Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl
Wins the Prestigious
Khyentse Foundation Translation Award
Congratulations go to one of Nalandabodhi’s esteemed teachers, Mitra Karl Brunnhölzl for recently being awarded the Khyentse Foundation Prize for Outstanding Translation. This honor recognized Mitra Karl’s three-volume translation of Asanga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha and it’s Tibetan commentaries.
The goal of the Khyentse Foundation Prize is to encourage and honor excellence in translation from Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese into English. Although the original text may belong to any tradition of Buddhism, the prize is awarded to a translation that ensures important works are made more accessible to the general public. There have been six previous awards by the Foundation.
The three volumes of the translated Mahāyānasaṃgraha and its commentaries, discuss virtually everything anybody might want to know about the Yogācāra School, one of the two mainstream approaches of the mahāyāna. This compendium presents a complete overview of Yogācāra, such as the nature and operation of the eight kinds of consciousnesses, the often-misunderstood notion of “mind only” (cittamātra), dependent origination, the cultivation of the path, and its fruition in terms of the four wisdoms, and the three bodies (kāyas) of a buddha.
The Introduction in Volume 1 gives an overview of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and its Indian and Tibetan commentaries and explains two crucial elements of the Yogācāra view—the ālaya-consciousness and the afflicted mind (kliṣṭamanas) in detail. This volume concludes with English translations of the Mahāyānasaṃgrahaand its commentary by Vasubandhu.
Volume 2 contains translations of the commentary by Asvabhāva and an anonymous Indian commentary on only the first chapter of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. These translations are supplemented in the endnotes by excerpts from Tibetan commentaries and related passages in other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra works.
The Appendices in Volume 3 include several excerpts from other Indian and Chinese Yogācāra texts, as well as supplementary materials on major Yogācāra topics in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha.
Nalandabodhi is grateful for Mitra Karl’s dedication in helping to make the dharma accessible to more and more people. Thank you, Mitra Karl, and congratulations from the Nalandabodhi International Sangha!
You can read here to learn more about Mitra Karl and Nalandabodhi’s other teachers.
