Ep175: Dakini Translations - Adele Tomlin
Adele Tomlin is a Buddhist practitioner, writer, poet, and independent scholar-translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts.
Available on Youtube, iTunes, SoundCloud & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
Adele recalls her upbringing in England, training as a barrister, and work as a strategist in the city of London, before a chance meeting with the 17th Karmapa changed her life forever.
Adele traces her beginnings in becoming a Buddhist, her studies of the Tibetan language in Nepal, and thriving in the academic rigour of Tibetology at the University of Hamburg.
Adele discusses her published works, shares her research and translation process, and explores the implications of the shentong vs rangtong doctrines of emptiness.
Adele also expresses her frustration with gate-keeping in academia, reveals the reasons behind her founding of DakiniTranslations.com, and shares her research into the forgotten female mystics of India and Tibet.
Topics include:
00:00 - Intro
01:05 - Endorsed by scholars
02:53 - Miranda Shaw
03:48 - Adele’s upbringing
04:35 - Training as a barrister and entering the city of London
07:39 - Dissatisfaction with life and training in yoga and philosophy
08:53 - Life changing meeting with the 17th Karmapa
14:47 - Reaction of friends and family
15:33 - Learning Tibetan to be closer to the guru
17:33 - Studying Tibetan in Nepal and India
20:28 - Discovering a talent for the Tibetan language
21:46 - The power of past life connections
28:22 - Studying Tibetology at the University of Hamburg
30:08 - Adele adjusts to the academic rigour at Hamburg
32:29 - The importance of practice experience when translating Vajrayana texts
34:54 - Publishes her first critical edition translation
36:30 - Philological and philosophical challenges of translating Taranatha's commentary on the Heart Sutra
41:04 - Rangtong vs Shentong
48:13 - The implications of the shentong view for practice
54:11 - Taranatha’s shentong reading of the Heart Sutra
55:08 - Frustration with gatekeeping in academia and founding dakinitranslations dot com
01:00:25 - Making Buddhist translation and research accessible and relatable
01:03:16 - Ethics of profiting from dharma
01:04:23 - The secret of Adele’s prolific output
01:06:33 - How Adele chooses which texts to translate
01:11:14 - Research into forgotten female mystics and masters
01:15:39 - Humour in Vajrayana and pointing out all male panels
01:18:36 - Male dominated lineage trees
01:20:08 - ‘Dakini Translations’ and British humour
To find out more about Adele Tomlin, visit:
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James