A Note from Matty Weingast on The First Free Women

[Sabrina]

@sujato

Do you have a source for this? Because in his post above, Weingast is clearly saying that he only acknowledges people’s individual truths, which can only mean that he will continue referring to his poems as translations if he feels that that is his truth.

No, I don’t have any source on this I could quote, aside from the new cover and description on the Amazon page which says

In The First Free Women, Matty Weingast has reimagined this ancient collection and created an original work that takes his experience of the essence of each poem and brings forth in his own words the struggles and doubts, as well as the strength, perseverance, and profound compassion, embodied by these courageous women.

and IMHO makes it clear that it’s not a translation. I don’t see why Matty should go around and state things differently than what is written on the cover of his own book.

@sujato

Can you not understand how frustrating this is for us? Can you not understand how difficult it is to trust people’s words when they are not backed up by actions? Do you not find yourself troubled at the mismatch between words and actions?

I do understand the frustration and I also wish that Matty could have addressed this in his statement. However, I can also see why it might be difficult for him to do so. After all, his poems did start out as a translation and later evolved into a different thing. For me, it’s like his poems are not a clone of the original (i.e. a translation) but the relationship is rather like child to parent - i.e. his poems were born from the contemplation of the original poems and his own inspiration. Which is why his poems are not an entity completely separate from the original poems - but neither are they a translation.

I have the hope that the Dhamma is big and wide enough to provide room for content like this - if it’s clearly delineated from the original text so as not to confuse anyone… something that unfortunately happened in this case. I agree with what @Konin said here:

@Konin

There must also be room for folks to give contemporary interpretations of the teachings and to comment on the texts. This too is an important part of carrying forward the tradition, finding it in relatable language and examples. The problem comes when we conflate the two, when personal experience is put forward as the teachings of the elders.