Ven. Paloma Alba and Karen Molina at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, May 2021. Photo by Steve Milton.

On May 20, 2021, Centro Nagarjuna Valencia, the FPMT center in Valencia, Spain, joyously announced the publication of El Mundo Físico, a 568-page hardcover Spanish translation of Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World, published by Madrid-based Kailas Editorial. The English translation, edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and translated into English by Ian Coghlan, was published by Wisdom Publications in 2017. Center director Steve Milton shares the story.

Our center is pleased to have translated The Physical World into Spanish. It is the first in a series of four volumes of books called Science and Philosophy In The Indian Buddhist Classics. Conceived of and introduced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this is a project very close to His Holiness’s heart and one that he is keen to see translated into as many languages as possible.

The wish to translate the book into Spanish (and many other languages) comes directly from His Holiness. The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama directly contacted Karen Molina, who has served as His Holiness’s Spanish translator at his events across Europe. They asked Karen if she was interested, and if so how much she would charge to translate the book and how long she would need to finish the project.

El Mundo Físico, Valencia, Spain, May 2021. Photo by Steve Milton.

Karen felt that it would be an honor and a privilege, but she realized she really didn’t have the time to dedicate to such a project. Karen serves as translator and attendant to Geshe Lamsang, our FPMT resident geshe, and  she is extremely busy taking care of our teacher and translating at our public events. She also translates for the FPMT Basic Program and travels to the other FPMT centers in Spain with with Geshe Lamsang to translate his teachings.

While discussing the opportunity with Karen, I remembered that in the past Lama Zopa Rinpoche had said that the purpose of the FPMT organization and centers is to fulfill His Holiness’s wishes. I encouraged Karen to agree to the project with the support of our center, and on the condition that it be volunteer work with no payment involved.

I suggested to Karen that instead of translating the text herself, that she seek permission from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to form a team of volunteers from our center to translate the text. Since the text had already been translated into English, our team could translate from English into Spanish, and Karen could refer to the original Tibetan text if needed. Karen thought that two years would be a realistic amount of time to complete the project. The Office of His Holiness liked the idea and gave Karen permission to move forward.

Karen began to consider who should be on this translation project dream team of five people. The team would need four people to focus on translation work and one person to edit each contribution and the final text to ensure a consistent style, vocabulary usage, and seamless flow. Each volunteer would need to have an excellent level of English, a good understanding of the Dharma, and it would be great if some team members had a scientific background.

Karen quickly identified four people from our center who would be perfect for the project. German Torregroa and Carolina Gallego are biologists, and Carolina has a PhD in biotechnology. They have been studying the Dharma and the FPMT Basic Program at our center for a long time and are proficient in English. David Vivas is a medical doctor, a PhD, a professor of health economics and management at the University Polytecnic of Valencia, and a long-time Dharma student. David has also worked on our center’s publishing projects, helping to share Geshe Lamsang’s teachings with more people. Ven. Paloma Alba is our center’s spiritual coordinator, long-time Dharma student, and editor of the free distribution books we’ve published of Geshe Lamsang’s teachings.

Carolina, David, German, and Karen began by dividing the English translation of the text up into four sections. Each person would translate a different section. Ven. Paloma would check their translations, and correct the style and flow, and then edit the final Spanish translation. The team gathered together in our center to discuss the best translation of terms and scientific expressions, and to agree on which vocabulary words they would stick to. Karen managed the overall project, while Ven. Paloma inspired everyone with her infectious enthusiasm and boundless energy.

This was a difficult book to translate, and it took two years to complete the project. Readers will encounter Indian Buddhist scholastic concerns with the material elements, the sensory capacities, time, atomism, cosmology, theories of the body, the brain, and even discussions of micro-organisms found in the body. The language is very scientific, and the concepts presented are very complicated. This is why some members of our translation team come from scientific backgrounds. Despite the difficulties, they persevered, and now the first book is finally finished.

Although this was a big project, our center is grateful we had this opportunity to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to serve His Holiness and fulfill His Holiness’s wish that this text be made available to everyone around the world. We felt it was particularly important to translate it into Spanish because so many people around the world speak Spanish. We also rejoice in the skies of merit our center members, donors, and volunteers created through our efforts.

Read more about it in the Spanish language online news outlet El Español: “Editando al Dalái Lama el día que señalan los planetas.”

Geshe Lamsang announced the book’s publication during an online Basic Program class, praising the students involved and thanking them for their hard work. He also thanked the publishers for printing the book. Due to the pandemic our celebration will have to wait, but we will definitely organize a rejoicing party at our center as soon as we can get together again. In the meantime our team has already started translating the second volume in the series.

Watch the thirty-minute video “Presentación del libro del Dalai Lama: ‘Ciencia y filosofía: El mundo físico'” (Presentation of the Dalai Lama’s book: “Science and Philosophy: The Physical World”):

To learn more about Centro Nagarjuna Valencia, visit their website:
https://nagarjunavalencia.com/

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