Hi all,

I think that every reader of both English translations
will miss the two anchoring terms in the first two
lines: ye-shes and dbyings. Of course, there isn't
really any ultimate division between subject and
object, OK, if you are insisting, but wait a minute,
please, let's not jump way ahead of ourselves.
Assuming (as most of us must, except perhaps in rare
flashes of contemplative illumination) that this is
true, we still (perhaps must) go on talking using
subjectivizing and objectivizing terms, even with
regard to the ultimate non-dual Enlightenment
perspective. Even Buddhas are forced to communicate
to us in those dual-izing terms. Reluctantly.

So what I'm trying to say here is that ye-shes (for
which I'm preferring something like Full Knowledge
these days) and dbyings (which I, like most, always
translate Realm, even if it and Sanskrit dh‰tu both
have so many more rich and interesting meanings...)
Dbyings is the Domain of Full Knowledge.... (what Full
Knowledge sees 'out there' as if there were an 'in
there' or an 'out there').

The zung-'jug, which etymologically means 'entering
into a pair' (a Tibetan calque translation from
yuga-naddha, which could also be translated 'bound
together in the yoke'), but really means complete
unity, is specifically referring to the complete unity
of the just-mentioned two 'things' Ñ Full Knowledge
(viewed as something in the subject-side) and Realm
(viewed as being on the object-side).

But hey, I think both translations are excellent.
Like all translations, especially when, like this
verse, it's a matter of (if I may use the term, since
some will object to it) 'spiritual poetry', we
shouldn't/can't expect to capture every bit of meaning
in the target tongue. That's why we can't give up
learning languages, no matter how much we might
imagine it can all be 'preserved' for posterity in
global English! That's a delusion, I'd say. You can
never entirely trust a translator or a translation,
that's true. But what would you do without them?
Either pay them princely sums or sign up for language
classes, I say. Your call. Either way the people who
have learned languages will find employment.

Yours,
Dan



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