Work in Progress: Third Quarter 2008

Foreword

As many readers have expressed interest in the ongoing work and projects of Berzin Archives, I am starting this page as an informal way of keeping people informed, updated, and involved. From time to time, I shall make further entries. With continuing support from our readers and much hard work from our Berzin Archives team, we hope that all these projects will be completed and online in the near future.

Third Quarter 2008

29 September 2008

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to Four Hundred Verses (part 4)

English audio files sent for transcribing:

• Peace through Inner Peace – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• Establishing Harmony within Religious Diversity – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

New German translations online:

• Tibeto-Mongolian Astrology and Karma

Revised German translations online:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (preface, chapters 1-6, 12)

New Russian translations online:

• Mistaken Foreign Myths about Shambhala

 

22 September 2008

New German translations online:

• Proposal for Research Cooperation between Dharamsala and Uzbekistan

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 15)

Completed and edited French translations that arrived:

• One Truth or Many Truths – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• The Relevance of Religion in Modern Times – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

15 September 2008

Spanish section of the website now online

Revised versions of English articles online:

• Dormant Grasping for True Existence According to Gelug Madhyamaka

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to Four Hundred Verses (part 3)

New German translations online:

• The Four Maras (The Four Demonic Forces)

Completed German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• What Does a Buddha Know in Knowing the Past, Present, and Future? (parts 1-5)

• The Union of Method and Wisdom in Sutra and Tantra: Gelug and Non-Gelug Presentations

Articles sent for German translation:

• The Nature of Time As a Temporal Interval

Revised German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (chapter 14)

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 14)

Completed and edited Chinese translations that arrived:

• Buddhist-Muslim Doctrinal Relations: Past, Present, and Future

8 September 2008

New English articles online:

• Factors Involved in Transgressing Tantric Vows

• Buddhist-Muslim Doctrinal Relations: Past, Present, and Future

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to Four Hundred Verses (parts 1-2)

• Overview of A Root Text on Gelug-Kagyu Mahamudra (parts 1-4)

New German translations online:

• Verses to Begin Kalachakra Study or Practice

Completed German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Dormant Grasping for True Existence According to Gelug Madhyamaka

Revised German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (chapter 13)

Articles sent for German translation:

• The Distinction between Self-sufficiently Knowable and Imputably Knowable Phenomena

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapters 7 - 13)

Completed and edited Spanish translations that arrived:

• Preliminaries for Meditation or Study: The Seven-Limb Prayer

Articles sent for Chinese translation:

• Holy Wars in Buddhism and Islam: The Myth of Shambhala (abridged version)

• Religious Conversion in Shambhala

• The Kalachakra Presentation of the Prophets of the Non-Indic Invaders (abridged analysis, summary)

• A Buddhist View of Islam

• The Relation between Buddhism and Sufism: Response to Majid Tehranian

• Buddhist-Muslim Doctrinal Relations: Past, Present, and Future

1 September 2008

New English articles online:

• Extraphysical and Extrasensory Powers

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Recognizing the Five Types of Deep Awareness (part 2)

English transcripts sent for editing:

• Sangha

English audio files sent for transcribing:

• Introduction to Four Hundred Verses (4 parts)

• Introduction to The Three Principle Aspects of the Path (3 parts)

• The Relation with a Spiritual Teacher (2 parts)

English audio files sent for editing:

• Integrating Dharma into Our Lives (2 parts)

• Non-Gelug Cognition Theory (13 parts)

New German translations online:

• Nonconceptual Cognition of Voidness by by Shravaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva Aryas According to the Four Tibetan Traditions

Revised German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (chapter 12)

Completed and edited Portuguese translations that arrived:

• Introduction to Dzogchen

Articles sent for French translation:

• The Relevance of Religion in Modern Times – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• Religious Harmony, Compassion, and Islam – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• What Is the Self, Does the Self Have a Beginning, Will It Have an End? – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• How to Lead an Ethical Life– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• Finding Inner Peace and Fulfillment– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• The Nature of the Mind– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• How to Deal with Negative Emotions– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

• Compassion as the Source of Happiness– His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Completed and edited Chinese translations that arrived:

• Introduction to Buddhism from an Islamic Point of View

• Islamic Buddhist Dialogue

• Some Common Features of Islam and Buddhism

• Holy Wars in Buddhism and Islam: The Myth of Shambhala (full version)

• Religious Conversion in Shambhala

• The Kalachakra Presentation of the Prophets of the Non-Indic Invaders (full analysis)

• Historical Sketch of the Muslims of Tibet

• Historical Sketch of the Hui Muslims of China

• Historical Sketch of Buddhism and Islam in East Turkistan

• Historical Sketch of Buddhism and Islam in West Turkistan

• Buddhism among the Turkic People

• Historical Sketch of Buddhism and Islam in Afghanistan

• The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire (chapters 7 – 20)

• The Situations of Buddhism and Islam in China, 1996

• The Relation of the Hui Muslims with the Tibetans and Uighurs, 1996

25 August 2008

Edited English audio files that arrived and need final editing:

• Dealing with Disturbing Emotions: Attachment (2 parts)

English audio files sent for editing:

• Self-Voidness and Other-Voidness (5 parts)
• Overview of Uttaratantra (The Furthest Everlasting Continuum) (6 parts)
• Voidness in Terms of Dependent Arising (3 parts)
• The Nature of Mantras (1 part)

Edited English transcripts that arrived and need final editing:

• The Buddhist Concept of Merit – Does Happiness Need To Be Earned?

