“Authenticity and Myth-Making” Panelists
From left to right: Dan Hirshberg, Wulstan Fletcher (Tsadra Foundation), Professor Karma Lekshe Tsomo (University of San Diego), Professor Don Lopez (University of Michigan), and Dr. Jules Levinson (UMA Institute).
Dan Hirshberg, Assistant Professor of Religion, moderated the closing discussion of Tsadra Foundation’s Transmission & Translation conference. Since Tibetans began streaming out of Tibet following the Communist Invasions of the 1950’s, this marks the first time that the world’s foremost scholars and translators of Tibetan language materials, both from academia and Buddhist practice communities, both Tibetans and not, were convened to discuss an array of issues concerning the translation of Tibetan into Western languages. His panel on “Authenticity and Myth-Making” was especially provocative in confronting the problem of discrimination in Buddhist scripture, especially with regard to gender, and the question as to whether translators should allow such content to persist in translation, thereby sanctifying discrimination in authoritative sources for contemporary audiences who repudiate such views.