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Wednesday 13 November 2024

The third international conference «Towards a russian language buddhist canon. Text translation as a dialogue of cultures»

 
On November 13-14, 2024, the III International Conference "Towards the Russian-Language Buddhist Canon. Translation of the Text as a Dialogue of Cultures" was held at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The conference was organized by the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural and Philosophical Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism "Sokhranim Tibet Tibet" with the support of the Foundation for Assistance to Buddhist Education and Research.

The conference was attended by over 50 authors of papers and presentations (43 in person, 8 online), 42 people as registered listeners (23 in person, 19 online), total: 93 people. The topics and direction of the speakers were grouped into two plenary sessions - the initial "Buddhist Canon and its Adaptation in Different Historical and Cultural Conditions" and the final "Use of Modern Technologies for Translating Buddhist Texts into Russian", as well as 4 sections:

1. "Problems of Translation of different Monuments. Tibetan Language";
2. "General Issues of Translation. Organization of Translations, Creation of Dictionaries, Book Publishing",
3. "Problems of Translation of Texts on Vajrayana and Tibetan Medicine",
4. Problems of Translation of different Monuments: Sanskrit, Chinese and Other Languages.

The process of translating the Buddhist Canon into Russian began more than 100 years ago, a fundamental contribution was made by academicians S.F. Oldenburg (1863-1934), he was the first director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and F.I. Shcherbatsky (1866-1942), who created the first scientific Buddhological division, the Institute of Buddhist Culture (INBUK, 1928). However, before the formation of a full-fledged Russian-language version of the Buddhist Canon, about 85-90% of the work was still in progress - the assimilation of the colossal volume of Buddhist heritage among all peoples took many hundreds of years. The growing interest of Russians in the Teaching of Buddha and the strengthening of its influence on a global scale poses us the task of accelerating the process of translating Buddhist canonical texts into Russian, deepening and expanding research in Buddhism.

For two days, there was a meaningful and constructive dialogue between specialists of various profiles and fields, both experienced and beginners, from scientific institutes, leading universities and Buddhist communities of Russia and foreign countries, a useful exchange of experience, opinions and mutual enrichment of knowledge took place.

A special flavor and high international significance of the conference was given by the participation of Bakula Rinpoche, the 20th incarnation of the great arhat of the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, as well as representatives of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia, the Buddhist University "Dashi Choikhorling", clergy and scholars from Mongolia, India, Buryatia, Tuva, Kalmykia, St. Petersburg and others.

Within the framework of the conference, a presentation of a two-volume edition of the book by the famous scientist, specialist in ancient Indian Buddhism, former director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2015-2020), V.P. Androsov (1950-2021) "The Founder of Mahayana Nagarjuna and His Works", M., "Nauka: Vostochnaya Literatura", 2024. There was also a chamber, but very exquisite exhibition of Buddhist Thangka by the artist N. Dudko at the Eastern Cultural Center of the Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS.