I think it's very important at this stage in the history of Dharma in the West to study Tibetan.
The Sacred Beauty of Tibetan Language
Of course, not everything has been translated into English.
And also when you know a bit of Tibetan and Dharma,
then you start to notice that the English language itself is a bit inadequate.
It can't really translate everything, you know,
because English isn't, after all, a spiritual-based language.
It didn't develop out of spirituality,
whereas Tibetan very much did develop through spirituality.
Some Shakespeareans may argue that case!
But the English language basically, as we know,
is a whole hodgepodge of other languages throughout history,
and it's developed really out of commerce, trade, and law.
English language and law is just fantastic,
and let's hope that in the future it can become fantastic in the law of Dharma!
So it's been very interesting as a person growing up with the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the West,
seeing it from its very early days in the late 1960s and early 1970s, to how it's developed now.
To learn the Tibetan language, to learn to read,
it's like having a golden key to this great wealth of wisdom.
And then you don't have to rely on some dubious or ambiguous translations.
There are some fantastic young translators now,
and I'm very encouraged to see that, it's wonderful.
A lot of great young practitioners and translators.
So I feel very optimistic for the future,
but it still has a long way to go.
To translate all the Kangyur and the Tengyur,
the 108 volumes of the Kangyur,
and the 240 or whatever it is volumes of the Tengyur, the commentaries,
that will take a lifetime, with a whole army of translators to get through it all.
There's a lot!
But if you learn yourself, then you're straight in there.
What's even more important with learning to write Tibetan,
the visual aspect,
is when we relate it to our own practice of the sadhanas and mantra recitation,
and the visualization techniques that we are taught and given.
Some of them are quite daunting and complicated,
like for instance Kalachakra, which is very complicated and has an awful lot going on.
So to learn how to properly form a seed syllable, for example,
how to write a seed syllable, it helps you to memorize it by heart.
It helps you understand how each part of the seed syllable represents the different qualities of sound,
it really helps us with our visualization of a seed syllable within our own heart as a deity,
and how the mantra is arranged around the outside,
either facing outwards or facing inwards,
and all the lovely lights and bells and whistles and everything else going on.
It really helps.
I think a lot of the time for us as Westerners,
for myself I have a very vivid imagination,
but for some others who lack a good imagination,
they struggle with visualization.
So to learn how to write really helps weld that.
Another aspect is the sacred, or divine shape of the letters.
Especially when we talk about the classical 'uchen' script, which is based on Sanskrit.
This is what is used for the visualization of mantras.
There are certain mantras that are said to give liberation just through seeing the mantra,
or liberation through hearing the mantra, or speaking the mantra, or visualizing the mantra.
They are the embodiment of the enlightened qualities that they represent,
and the enlightened quality of sound that they represent.
How that works is by putting us who are on a normal, relative level,
connecting us through the mantra, through the visualization,
through the deity et cetera,
connecting us to what is more ultimate,
which is actually right next door to the relative,
it helps us to connect that.
So learning how to form the letters properly to the correct proportion,
the proportion of the letters is based on a geometric grid,
it's all symbolic, or let me rephrase that,
it's all a sacred geometry that comes from an enlightened mind.
So again, it's putting us in touch with that which is enlightened.
So there's a lot to consider here with learning how to write Tibetan.