Translating Classical Buddhism to Modern English

Current Translation Projects

The first long-term goal of Dharma Pearls is to produce English translations of the four Chinese Āgama collections and select early Buddhist texts like the Chinese Dharmapāda from the Taisho canon.

Below is a list of texts actively being translated:

While there are many other early Buddhist texts in Chinese, this initial set of texts comprise a total of 1,422 pages of the Taisho, which will probably translate to around 1.7 million words of English. As a result, this project is expected to require several many years to complete.

Progress Report

At the end of 2023, 25% of the Four Āgamas have been successfully translated and released in English. This includes:

In all, 292 pages of the Taisho have been translated, which is approximately 350,000 words of English (assuming 1 page = 1,200 words on average).

Project Roadmap

Phase 1: Initial Study and Pilot Translations (2018-2019)

The concept for this project arose in late 2018 and developed in early 2019 when I discovered my attempts to translate Āgama sutras in 2004-2005 were still preserved at SuttaCentral. I was already planning to begin translating Buddhist texts again, and I saw the need to update these old and error-prone translations.

Most of 2019 was spent becoming familiar with the language and vocabulary of each of the four Āgamas and pursuing background research, such as how they were translated to Chinese and other text critical issues (e.g., the disorganization of the Samyuka Āgama). In September, I created this Github website using the Jekyll platform.

Phase 2: Madhyama Āgama and Selected Parallels (2020)

In early 2020, the project shifted to a concerted effort to translate the portion of the Madhyama Āgama that had yet to be published by BDK (only Vol. I of their translation was available at the time).

Funding was secured for a full-time translation project in mid-2020. The initial goal was to translate the Chinese Āgama parallels for a selection of important Pali suttas. This work continued until 2021.

Phase 3: Translation of the Dīrgha Āgama (2021-2022)

After the completion of the initial parallels translation, a more ambitious goal of translating the entire Dīrgha Āgama was approved, and funding was extended into 2022.

This phase of the project was completed in July 2022.

Phase 4: Translation of the Ekottarika Āgama (2022-2023)

With the completion of Phase 3, the Project moved its focus to the Ekottarika Āgama, beginning in earnest in January 2023. EĀ chapters 1-15 were released in the first half of 2023.

In September, we shifted our focus to publishing all of our current translations to SuttaCentral, which required three months to transfer the texts and create a process to update SuttaCentral monthly. Funding uncertainty also forced a re-evaluation of the project’s future plans, and the cover-to-cover translation of EĀ was abandoned for the time being.

Phase 5: Continued Translation of Remaining Three Āgamas (2024)

An additional year of funding was secured at the end of 2023. The plan for 2024 is to devote a third of the year to each of the remaining three Āgamas: