Longing to Awaken

Buddhist Devotion in Tibetan Poetry and Song

Holly Gayley, Dominique Townsend, Holly Gayley, Dominique Townsend

• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9780813950686
• eBook ISBN:
  9780813950709
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Philosophy of Religion

An indispensable collection of Buddhist devotional poems and songs

Longing to Awaken features twenty-five translations of Buddhist devotional poems and songs composed by revered Tibetan masters from diverse traditions and time periods. The anthology invites readers to experience a variety of poetic forms that embody a range of emotions, from grief and longing to skepticism and humor, demonstrating the ways that poetry can inspire faith as well as reflect the profundity and at times fraught nature of the teacher-student relationship. This collection gives weight to literary—not simply literal—translation as a crucial endeavor in the transmission of Buddhism today, one with the potential to raise the profile of Tibetan poetry onto the stage of global literature.

Featuring a remarkable interview with esteemed Tibetan master Jetsün Khandro Rinpoché to elucidate Buddhist devotion and a landmark essay by Lama Jabb articulating a Tibetan theory for translating poetry.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Note on Translation and Transliteration
• Editorial Introduction
• Devotion and Discernment
• An Act of Bardo: Translating Tibetan Poetry
• Devotional Poetry and Songs from Tibet
• List of Contributors
• Index