Buddha translation from ancient Tibetan to English a 100-year task, say volunteers and scholars 10 years into the job

English translations of all available Buddhist texts will be made freely available on an app – but the massive project won’t be completed for another 90 years

The editorial co-director of the project says ‘the work may not be economically productive, but we humans really need meaning as well as material prosperity’

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A Tibetan Buddhist monk reads sacred texts. Scholars, teachers and volunteers have embarked on a translation of all the Buddhist scripture in ancient Tibetan, a task that, 10 years into it, they estimate will take until the year 2110 to complete. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 5:15am, 23 Sep 2020Updated: 2:17pm, 23 Sep 2020

Buddhism promotes the belief that, through meditation, a person can break free from the endless cycle of rebirth to attain nirvana, or enlightenment.

As a religion with roots in India and which, over hundreds of years, spread throughout Asia and then worldwide, it could be assumed that there is a wealth of easily accessible material on it.

However, in 2009, a group of more than 50 Buddhist scholars, teachers and volunteers estimated that only about five per cent of Buddhist texts had been translated. They were concerned that, in 50 years, only a handful of people would be left that can understand and interpret them.

The race, therefore, is on: over the next 90 years, experts in ancient Tibetan plan to translate all available Buddhist texts into English and to make their work freely available.

The target date for the completion of this massive undertaking is some time in 2110. It is estimated there are more than 230,000 pages to translate and, a decade after that first meeting, 10 per cent has been completed.

“There’s the Koran, the Bible, and the Torah, and in a way Buddhism is different; it has these vast bodies of literature, all of which are considered scripture, [so] it’s not so easy,” says Dr John Canti, 69, the editorial co-director of 84000 (the name of the project).