TibTrans06
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DMU Tibetan Translators Course, Spring 2006
For information on joining the online translation course at Diamond Mountain University, please see our webcast instruction page.
Dates: April 21-May 19, 2006 Days: Mondays and Fridays Times: 5:30-7:30pm, USA-Arizona Time (see Fixed World Time Clock (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedform.html))
Please be aware that during the spring, the time in Arizona is the same as on the west coast and three hours earlier than the east coast of the United States. So when it's 5:30 here, it's 8:30 in New York and 5:30 in California.
Click here for class start times in your time zone (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?month=1&day=13&year=2006&hour=17&min=30&sec=0&p1=197).
Root texts & translations
Uma Chidun translation (http://www.dmes.org/TibTrans/UmaChidun.rtf) (as of the end of class on May 15, 2006)
Note: On February 3, Geshe-la used a transliteration program to convert from the ACIP transliteration into the Tibetan Machine Web font. So there is some text in here that's actual tibetan script, if you have the right font installed. You can find the Tibetan Machine Web font here (http://www.thdl.org/tools/tmw.html). There are two versions - one for Windows and one for Mac. The Windows font also works on Linux; I haven't tried the Mac font on Linux. I think that MS Word on either Windows or Mac will work with this file. OpenOffice Writer 2 doesn't work with it - it gets it mostly right, but a few characters are rendered as really big roman characters. So I recommend AbiWord (http://www.abisource.com) instead - as far as I can tell it renders it flawlessly. Wicked psych!
Root Texts (http://www.dmes.org/terms/2004-2005/Fall/TibTrans/RootTexts.zip)
Information on connecting to the online webcast.
Geshe Michael's version of the ACIP database (http://www.dmes.org/terms/2004-2005/Fall/TibTrans/acip-gmr/)
GOFER for MS-DOS (http://www.dmes.org/terms/2004-2005/Fall/TibTrans/gofer.zip)
GOFER for Mac OS X (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gofer/)
A snapshot of the ACI/DM Hypertext dictionary (http://www.dmes.org/terms/2004-2005/Fall/dict.rtf)
Class 1 - April 21, 2006
This evening, we got to a point in the text where there the author referred to the activities of bodhisattvas in terms of the four of giving, protecting, purifying and increasing (gtong bsrung dag spel bzhi), as they apply to a bodhisattva's body, possessions and store of good karma, and Geshe Michael translated of a portion of Master Ngulchu Dharma Bhadra's Questions and Answers which explains these four in detail.
Audio for Class 1 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-01.mp3)
Class 1 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-01-homework.pdf)
Class 1 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-01-quiz.pdf)
Class 1 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-01-key.pdf)
Class 2 - April 24, 2006
This evening Geshe-la talked about the importance of understanding how to pronounce different words, and gave the example of five different spellings of words that an American might pronounce "ko," each of which means something different - leather, necessity, to understand, door, beginning, head.
Audio for Class 2 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-02.mp3)
Class 2 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-02-homework.pdf)
Class 2 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-02-quiz.pdf)
Class 2 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-02-key.pdf)
Class 3 - April 28, 2006
This evening, we finally got to the third division of the explanation of the causal levels: how one practices the levels of a bodhisattva who is a realized being. Geshe-la also gave us instruction on how to write Tibetan for pronunciation by people who aren't Tibetan scholars (as opposed to writing in transliteration, for people who are Tibetan scholars).
Audio for Class 3 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-03.mp3)
Class 3 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-03-homework.pdf)
Class 3 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-03-quiz.pdf)
Class 3 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-03-key.pdf)
Class 4 - May 5, 2006
This evening Ben Kramer asked for a classical definition of DON DAM BDEN PA and KUN RDZOB RDEN PA. Geshe Michael hunted long and hard for some definitions, using the ACIP database and the Gofer search program. He found quite a few debates where a Lama would challenge some definition, and a fair number of definitions from Abhidharma. We got a Swatantrika definition, and then Geshe-la said "but you want the Middle Way definition, right?" He found a definition he was pretty happy with in a book by Choney Lama Drakpa Shedrup:
Ultimate truth is defined as that object which the state of mind which is investigating the ultimate nature of things locates. Deceptive truth is defined as that object which is located by a correct perception which is operating nominally. Choney Lama then refutes it slightly, because this definition doesn't cover Buddhas.
In the actual text, the author began talking about the nature of the ten levels - that the term "bodhisattva" refers to the ultimate Wish, not the deceptive Wish.
Audio for Class 4 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-04.mp3)
Class 4 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-04-homework.pdf)
Class 4 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-04-quiz.pdf)
Class 4 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-04-key.pdf)
Class 5 - May 8, 2006
We came today to a scriptural reference for the oft-mentioned fact that when an Arya comes down from the direct perception of emptiness, they are once again in a state where their mind is fooled - it still sees objects as self-existent - even though they now know that this is an illusion:
Until such time as one attains the level of a Buddha, there never occurs a state of mind which is not infected by the mental seed for ignorance—with the exception of the meditative wisdom of a realized being.
And even their condition is temporary, because once they rise out of this meditation, the mind goes back to being one which is infected by the mental seed.
Audio for Class 5 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-05.mp3)
Class 5 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-05-homework.pdf)
Class 5 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-05-quiz.pdf)
Class 5 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-05-key.pdf)
Class 6 - May 12, 2006
Today we got into the question of what happens to the mind when ignorance and its seeds are temporarily or permanently eliminated. The opponent asserts that "ignorance and the mental seeds for it--these two--pervade the mind, wisdom." And "when you finish off these two, then you also finish off the mind itself, this wisdom." So they are saying that when you reach the direct perception of emptiness, your mind stops, temporarily, and when you reach Buddhahood, your mind stops permanently. Kedrup Tenpa Dargye refutes this point, using several scriptural references and other points, one of which is as follows:
And it's also true because--in reply to questions about what kind of action on the part of the subject state of mind it is when we see suchness directly--it is stated in scripture that, nominally speaking, the mind sees suchness directly.
Audio for Class 6 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-06.mp3)
Class 6 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-06-homework.pdf)
Class 6 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-06-quiz.pdf)
Class 6 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-06-key.pdf)
Class 7 - May 15, 2006
Today we came to a summary of the bodhisattva levels, indicating what we will be covering in the text. The Tibetan name for the fifth level was a bit difficult. Literally, it translates as Difficult to Practice. In order to figure this out we first looked for an explanation of the name of the level, which we found later in the text itself. The explanation was that the demons of all the planets and their assistants can no longer defeat you. This didn't seem to match the name, so we went into the dictionary and found the Sanskrit name, which does make sense according to this explanation - it's Unbeatable.
Audio for Class 7 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-07.mp3)
Class 7 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-07-homework.pdf)
Class 7 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-07-quiz.pdf)
Class 7 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-07-key.pdf)
Class 8 - May 19, 2006
Audio for Class 8 (http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/TibTrans06-08.mp3)
Class 8 homework (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-08-homework.pdf)
Class 8 quiz (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-08-quiz.pdf)
Class 8 answer key (http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/TibTrans06-08-key.pdf)
