Translation Projects
In keeping with our aim to transmit and preserve the Dharma, we are committed to the translation of Buddhist texts, particularly those of the Sakya tradition, into English and other languages. Apart from the translations that are listed on the KAF Publications page, our translation efforts are especially focused on a unique collection of essential Sakya texts. These texts were identified by Khenpo Appey Rinpoche as being particularly important to translate into English, and thus they represent a priority for KAF Translations.
The translated texts in this series are currently being released as part of The Khenpo Appey Collection of Sakya Classics. The first volume, Gorampa Sönam Sengé’s Light of Samantabhadra, translated by Gavin Kilty, has been published and is now available from Wisdom Publications.
For more background about these works, please consult the information below.
+ Abhidharma (Higher Teachings)
The Abhidharma teachings are a detailed and systematic analysis of phenomena, comprising the outer world of our surroundings and the inner world of our experience. They examine the phenomenal world on the relative level of experience from the point of view of enlightened beings, thus establishing the foundation for authentic Buddhist practice.
Tibetan Title: ཕུང་ཁམས་སྐྱེ་མཆེད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གཞག་ཇི་སྙེད་ཤེས་བྱའི་སྒོ་འབྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: Opening the Door to All Objects of Knowledge—A Presentation of the Aggregates, Elements, and Sense Sources
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 102
Status: Not translated yet
A clear presentation of the various factors underlying our fundamental experience of life, based on the major Indian Abhidharma treatises transmitted in Tibet, by the celebrated Sakya master Gorampa Sönam Senggé. It systematically explains the makeup of human experience as it was uniquely presented by the Buddha in terms of the five aggregates, the eighteen elements of perception, and the twelve sources of perception. In particular, this text gives an elaborate presentation of the profound teaching on the substrate consciousness—the ālayavijñāna.
Tibetan Title: ཆོས་མངོན་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཤེས་བྱ་གསལ་བྱེད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: A Commentary on the Compendium of Abhidharma
Author: Pang Lodrö Tenpa
Pages: 459
Status: Draft translation completed
Translator(s): Dr Ian Coghlan
This is a very extensive commentary of Asaṅga’s Compendium of Abhidharma, a Mahāyāna presentation of the Abhidharma. Only recently rediscovered in Tibet and brought to Nepal through the efforts of Khenchen Appey Rinpoche, this commentary offers a remarkably detailed presentation of the Higher Teachings as transmitted through the Sakya scholar and translator Pang Lotsawa.
+ Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom)
The teachings on the perfection of wisdom are based on the sūtras bearing the same name, but deal with their hidden meaning as presented in the Ornament of True Realization by Maitreya. This treatise presents, in a very detailed manner, the experiences a Buddhist practitioner has on the path (called stages and paths), from the very beginning up to the omniscience of a fully awakened Buddha. Being one of the main treatises on the Buddhist path, and one of most difficult subjects in the curriculum, it is studied extensively in Tibetan monastic universities, yet very little information on it is accessible in English.
Tibetan Title: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་འགྲེལ་པ་དང་བཅས་པའི་དཀའ་བའི་གནས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ཡུམ་དོན་རབ་གསལ་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: Illuminating the Meaning of the Mother—An Explanation of the Difficult Points of the Commentary on the Ornament of True Realization
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 499
Status: Not translated yet
An extensive commentary on the entire Ornament of True Realization, Maitreya’s commentary on the perfection of wisdom sūtras, based on the eight categories and 70 topics laid out in the root text.
Tibetan Title: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་གྱི་འགྲེལ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཚིག་དོན་རབ་ཏུ་གསལ་བ།
Title: Illuminating the Scriptural Meaning—A Commentary on the Ornament of True Realization
Author: Rongtön
Pages: 490
Status: Translation in progress
Translator(s): Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin and Boyce Teoh
Editor: TBA
A comprehensive and authoritative commentary on the Ornament of True Realization. Rongtön is generally regarded as one of the greatest experts of this treatise and this is considered his masterpiece.
Tibetan Title: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་རྟོགས་རྒྱན་གྱི་གཞུང་སྔ་ཕྱིའི་འབྲེལ་དང་དཀའ་གནས་ལ་དཔྱད་པ་སྦས་དོན་ཟབ་མོའི་གཏེར་གྱི་ཁ་འབྱེད་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: Opening the Treasury of the Profound Hidden Meaning
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 349
Status: Not translated yet
Gorampa Sönam Senggé’s commentary on the Ornament of True Realization explaining its 70 topics in detail.
Tibetan Title: ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག་གི་བསྟན་བཅོས་མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་འགྲེལ་པ་དང་བཅས་པའི་ངག་དོན་སྦས་དོན་ཟབ་མོའི་གནད་ཀྱི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བབཞུགས་སོ༎
Title: Lamp Clarifying the Hidden Meaning
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 117
Status: Not translated yet
A concise commentary on the essential points of both the Ornament of True Realization and Haribhadra’s commentary (Clear Meaning). It functions as a companion volume to Rongtön’s detailed commentary.
Tibetan Title: མཐར་གྱིས་གནས་པའི་སྙོམས་པར་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སྙོམས་འཇུག་རབ་གསལ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: Clarifying the Meditative Absorptions—An Explanation of the Meditative Absorptions
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 106
Status: Not translated yet
A clear presentation of the practice and stages of meditative absorption, which is one of the most difficult points in the Ornament of True Realization.
+ Madhyamaka (Middle Way)
Madhyamaka, the philosophy of the Middle Way, is founded on a treatise of the Indian master Nāgārjuna, which in turn is a commentary on the perfection of wisdom sūtras of the Buddha. Madhyamaka is a method rather than a doctrine, leading the Buddhist practitioner to the direct realization of the ultimate truth. It details various means of critical analysis of our assumptions regarding reality which, if applied skillfully, dismantle the habitual conceptual framework which filters and distorts our perception of reality. In Tibet, different lines of interpretation of this philosophy have evolved. Scholars of the Sakya school in particular are renowned for keeping their interpretation of the Middle Way closely in line with the Indian tradition, at times strongly opposing later Tibetan innovations. Rendering the texts of this tradition accessible in translation to a wider audience is therefore an extremely valuable contribution to the understanding of the philosophy of the Middle Way in Tibet.
Tibetan Title: དབུ་མ་རྩ་བའི་འགྲེལ་པ་འཐད་པའི་སྣང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་པ་ལགས་སོ།།
Title: The Light of Reason—A Commentary on the Root Treatise of the Middle Way
Author: Réndawa
Pages: 275
Status: Not translated yet
This is an authoritative commentary on the Root Treatise on the Middle Way by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna’s unique method of analysis was to dismantle all possible conceptions of reality by showing the inherent contradictions such views entail. What a student of this method is eventually left with is the direct, non-conceptual realization of the ultimate truth. Composed by the eminent scholar Réndawa Zhönnu Lodrö, who was one of the principal teachers of Tsongkhapa, this commentary represents an important episode in the development of Madhyamaka in Tibet.
Tibetan Title: དབུ་མ་བཞི་བརྒྱ་པའི་འགྲེལ་པ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: A Commentary on the 400 Verses on Middle Way
Author: Réndawa
Pages: 201
Status: Not translated yet
The 400 Verses on the Middle Way is a treatise by the Indian Master Āryadeva. In it, the author gradually guides practitioners along the path, from establishing the correct view up to the engagement in meditation practice. Réndawa’s commentary is one of the most authoritative and possibly the earliest composed in Tibet.
Tibetan Title: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་འཇམ་དཔལ་ཞལ་ལུང་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: The Words of Mañjuśrī: Commentarial Notes on the Bodhicaryāvatāra
Author: Lhopa Kunkhyen Rinchen
Pages: 189
Status: Not translated yet
Lhopa Khunkyen Rinchen Pal was a student of Sakya Paṇḍita. This text is one of the foremost commentaries on Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra favored by the Sakya tradition. It is especially highly-valued as it was written based on the commentaries that Lhopa Khunkhyen Rinchen Pal received directly from the Sakya Paṇḍita, as well as on the original Indian commentaries. Of particular importance is the commentary to the ninth chapter, which covers wisdom, the view understanding reality as it is.
+ Pramāṇa (Valid Cognition)
The teachings on the means of valid cognition provide very effective tools to sharpen one’s intellectual faculties, which are then used to gain insight by analyzing the nature of reality. In the Buddhist tradition, sound reasoning is regarded as an invaluable help in the development of wisdom, indeed as a necessary component of the path. It assists one in dispelling doubts and confusions by distinguishing right from wrong understanding, thus helping one to develop unshakable confidence in the Buddhist path and in the actuality of its result, perfect enlightenment. One of the most important Tibetan treatises on the means of valid cognition was authored by the celebrated Sakya Paṇḍita and it has been widely commented on.
Tibetan Title: ཚད་མ་རིག་པའི་གཏེར་གྱི་རང་འགྲེལ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: Auto-Commentary on the Treasury of Valid Cognition
Author: Sakya Paṇḍita
Pages: 330
Status: Not translated yet
In this extensive auto-commentary on his Treasury of Valid Cognition Sakya Paṇḍita expounds on all the important topics related to knowable objects and the means of valid cognition discussed in his magnum opus.
