Dharma's Gatekeepers

Jonathan C. Gold is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Drew University.

"Sa-paṇ played a central part in the transfer of Buddhist culture to Tibet. Gold's book provides a valuable window into how this great scholar understood the enterprise of cultural translation in which he was engaged. It should be of interest not only to Tibetanists, but to many concerned with similar processes of cultural translation and adaptation in other contexts." — Religions of South Asia"Gold has taken us a step forward in the exploration of the Tibetan intellectual history, and particularly of Sakyapa learning." — Journal of the American Oriental Society"This book is a study of the Gateway to Learning … The writing throughout is elegant and entertaining. The book is naturally of specialist interest, but it also deals with larger issues surrounding translation, religious authority and language. The way these have been approached will appeal to everyone interested in the history of religion and Indian literature." — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society"To its credit, this book poses a host of questions to the fields of translation studies, theoretical linguistics, and hermeneutics in addition to Indian and Tibetan Buddhist intellectual history." — Journal of the American Academy of Religion"The Dharma's Gatekeepers strikes an impressive balance. Gold details the very specific concerns of a thirteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist scholar driven to maintain traditions adopted from ancient India. In the process, he casts light on currently debated issues in translation, aesthetics, hermeneutics, and authority." — H-Net Reviews"The Gateway is not an easy text to understand. Happily … Gold has risen to the challenge. His translations are accurate and readable, and his penetrating analysis of the text elegantly connects Sakya Pandita's claims to issues in translation studies, the epistemology of testimony, linguistics and linguistic anthropology, hermeneutics, rhetoric, poetics, education, and the study of the aesthetic dimensions of political power in India and Tibet … a very fine book and one that deserves a wide readership." — International Journal of Hindu Studies"Although parts of this important text have been previously translated and examined, Gold's analysis of what he calls Sakya Pandita's 'neoconservatism' is a fresh contribution, offering a fine examination of the ideals, methods, and anxieties of the Tibetan scholastic community." — Buddhadharma"This is a fascinating study of a major work in Tibetan intellectual history. Written with nuance and grace, it is poised to make a major contribution to the study of some of the key conceptual and ethical foundations of Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism and its relation to the intellectual traditions of India. In wider terms, it contributes to important discussions in the humanities." — Janet Gyatso, coeditor of Women in Tibet

• PrefaceAcknowledgments1. The Lion’s Roar in the Assembly:  Sa-pan’s Scholarly Ideal IntroductionThe Gateway in the History of Tibetan Learning Śākyaśrībhadra and the Indianization of TibetThe Five Sciences and the Goal of Scholarly Perfection2. Beware of the Dharma in Translation:  A Warning to Interpreters Introduction: Translation in Tibet and in the GatewayObscure VocabularyThe Techniques of TranslatorsTranslation Mistakes Unintelligible ContextUntranslatability Denied3. The Dharma Is Only Words:  A Philosophical Authorization of the Linguist IntroductionSkill in Means in the GatewayThe "Term Generality" at the Foundation of GrammarThe "Term Generality" in Sakyapa EpistemologySa-pan and Saussure on the Conceptuality and Conventionality of LanguageSa-pan and Sönam Tsemo on the Dharma as LanguageLinguistics as the Study of Convention: The "Speech Intention"4. The Expert Knows the Context:  Sa-pan’s Appeals to Buddhist Hermeneutics Introduction: Sa-pan’s Contribution to Buddhist HermeneuticsTantric Hermeneutics in the Background of the GatewayHow Words Get Their MeaningSa-pan’s Previous Position: Linguistic Analysis in the TreasurySa-pan’s Predecessors on "Well Known in the World" and "Well Known in Treatises"Well-known Terminology and Linguistic ConventionSa-pan’s General Theory of the "Well Known"  and Tantric HermeneuticsWhich Scholars Form the Community of Interpreters?Conclusion5. The Message in the Medium:  Intellectual Norms and Protocols IntroductionThe Three Kinds of Meaning in a Good Verse of ReverenceIntroductory Verses and the Social Function of RhetoricSynopsis as a Display of MasteryEnsuring Excellence by Declaring a Legitimate PurposeHow to Make Meaning EvidentConclusion6. Appealing to the Translocal:  Sanskrit Poetics for a Tibetan Buddhist Elite IntroductionSa-pan’s Buddhicization of the RasasApplying the RasasPoetics in Defense of the DharmaIntroducing Poetics to TibetansConclusion: Who Benefits from Aesthetic Cultivation?7. Conclusion: Thoughts on a Future Comparative Intellectual History Appendixes: A: OutlineB: The Gateway to Learning NotesTibetan Orthographic EquivalentsAbbreviations BibliographyIndex