ལས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་པར་འགྱར་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་གཞང intro.36

intro.36

This translation into English was made directly from the Tibetan text of the Degé edition with the help of its parallel versions. However, mention must be made of the pioneering French translation by Léon Feer in 1883. This French Sanskritist and Orientalist, who was the first to translate Kangyur materials into a European language, gave us the first translation of Transformation of Karma in a European language in his Fragments: Extraits du Kandjour.³⁵ However, Feer did not have at his disposal the wealth of material on the Karma­vibhaṅga group of texts that we have today, and he was thus unable to consult similar or related versions of the text to assist him in his efforts to make sense of obscure and difficult passages in the Tibetan text. Our translation refers frequently to Feer’s translation in the notes, especially where Feer’s interpretation of the Tibetan deviates from ours.³⁶ However, our translation should not be considered definitive or final. Rather, it is an attempt to improve upon Feer’s where possible.