rGyud - Tantra - Lineation
Transfusance is my new translation for the Sanskrit "tantra," Tibetan "rGyud." (Yes, I am generally against "translating" Tibetan words into Sanskrit words for an English translation... [The practice is perfectly acceptable for a Sanskrit translation, however...])
Tibetan range of meanings for "rGyud:" continuum, continual, thread, line, lineage, the string that runs through something to connect it, stream of being, that which joins things together, tie, fasten...
Sanskrit "Tantra:" a loom, treatises on ritual, the main or essential part, to weave, having wires, stringed, the strings of a musical instrument, the propagation of familial lineage...
(The connotation is similar to how we might say, in English, "a string of victories;" meaning there was an uninterrupted "string" of them...)
As you can see, the basic thrust of the term is that there is a tying together, a union, a joining, a fusing, which is complete. There is also the underlying sense of a lineage, a passing on, a transmission. These two essential aspects are both relayed in the word, "transfuse:"
Transfuse means "to transfer by pouring:" from "trans," across, and "fundere," to pour, meaning "to pour from one container to another" (notice how nicely this works with the Buddhist metaphor of disciples as "containers" or "vessels," Tib. sNod)
Since "transfusance" is a little bulky and odd, I currently prefer "lineation" (an arrangement of lines, from linea, thread or line) as an acceptable translation for "tantra"...
Tibetan range of meanings for "rGyud:" continuum, continual, thread, line, lineage, the string that runs through something to connect it, stream of being, that which joins things together, tie, fasten...
Sanskrit "Tantra:" a loom, treatises on ritual, the main or essential part, to weave, having wires, stringed, the strings of a musical instrument, the propagation of familial lineage...
(The connotation is similar to how we might say, in English, "a string of victories;" meaning there was an uninterrupted "string" of them...)
As you can see, the basic thrust of the term is that there is a tying together, a union, a joining, a fusing, which is complete. There is also the underlying sense of a lineage, a passing on, a transmission. These two essential aspects are both relayed in the word, "transfuse:"
Transfuse means "to transfer by pouring:" from "trans," across, and "fundere," to pour, meaning "to pour from one container to another" (notice how nicely this works with the Buddhist metaphor of disciples as "containers" or "vessels," Tib. sNod)
Since "transfusance" is a little bulky and odd, I currently prefer "lineation" (an arrangement of lines, from linea, thread or line) as an acceptable translation for "tantra"...
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