Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte (21 November 1903 – 5 May 1983) was a Belgian

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and Professor of Greek at the Catholic University of Louvain, but was better known as an

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') i ...

and the greatest authority on

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

in the West in his time. He studied under his pioneering compatriot Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and was one of the few scholars familiar with all the main Buddhist languages:

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

, Chinese and

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...

. His first published work was his PhD thesis: ''Notes sur le Bhagavad-Gita'' (Paris, Geuthner, 1929). - In 1953, he was awarded the Francqui Prize in Human Science.

The Translation of Da zhi du lun

He is also known for his French translation of the

Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa The ''Dà zhìdù lùn'' (abbreviated DZDL), (Chinese: 大智度論, Wade-Giles: ''Ta-chih-tu lun''; Japanese: ''Daichido-ron'' (as in Taishō Tripiṭaka no. 1509); ''The Treatise on the Great Prajñāpāramitā'') is a massive Mahāyāna Buddh ...

(, English: Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom), a text attributed to

Nāgārjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

. Lamotte thought that the text was most likely composed by an Indian

bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics (" nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...

from the

Sarvastivada The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosop ...

tradition, who later became a

convert Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

. Lamotte's translation was published in five volumes but unfortunately remains incomplete, since his death put an end to his efforts.

Other works

In addition to the

, Lamotte also composed several other important translations from

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an ap ...

s, including the Suramgamasamadhi sutra, and the Vimalakirti

Publications

Paul Williams, author of a book review of one of Lamotte's books for the '' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', wrote that his "works are always more than just translations or interpretations. They are vast encyclopedias of references and primary source materials from half a dozen languages which he seems to handle with complete familiarity."Williams, p. 171. *''Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra)'' vol. 1 (1944) *''Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra)'' vol. 2 (1949) *''Histoire du bouddhisme indien'' (1958) trans. into English as ''The History of Indian Buddhism'' 1988. *''The Spirit of Ancient Buddhism'' (1961) *''

The Teaching of Vimalakirti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa) ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1962) ( Pali Text Soc. trans. 1986) *'' Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra, The Concentration of Heroic Progress: An Early Mahayana Buddhist Scripture'' (1965) (Eng. trans: Curzon Press 1998) *''Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra)'' vol. 3 (1970) *''Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra)'' vol. 4 (1976) *''Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra)'' vol. 5 (1980) *''Karmasiddhi Prakarana'', English trans. Leo M. Pruden 1988.

References

* André Bareau: ''Etienne Lamotte 1903-1983'', ''

T'oung Pao ''T’oung Pao'' (; ), founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology. It is published by the publisher E. J. Brill. ''T'oung Paos original full title was ''T’oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l’étud ...

'', Second Series, Vol. 69, No. 1/3 (1983), pp. i-ii. * Heinz Bechert, In Memoriam Etienne Lamotte (1903-1983), ''

Numen Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for " divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (''divina mens''), a god "whose numen ev ...

'', Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jul., 1985), pp. 119-129. * Heinz Bechert
Etienne Lamotte (1903-1983)
Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 8 (2), 151-156, 1985. * Durt Hubert
Etienne Lamotte (1903-1983)
''

Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient The French School of the Far East (french: École française d'Extrême-Orient, ), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of Asian societies. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in wh ...

'', Tome 74, 1985. pp. 6-28. * Williams, Paul M. " The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa)" (book review) '' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', , 04/1979, Volume 111, Issue 2, pp. 171 – 172.

Notes

External links