Pre-modern Chinese Buddhist Texts: a translation workshop of readings from the Sinophone world

The SOAS CBS Chinese Buddhist Texts Reading group is delighted to announce our first workshop, "Pre-modern Chinese Buddhist texts: a translation workshop of readings from the sinophone world", to be held online from 14 to 16 June 2021. The SOAS CBS Chinese Buddhists Texts Reading Group was established in 2016 and is open to anyone interested who has a basic level of classical Chinese. We are a relaxed and tight-knit group, and we often read something a group member is working on, or has an interest in. The group has provided a useful forum for members to expand their knowledge of Chinese Buddhist texts, to improve their knowledge of classical Chinese, and to reflect upon the aims and techniques of a successful translation.We think that our approach can be useful to other students and postdocs who work with Buddhist texts. The aim of this workshop is to create a network of early-career scholars with an interest in translation. The aims of the workshop are:

1. To highlight the indispensable value of translation and the contributions it makes to research

2. To encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration that incorporates both academic and nonacademic perspectives

3. To foster a sense of community and shared purpose in working on these texts, breaking down ingrained notions of translation as an isolated enterprise

4. To share pertinent resources, methodologies, and theories amongst this community, with a special emphasis on introducing the latest work in the field of “translation studies” to students of Buddhism.

Each day of the workshop will feature two student-led translation seminars of one hour and a half each, discussed by senior scholars and preceded or followed by a brief keynote address on methodological issues of translation.

Worshop Schedule

14 June 2021: Improving on extant translations 11:00-11:10 Welcome address 11:10-11:25 Introductory remarks: Prof. T.H. Barrett (SOAS) 11:25-11:45 Keynote address: Dr. Robert John Neather (Hong Kong Baptist University) TBC 11:45-12:00 15 minutes break 12:00-1:00 Pan Lifei (Ghent University): Miaofa lianhua jing妙法蓮華經 chapter 2 Upāyakauśalya (Skillful Means; Fangbian pin [方 便品]) 1:00-1:30 Q&A 1:30-2:30 Lunch break (1 hr) 2:30-3:30 Lana Ko: Hongmingji 弘明集 Discussant: Prof Bernhard Fuehrer (SOAS) 3:30-4:00 Q&A 15 June 2021: Multilingual societies and their issues 11:00-11:10 Welcome
11:10-11:30 Keynote speaker: Professor Christoph Anderl (Ghent University) TBC
11:30-11:45 15 minutes break
11:45-12:45 Ye Ziwei (Oxford University) and Chris Foster (SOAS): Yiqiejing yinyi 一切經音義
12:45-1:15 Q&A
1:15-2:15 Lunch break
2:15-3:15 Léo Messerschmid (University of Hamburg): Keiranshūyōshū 渓嵐拾葉集
Discussant: Dr Lucia Dolce (SOAS) 3:15-3:45 Q&A

16 June 2021: Poetry11:00-11:10 Welcome
11:10-12:10 Liu Xueling (University of Hong Kong): Translation of Buddhist Eulogies from Foguo chanshi wenshu zhinan tuzan 佛國禪師文殊指南圖讚 (Pictures and eulogies of [Sudhana’s journey to] the south)Discussant: Dr Stefania Travagnin (SOAS)
12:10-12:40 Q&A
12:40-1:40 Lunch break
1:40-2:40 Laurent Van Cutsem (Ghent University): Quánzhōu Qiānfó xīnzhù zhū zǔshī sòng 泉州千佛新著諸祖師頌
2:40-3:10 Q&A
3:10-3:25: 15 minutes break
3:25-3:45 Keynote address: Prof. Stephanie Balkwill (University of Winnipeg): Translation as Intervention: Going Back in Time in order to Shape the Future.
3:45-4:00 Final remarks and thanks

Organiser: SOAS Chinese Buddhist Texts reading group

Contact email: 633905@soas.ac.uk