Last 20th September 2018, the closing ceremony of the 2nd Phase of Namdroling Academic English for Monastic Scholars (NAEMS) Program was held at Padma Mani Translation Committee Hall. This is in Ngagyur Nyingma Institute at our mother monastery, Namdroling Monastery in South India.
The main objective of the program is to raise the level of English proficiency of Namdroling monks and nuns. Hopefully, they can use this proficiency to teach and translate Dharma in English in the future.
We need more scholars to translate the Buddha’s teachings. Currently, there are already thousands of books and high-caliber writings on the Buddha’s teachings. However, the Buddha’s teachings are so vast. For example, the Kangyur and Tengyur have been barely translated from Tibetan. According to some estimates, only around 10% have been translated into modern languages until now.
The Kangyur and Tengyur are two collections of 4,000 plus sets of teachings. Buddha Shakyamuni and numerous masters gave them to clarify the Buddha’s wisdom. Beyond these two, there are other teachings and commentaries from different Buddhas such as Maitreya Buddha, Kuntuzangpo and so on. Because sentient beings have infinite personalities, they need different teachings to “abandon negative actions, adopt positive actions, and subdue the mind”.
The NNI President, Khenpo Tsewang Norbu, and Loponma Sonam Dolma, Padma Mani Translation Comittee Head, thanked the facilitators from HELP University and YPNV, Malaysia for their dedication and hard work in instructing the monks and nuns in English for six weeks. It was a successful program and a future English teaching program is already in the works.
