There is a general agreement that poetry cannot be translated from one
language to another. Why do we feel this is true? Perhaps in poetry the
referential use of language is at its weakest. Also, poetry aims to affect
its audience primarily through emotions and intuitive responses rather than
a cognitive understanding. What grounds do we have for believing that
language as a whole functions like poetry? What guarantee is there for
believing that we evoke the same understanding in a native English speaker
when we say "All things are transient," as when we say "'dus byas thams
bcad mi rtag pa" to a Tibetan? Where there is a different language, there
is a different conceptual mapping as well. In diverse intellectual
traditions such as Tibet and the West, such differences are bound to be
even greater. Translation of concepts is not like learning a new word to
refer to the same thing, like saying chu for water. This peculiar nature of
language poses a serious challenge to the translator. A successful
translator must be literally able to straddle two different worlds with
equal detachment and intimacy This is a tall order given that he or she is
as conditioned by one particular culture and language as the rest of us.
How do we transcend these problems? I myself do not believe in a strict
pairing on a word-to-word basis. Such an approach, no matter how legitimate
it may be, cannot be called "translating from Tibetan into English," for
the language that is being translated is simply not English. What is
required is a creative approach whereby all the resources of English are
fully utilized to convey the concept in the most accurate way. The primary
responsibility of the translator is to make sense of the language that he
or she is writing in.

In the first place, our mental continuum is the basis of our self-identity
as a person. It is on the basis of this continuum that--on the ordinary
level--we commit contaminated actions, which propel us round and round the
vicious cycle of death and rebirth. On the spiritual path, it is also on
the basis of this continuity of consciousness that we are able to make
mental improvements and experience high realizations of the path. Finally,
it is also on the basis of this same continuity of consciousness--which is
often identified with our buddha-nature--that we are able to achieve the
ultimate state of omniscience. In other words, samsara--our conditioned
existence in the perpetual cycle of habitual tendencies--and
nirvana--genuine freedom from such an existence--are nothing but different
manifestations of this basic continuum. So, this continuity of
consciousness is always present. This is the meaning of tantra, or
continuity.

Reprinted from H.H. The Dalai Lama, The World of Tibetan Buddhism, Thupten
Jinpa, tr. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995), pp. 29-30.

ILLUSTRATION: Tibetan Thanka Blessing (Om, Ah, Hum) by Chogyan Trungpa