What language is that?

In many Buddhist circles, the English used to talk about practice and Buddhist concepts has evolved in some strange ways, different in different traditions, but sufficiently widespread that one can now call it Bunglish, for Buddhist Hybrid English.

There is no doubt that Buddhism changes languages as it becomes part of a new culture. It affected the evolution of Sanskrit, leading modern scholars to coin the term Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. Paul Griffiths, as far back as 1981, used the term Buddhist Hybrid English to refer to the "often incomprehensible result of attempts to faithfully translate Buddhist texts into English."

Over the next few months, I will post examples of Bunglish from various translations and suggest alternative ways of expressing the same ideas in more natural English. I invite you to send in your own examples, too.