“NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER”: Review of new published commentary “On the Heart Sutra” by the 17th Karmapa produced by an unknown translator and the Hwayue Foundation, Taiwan

“The “secret” in secret mantra entails many layers of meaning. The buddhas and bodhisattvas themselves do not have the intention of keeping something secret, so the difference between exotericism and esotericism depends on the practitioner instead of the teaching itself. The same teaching might be understood by some people but not by others. To those who do not understand, the meaning of that teaching becomes secret. Therefore, it is not the case that the buddhas and bodhisattvas want to keep a teaching restricted and refrain from teaching it to others.” —excerpt from “On the Heart Sutra” by 17th Karmapa (e-book)

A couple of days ago, I was thrilled to see a new e-book commentary by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa on the Heart Sutra had been published. An  English translation from his 2016 teaching in Taiwan, which the Karmapa gave only in Chinese. A historically significant ‘milestone’ (as the book’s Introduction says) due to it being the first time the Karmapa lineage (or any other Tibetan Buddhist lineage head) has taught on the Heart Sutra only in Chinese. Coincidentally, during 2016, I was just finishing my postgraduate thesis Tāranātha’s Commentary on the Heart Sūtra with renowned Tibetology scholar, Prof. Dorji Wangchug, which then became my first book  (with foreword by Prof. Matthew Kapstein).

However, much as it pains me to report, the excitement about the new publications quickly turned to one of disappointment as I read the Introduction and Acknowledgements and saw there were four major omissions that render the book somewhat ‘unreliable’ as a translation of the Karmapa’s original words.  I detail these below. Some people might wonder why am detailing such omissions for this particular, when there are no doubt many other books with similar issues in the Buddhist Studies field. Simple answer, because I care about how people are handling the 17th Karmapa’s precious teachings!

1) No biography or foreword from  the translator, Jamyang Woser

First, as a scholar-translator, one of the first things I had been trained to look for was the translator biography and Bibliography/endnotes. Why? Because if one cannot hear/read, or translate the original source language of the teaching,  then one has to completely rely on the translator to do the job well.

However, for some strange reason (or oversight) no bio was provided, just a Tibetan name, Jamyang Woser (which does not necessarily mean they are Tibetan either).  I heard that in Tibet, when Tibetans translated Sanskrit texts, they had to have extensive training not only in the languages, but also in the Philosophy, and  they were meticulously checked and the translators even shamed if they were wrong etc.  How is that possible with no bio or way of identifying the translator?

In addition, by contemporary standards, the translator normally writes a foreword of how and why they translated it, providing context and explanation of some of the key terms (in the original language) and how they translated them etc. That was also missing. The translator gives a brief acknowledgement of those involved in its publication, giving thanks “to Thrangu Dharmakara’s Khenpo Dawa, Khenpo Tengye, and Ani Jangchub for providing the conditions necessary for translating this text.” and to Beata Stiepen who co-ordinating it. Nothing about the actual content of the text and translation though.

2) No endnotes, proper sourcing or naming or texts, nor accurate rendering of Sanskrit terms

Second, there were no endnotes, bibliography or sourcing of any of the texts mentioned in the teaching (neither in Tibetan, Sanskrit or Chinese) and only the English translation of the titles only. Even the Sanskrit terms lacked diacritics (such as the word prajñā). While this is excusable for a more general report or article written by one person, it is inexcusable for a publication with a team of editors on it. This again makes the publication lack real depth and substance to anyone with a more discerning eye, or who thinks sourcing is important.  None of the quotes from the Heart Sūtra or Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras are properly referenced or sourced either.

3)No foreword from the 17th Karmapa himself

Third, there was no personal signed foreword from the 17th Karmapa himself. The Introduction was written by the publishers Chung Sheng, and connected to the Taiwanese Hwa Yue Foundation, who simply stated that the 17th Karmapa had “personally overseen” it, as had another Karma Kagyu Lama.

Other people listed in the acknowledgements seemed to be predominantly Polish people (connected to Benchen Poland (which is always a major sign of enabling abuse of women in my book!), or (the Gelugpa appointed) former English teacher of the 17th Karmapa, Jo Gibson.

Without that personal introduction by the Karmapa, so again, it is difficult to know how much he was involved in checking of the translation or not, and thus how reliable it actually is.

4) No Chinese edited transcript of the teaching

Also, there does not seem to be a Chinese transcript of the teaching, which would have helped avoid some of the above (as it then makes it checkable by those who are fluent in Chinese and English).

The book at 190 pages is not a hefty tome or dry scholarly analysis, and so is appealing to a more general and undiscerning reader.  Flicking through it, I saw there was some  brief mention of the Tathagatagarbha/Zhentong view and how that compares with the Prasangika Madhyamika/Rang-tong view (a topic I covered in much greater detail and extensively in Taranatha’s Commentary on the Heart Sutra, who teaches that the Heart Sutra is a Zhentong teachings).

There also an interesting section about the meaning of ‘secret and that it is how, or whether people can receive teachings that makes them ‘secret’ or not.  The book also contains a lovely drawing by the 17th Karmapa of Guanyin (see below). However, for the above reasons, in terms of the potential unreliability of the translation,  I cannot (and do not feel able) to give a fuller review of the content than that.

Conclusion

So sadly, while it is good to see that more of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings are being compiled and published in book format, particularly on such an important text as the Heart Sutra, due to these significant omissions,  it is unreliable as a translation, and so could not get past the first and last few pages. Considering they had a team of Lamas, Khenpos, proofreaders and editors all working on it, it is puzzling such important things have been omitted.

This ‘flimsy’ handling of the raw material is also disappointing because over the last four years or so, the 17th Karmapa himself has clearly made efforts to make sure his teachings and translation are at the highest possible standards of scholarly rigour and translation, so it sets a poor example of his activities on that too.

As I have discovered many times before, the Kagyu Office reports of the 17th Karmapa’s teachings are also either heavily edited/re-worded or leaving important things out.  However, as I can check the original Tibetan, and English language interpretation myself, I have done transcripts and fuller reports [1].

So, in sum, the  proofreading and editing may well be “meticulous” as they declare, but if the content is not and the meaning is faulty then the most important aspect and essence of the teaching is missing.  One of the central messages of the Heart Sutra is not to confuse visual or aural appearances with substance or truth, as they are deceptive and misleading.

The design on the front cover is a delicate, wilting pink flower with a younger flower bud next to it.  Quite simple and pretty to look at, but rather fragile and flimsy too. Perhaps that was the ‘most secret’ teaching given by the 17th Karmapa in this new publication, that only very few (or perhaps only me) actually received: to “never judge a book by its cover” or in this case, maybe we can!

The Publications Team

Translator

Editors

Graphic Designer