Published: Dec. 19, 2015

THI Launch with Ringu Tulku

The Tibet Himalaya Initiative (THI) at CU Boulder celebrated the success of its inaugural semester with a graduate colloquium and reception in the Koenig Alumni Center on November 11, 2015. More than twenty-five graduate students, faculty, and supporters of THI from CU, Naropa University, and the Boulder community gathered for this celebration. In particular, the THI was honored to host the Tibetan Buddhist teacher and master translator Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, who inaugurated the initiative by placing a silk ceremonial scarf (kha btags) over the THI banner.

The celebration began with a graduate colloquium entitled “The Art of Translation” with Ringu Tulku and faculty members and affiliates Holly Gayley, Lucas Carmichael, and Jules Levinson. It was an engaging and lively conversation around the idea of various ‘fidelities’ in process of translation and the role of the translator in selecting different priorities in translation according to the genre of source materials. This conversation between our graduate students, esteemed guest, and faculty were facilitated by thought-provoking presentations by Lucas Carmichael on translations of the Daodejing and Holly Gayley on the poetry of the Sixth Dalai Lama. This was followed by a reception celebrating the dozen events that THI organized this semester.

Art of Translation

The Tibet Himalaya Initiative would like to express its thanks to all of our partners and friends for a wonderful first semester. We are especially grateful to the Chancellor who contributed special funds to inaugurate the Initiative, the Center for Asian Studies for their ongoing partnership in events, Naropa University for their collaboration on an annual Buddhist Studies lecture series, and the Department of Religious Studies who sponsored several of our major events this fall. The Tibet Himalaya Initiative is housed in the Department of Religious Studies.

We encourage you to spread the word as we prepare for events in the spring semester. April 4-10, 2016 is Tibetan Arts Week featuring Gonkar Gyatso, the widely-acknowledged founding father of modern Tibetan art and Jangbu/Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang, a prominent Tibetan poet and filmmaker. During Tibetan Arts Week, we will host lectures, a film screening, an art installment, poetry reading and more.

We look forward to seeing you at some of our events in 2016! To learn more, visit: www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative