On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Ka-Ter Translation Project, I congratulate the Shang Shung Institute Austria on its tremendous achievement! This project has ensured that the indispensable wisdom of Tibetan culture will be passed to present and future generations! In particular, the presentation of the unique contributions of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu to the revelation of Dzogchen teachings as well as all aspects of Tibetan history and culture are invaluable. This is a tremendous gift to students of Dzogchen and to the public at large. Reflective of their value, the technical quality of the publications is also superb in all respects. Best wishes for the continuation of their work!
Will Shea, Buckland, Massachusetts, USA, Sponsor of the Ka-Ter Translation Project
The Ka-Ter Translation Project is a radiant example of extraordinary professionalism and accountability within the International Dzogchen Community. In 2002 Chögyal Namkhai Norbu asked Oliver Leick to be responsible for finding funds for the Ka-Ter Translation Project, so that the translators could focus on their very demanding and tiring job to translate wisdom-texts from Tibetan into English. Thanks to the funds raised by Oliver Leick, and thanks to the indispensable donations received, such a unique project founded by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu has a future, and the Shang Shung Institute Austria could not only assist the translators with monthly donations, but also pay for their life insurance every month. From an institutional point of view, Oliver Leick’s authoritative management, his tireless commitment to Rinpoche’s view, his reliability makes Ka-Ter Project and Shang Shung Institute one of the best worldwide projects to preserve Tibetan Cultural heritage in general and in particular the unbelievable spiritual heritage of our precious Master. With this occasion I want to thank Oliver Leick very much for his continuous support and advice to Atiyoga Foundation Department of Research and Documentation and for his friendship in a mutual open, loyal collaboration. Long life to the Ka-Ter Project!
Paolo Roberti di Sarsina, MD, Bologna, Italy, Director, Research and Documentation Department of the Atiyoga Foundation
Ka-Ter is a very important project that makes valuable teachings in the Tibetan language available to a wide audience. Particularly I feel it so precious because there are plans to translate the numerous and different teachings, writings and biography of our master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.
Adriana Dal Borgo, Italy, International instructor of Vajra Dance and Khaita
A long time ago Oliver Leick approached me with a question, would I like to support the Ka-Ter Translation Project. It was written in a very elaborate way, so I was not sure, what part was true and how much marketing was in that message. But after some time, I sent my first donations and slowly I started to understand, what an impressive initiative is behind the name Ka-Ter Translation Project. I am grateful to everybody who is working on this heroic task of translating all these deep wisdoms into currently active languages, to make it accessible even to future generations. Thank you, Oliver, to be so persistent in fundraising for this project, I would hardly find anything else more important these days to support.
Libor Maly, Czech Republic , Sponsor of the Ka-Ter Translation Project
As practitioners and Community members we are blessed to have a project such as the Ka-Ter. We cannot express enough the importance of the translation project from Tibetan language, carried out by experts who worked closely with our teacher. Dharma text translation is a long and precise work and developing skills and knowledge to do it is a lifelong endeavor. Rinpoche has transmitted to us so many precious teachings and our ability, as a community, to bring them to fruit and preserve them depends on projects such as the Ka-Ter. Looking through the list of books that were translated and published in these 20 years, we feel touched with gratitude. We believe we should all support the translators’ work through the Ka-Ter project!
Gakyil of the Dzogchen Community Merigar East, Romania
Over the past 20 years, Oliver Leick, one of the earliest disciples of Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, has been commissioned by our precious Master to direct the Ka-Ter project. Oliver has worked hard, and thanks to his invaluable work, the Western world now enjoys the translation of ancient texts and sacred Buddhist teachings. Oliver did not just direct, but he also participated by engaging in the search for donors who could support Ka-Ter’s various projects. He and his family participated as donors. For this we are very grateful for his work. An immense thanks to donors and workers who, with their great help, have contributed to the development of this fantastic project. Thank you with all my heart!
Migmar Tsering, Italy, Director of Dynamic Space of the Elements
In 2002 Chögyal Namkhai Norbu entrusted the Shang Shung Institute Austria with the financial responsibility of the work for translation of Tibetan texts. This 2022 we celebrate the 20 years of Ka-Ter: the structure of the Shang Shung Institute Austria directed by Oliver Leick, which along these years besides the challenging financial responsibility for the translation of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche’s Teachings, dedicated also towards the teaching of the Tibetan language to Dzogchen practitioners. In these twenty years, dozens of titles have been produced and then translated into the languages of the four quadrants of the world. In addition to Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, our texts go to the United States, UK, China, Latin America and even Australia, all headquarters of the International Dzogchen Community, wherever there is a need to deepen the teachings of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. It is also worth being reminded that beyond the uniqueness of such literature is the quality of its research for the highest profile and accuracy. Rinpoche teaches that everything is impermanent and when our life comes to an end and we will no longer exist, it will be essential that the precious teachings that have been transmitted to us find life in other minds and that they are consciously guarded. In short, it is necessary to avoid that everything ends. That is why an important structure like Ka-Ter exists, both for the benefit of our nowadays Dzogchen Community and to ensure its future life, keeping in mind the importance of such precious and rare Tibetan Teachings and the necessity to preserve it.
