Abstract (eng)
In modern translation studies, the exploration of translation practice in Tibet poses a new field of inquiry that is thoroughly examined in the dissertation at hand. The theoretical basis consists of Tibet’s historical translation activities as they show remarkable aspects such as the development of a Tibetan-Buddhist terminology in the religious, philosophical and epistemological context in the 7th century AD. These activities culminate in the creation of the “big etymological lexicon” (Skt. Mahāvyutpatti) that comprises normative terminological parameters. The Mahāvyutpatti (and the Madhyavyutpatti, which includes obligatory translation guidelines) is the foundation for a standardized translation practice in old Tibet and was compiled by Tibetan translators (lo tsā bas) and Indian pundits (paṇḍitas) as commissioned by the king. These translation teams (paṇḍita-lo tsā ba-model) have translated the lion’s share of Buddhist literature from Sanskrit into Tibetan and are thus indispensable actors in terms of the cultural transfer. Against this background, the present research project focusses on the current translation-relevant terminological practice with regard to Tibetan Buddhism’s philosophy and epistemology. Based on Wüster’s general theory of terminology, a term analysis of four German translations of Tibetan epistemological source texts is conducted and presented in the form of a glossary. In this way, the status quo of the German terminology as well as the starting point of the empirical study are determined. By means of qualitative expert interviews, the translation-oriented terminological field of practice of Tibetan Buddhism is analyzed from a translation studies’ point of view for the first time. On the one hand, the main focus lies on practical translation examples as well as on term definitions (Tibetan > German), and, on the other hand, on experts’ opinions regarding a standardization or diversity of Buddhist terminology. Since this dissertation constitutes the first German translation-relevant terminological study in the field of Tibetan Buddhism, modest but fruitful results are expected which could lay the foundation for further scientific research in this area.