Beyond free and literal: Translating a Buddhist text (Bodhicaryavatarapanjika) from Sanskrit

Abstract

Translators appear to face a dilemma: do they aim for a 'literal' or 'free' translation of their source text (ST). Munday observes that translators of both literary and non-literary texts face a bind: translators who stray too far from the original text are open to criticism, yet readers prefer that the target text (TT) read as if written in the target language. Translation theorists have developed a range of approaches to thinking about translation that move beyond a simple literal/free dichotomy. This apparent dilemma was the starting point for a reflection on the aims and strategies I used for translating the kṣantiparamita chapter of Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara (eighth century) with the eleventh-century commentary of Prajnakaramati (Bodhicaryavatarapanjika), a Buddhist text in Sanskrit, for my PhD thesis.