Completed and edited Spanish translations that arrived:

• A Brief History of Dzogchen

Re-edited Spanish translation that arrived:

• Making Sense of Tantra (5 parts)

18 August 2008

New English audio files online:

• The Nature of Mental Appearances – Gelug Explanation (5 parts)

Completed French translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Current Situation of Buddhism in the World
• The Appeal of Buddhism in the Modern World

Completed and edited Portuguese translations that arrived:

• Historical Sketch of Buddhism and Islam in Afghanistan

11 August 2008

New English articles sent for formatting:

• Mahamudra Tibetan Technical Terms: English Equivalents

Edited English transcriptions that arrived and will need final editing:

• Extraphysical and Extrasensory Powers

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to the Mind and Mental Factors (part 4)

English transcripts sent for editing:

• Opening Our Hearts to Others and to Ourselves
• The Buddhist Concept of Merit -- Does Happiness Need To Be Earned?

English handwritten notes sent for transcribing:

• Scott, David, “Buddhist Attitudes to Hellenism”
• Melikan-Chervani, A. S., “The Buddhist Ritual in the Literature of Early Islamic Iran”
• Bausani, A. “Religion under the Mongols” in The Cambridge History of Iran

New German translations online:

4 August 2008

New English articles online:

• How to Lead an Ethical Life – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
• What Is the Self, Does the Self Have a Beginning, Will It Have an End – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

English transcriptions that arrived and will need editing:

• The Eighty Exemplary Features (Minor Marks) of a Buddha’s Enlightening Body

English transcripts sent for editing:

• Extraphysical and Extrasensory Powers

Revised German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (chapters 8-11)

Edited Spanish translations that arrived:

• Mistaken Foreign Beliefs about Shambhala
• The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet
• Bringing Buddhism Down to Earth (part 2)

Completed and edited Portuguese translations that arrived:

• A Short Biography of Tsongkhapa

Articles sent for Italian translation:

• The Spread of Buddhism in Asia

28 July 2008

New English articles online:

• Compassion as the Source of Happiness – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
• How to Deal with Negative Emotions – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
• The Nature of the Mind – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
• Finding Inner Peace and Fulfillment – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Edited English transcriptions that arrived and need final editing:

• Commentary on Namkapel’s Attitude-Training Like the Rays of the Sun – His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (6 parts)

New Russian translations online:

• A Portrait of Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche
• Overview of the Gelug Monastic Education System
• Renunciation - The Determination to Be Free
• Lam-rim Structured According to the Four Noble Truths
• Basic Questions on Karma and Rebirth
• Buddhism and Science
• Basic Features of Tantra
• The Meaning and Use of a Mandala

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 6)

Completed and edited Portuguese translations that arrived:

• A Brief History of Buddhism in India before the Thirteenth-Century Invasions

21 July 2008

New English audio files recorded:

• Voidness and Dependent Arising (3 parts)
• Daily Life and Practice of Western Buddhists (1 part)

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to the Mind and Mental Factors (part 3)
• Recognizing the Five Types of Deep Awareness (part 1)
• The Passing of Serkong Rinpoche

New Russian translations online:

• Common Root Tantric Vows
• Secondary Tantric Vows
• Avoiding Confusion in the Spiritual Student-Teacher Relationship

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 5)

14 July 2008

New English audio files online:

• Explanation of the Seven-Part Cause and Effect Guideline for Developing Bodhichitta (5 parts)

New German translations online:

• The Eight Branches of an Arya Pathway Mind

Revised German translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (chapters 6-7)

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 4)

Completed Spanish translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Brief History of Dzogchen
• Mistaken Foreign Beliefs about Shambhala
• The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet
• Bringing Buddhism Down to Earth (part 2)

Articles sent for Spanish translation:

• Extra-bodily States in Buddhism
• Basic Questions on Karma and Rebirth
• Bringing Buddhism Down to Earth (part 3)

Articles sent for French translation:

• Handling Fear
• Dealing with Jealousy

7 July 2008

English audio files sent for transcribing:

• The Nature of Mental Appearances – Gelug Explanation (9 parts)

Transcribed English audio files that arrived and will need editing:

• Introduction to the Mind and Mental Factors (part 2)

Handwritten English reading notes sent for digitizing:

• The Eighty Exemplary Features (Minor Marks) of a Buddha’s Enlightening Body

Articles sent for German translation:

• A Summary Report of the 2007 International Congress on the Women’s Role in the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages (4 parts)

Completed Russian translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Developing Balanced Sensitivity (chapter 3)

Completed and edited Spanish translations that arrived:

• Mahamudra and the Four Noble Truths (part 3)
• Terms and Files Needed for Creating the Spanish Section of the Website

Completed Polish translations that arrived and were sent for editing:

• Dealing with Jealousy

Articles sent for Polish translation:

• Meaning and Use of Mandalas
• Handling Fear
• Dispelling Discomfort at the Eight Transitory Things in Life
• Tibetan-Mongolian Astrology and Karma
• Introduction to Tibetan Medicine
• Actions for Training from Taking Safe Direction
• Actions for Training from the Pledged State of Aspiring Bodhichitta
• Root Bodhisattva Vows
• Secondary Bodhisattva Vows

Previous Quarterly Reports of Work in Progress

• Second Quarter 2008
• First Quarter 2008
• Fourth Quarter 2007