Tibetan Title: རྒྱས་པའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་གྱི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་འོད་ཟེར་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: The Light of Samantabhadra: An Explanation of Commentary on Valid Cognition
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 247
Status: Chapters 1&2 published.
Translator(s): Gavin Kilty
An elaborate commentary on the authoritative treatise on the means of valid cognition by Dharmakīrti. This branch of philosophy plays an important role in both Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, providing a framework based on logical reasoning for the validity of Buddhist practice.
+ Buddha Nature & Mind Only Philosophy
The teachings on buddha nature and the Yogacāra philosophy are based mainly on the treatises of the bodhisattva Maitreya. These texts expound a philosophy deeply rooted in the yogic experiential approach of Buddhist practice. They form what has been called the Tradition of Vast Activities, the complement to the Tradition of the Profound View originating from Mañjuśrī, thus offering a balanced understanding of the Mahāyāna path.
Tibetan Title: ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ལེགས་པར་འདོམས་པ་ལྷའི་རྔ་བོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ༎
Title: The Great Drum of the Gods—An Explanation of Distinguishing Phenomena and their True Nature
Author: Rongtön
Pages: 19
Status: Not translated yet
This is a commentary on the fourth of Maitreya’s important five great treatises selected for this collection. This text makes a precise distinction between conventional phenomena (dharmas) and their true nature (dharmatā) as presented in the practice-oriented Yogacāra tradition. It therefore represents a fascinating complement to the profound teaching on the two truths by scholars upholding the philosophy of the Middle Way.
+ The Three Vows
The Buddhist path is composed of three elements: right conduct (śīla), meditation (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā). The essence of right conduct is discipline, which is regarded as the essential basis without which no further training in meditation can be successful. A lack of meditation training, on the other hand, would make it impossible for any genuine wisdom to arise. To strengthen this prerequisite for the authentic training in meditation and wisdom, practitioners take vows according to their level of practice. These are generally divided into three categories: the vows of individual liberation, concerned mainly with outer, non-harmful conduct; the vows of the bodhisattvas, concerned mainly with the altruistic motivation to help others; and the vows of the Mantra Vehicle, which deal with the most profound level of views and practice. For the genuine practitioner, it is imperative to have a clear understanding of these vows in order to implement them effectively into one’s practice.
Tibetan Title: སྡོམ་གསུམ་རབ་དབྱེའི་སྤྱི་དོན་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel—The General Meaning of the Clear Differentiation of the Three Vows
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 115
Status: Draft translation completed
Translator(s): Malcolm Smith
A concise commentary on Sakya Paṇḍita’s treatise on the three sets of vows.
Tibetan Title: སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་རབ་ཏུ་དབྱེ་བའི་ཁ་སྐོང་གཞི་ལམ་འབྲས་གསུམ་གསལ་བར་བྱེད་པའི་ལེགས་བཤད་འོད་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ།
Title: The Luminous Light of the Good Explanations Clarifying the Ground, Path, and Result—A Supplement to the Three Vows
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 42
Status: Not translated yet
Gorampa composed this treatise about 200 years after Sakya Paṇḍita’s Three Vows in a continuation of the latter’s spirit. His aim in doing so was to correct newly introduced doctrines and practices that strayed from the authentic traditions. Gorampa divided his text into three sections: the base—an exposition of buddha nature, the path—an exposition of the three sets of vows, and the result—the three bodies of a buddha.
Tibetan Title: སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་ཁ་སྐོང་གི་རྣམ་བཤད་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མེ་ཏོག་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Title: An Ornamenting Blossom—A Clear Explanation of A Supplement to the Three Vows
Author: Ngakwang Chödak
Pages: 115
Status: Not translated yet
Paṇchen Ngakwang Chödak’s commentary was chosen to be translated as it is the most recent authoritative commentary on Gorampa’s Supplement, based on the previous commentaries by the eminent Sakya scholars Mangthö Ludrub Gyatso and Khenchen Chö Namgyel.
+ Miscellaneous
Tibetan Title: རྟེན་འབྲེལ་གྱི་རྣམ་པར་བཞག་པ་འཁོར་འདས་རབ་གསལ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་བཞུགས་སོ༎
Title: Illumination of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa—A Presentation of Dependent Arising
Author: Gorampa
Pages: 43
Status: Draft translation ready
Translator(s): Toh Tze Gee
A treatise on the twelve links of dependent arising. This text clarifies the process of how beings are caught in cycles of perpetual suffering, as well as the means to liberate themselves from it. This presentation is particularly interesting because it outlines the twelve links of dependent arising according to the four schools of traditional Buddhist philosophy.