Enrica Rispoli, Torino, Italy, An early student of Rinpoche who also studied Tibetan with him at the Oriental University, Naples
Since the birth of the Ka-Ter project in 2002 I have tried, according to my possibilities, to support it, convinced of its importance. Inspired by our Master and dedicated to the translation of fundamental Dzogchen texts by our expert translators and Tibetologists, Adriano Clemente, Elio Guarisco and Jim Valby and with the fundamental collaboration of the Master himself, the essential quality of Ka-Ter lies in trying to have an accurate and faithful translation both of the texts for practice and for those wonderful texts that the Tibetan tradition has given us over hundreds of years and, very important for the Dzogchen Community, the complete work of our beloved Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. It has now been 20 years since the day of the foundation and many things have happened both sad and happy, but I consider the project that Oliver Leick is carrying out with care and passion of the utmost importance for all those who love and are interested in the culture of Tibet, the Land of the Snows.
Massimo Orsi, Italy, Member of the Board of Directors of Shang Shung Publications
The first formal publishing activity of the Dzogchen Community goes back to 1983, when Shang Shung Edizioni/Publications was set up at Merigar in Italy for spreading the Dzogchen teaching that Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was already transmitting in the Western countries for a few years, from 1976. The main concern at that time was to have books containing the practices and the related explanations given by the Master, but of course the translation of original Dzogchen texts from the Tibetan has always been a primary task of our publishing house. This task became even more compelling when Rinpoche started to transmit his own terma teachings belonging to the Longsal Cycle. The translations of Tibetan original texts, performed by practitioners that were former Rinpoche’s students at the University of Naples, was very demanding in terms of time and immersion in this specific field of ancient Tibetan language. Therefore, after a while a project called Complete Works of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was set up, whose aim was collecting funds for the translation of Rinpoche’s writings that was mainly entrusted to Adriano Clemente. Very soon the need of translating Tibetan texts related to the Dzogchen teachings grew even more, and other translators like Jim Valby and Elio Guarisco were involved in the ongoing publications activity of the Dzogchen Community. Therefore in 2002 all the projects aimed at supporting the translation of Tibetan original texts were grouped in the Ka-Ter Project that Rinpoche entrusted to Oliver Leick, director of Shang Shung Institute Austria. With his tireless fundraising activity Oliver succeeded in giving our translators the possibility to work fulltime at making the ancient wisdom of the Tibetan Dzogchen masters available to Western readers, backing in a substantial way the activity of Shang Shung Publications that, without this support, could not have published all the books that are available in its amazing catalog. Working for more than 30 years within our Shang Shung publishing house, I am really impressed by the huge work that was done on the thrust of our Master who always encouraged us in any way to persist in making the Dzogchen teaching spread also in paper and digital form all over the world. These teachings represent a unique corpus of works that cannot be found anywhere else in this globe. The hundreds of titles published by Shang Shung Publications with the support of the Ka-Ter Project have now reached the amount of 1140 versions translated into English, Italian, German, French, Spain, Polish, Rumanian, Portuguese, Greek, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Dutch, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian and Chinese languages. I thank Oliver wholeheartedly for having played and playing an important role in this meritorious and precious activity. I really hope that our readers are encouraged to sustain and support the translation and publication of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s wisdom works through their generous donations and purchases that so far made this incredible non-profit enterprise successful.
Igor Legati, Italy, Santi Maha Sangha Base Level Instructor, Member of the Board of Directors of Shang Shung Publications
For many, many years the Ka-Ter Project has helped support skilled translators to fulfill the need of having quality translations of many important texts. Not an easy task! For that we should all be thankful!
Fabio Andrico, Italy, Santi Maha Sangha Base Level Instructor, International Instructor of Yantra Yoga, Director of the Ati Movement and Mind Department of the Atiyoga Foundation
The history of the transmission of Dzogchen teachings is a fascinating subject. There were challenging times for the spreading of Dzogchen when just a few words transmitted orally and in secret carried the essence of the meaning of millions of tantras, but there is now a wealth of texts available and connected to the teachings of our Master. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu himself wrote many books on different subjects, taught extensively from the most important of the Dzogchen tantras and from many other texts of great Dzogchen teachers such as Longchenpa and Jigmed Lingpa. As for the terma literature, he transmitted methods connected to his own revelations through dreams and to his teacher Changchub Dorje’s spiritual treasures. A great deal of this literature is being translated by the Ka-Ter Translation Project which took up this crucial task in 2002. By studying these extraordinary translations, we can validate our understanding of the teachings through textual references and contribute to pass on the teachings in an authentic way. From 2003 – 2018 the Ka-Ter Project organized Tibetan Translation Courses too through which we can acquire the skills to read and understand this complex and fascinating language. Personally, I feel a great satisfaction in being able to read the original texts written by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for us, his students. The two decades-long dedication of the SSI-Austria to these tasks is really praiseworthy and we should not lose the opportunity to sustain and contribute to its mission, as there are still many texts whose wisdom awaits to be unlocked by our translators.
Monica Gentile, Nepal/Italy, Santi Maha Sangha Base Level Instructor, Director of the Scientific Committee of Meditation of the Atiyoga Foundation