and his HEART OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION were not hard-line traditional Theravada. They were fairly radical.

Wonderful!

cooran wrote:Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!
Well deserved!! It was Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations that brought me to Buddhism.

It was my local Wat that brought me to Buddhism, but it was Bhikhu Bodhi's excellent translations and commentary that clarified the details.


Mike

Congratulations to Bhikkhu Bodhi.
I am not surprised that Bhante has won the award, I just wish there was greater acknowledgement of his fantastic work.
kind regards,

Ben

retrofuturist wrote: Either way, I do think Bhikkhu Bodhi has progressively moved away from the conservative/traditional Theravada end of the spectrum.

From listening to some of his talks, I get the impression that his understanding and confidence as a translator has developed over time - but isn't that what you'd expect?
Anyway, I'm very grateful for all his efforts, and for the work of other translators ( whichever part of the spectrum we think they're on ).