Third flavor of the Sanskrit word sutra: brief, short. Do, MDO

Excerpt from Meditation, First Cornerstone of the Yoga Sutra
Class 1: Yogi, Dancer, Thinker, Doctor.

The third meaning requires—we get a lot of insight into what things mean by looking at how the Tibetans translated it. Tibetans, in a 700-year effort, translated almost 5,000 Sanskrit books. Nobody in the world has ever translated anything like the Tibetans. Over seven centuries, they translated 5,000 Sanskrit books, and there were very strict rules. There had to be two Sanskrit masters from India, and two master Tibetan translators had to collaborate on each book, so it was a very strict process. And they came out with like—we still have 18 different manuals… translation manuals from the Tibetan that explain how they made their decisions about which words to use. And they’re very useful for reading the Yoga Sutra, okay. Anyway, the word that they chose to use for sutra is called do. Can you guys see that? You know. Say do.

(students)

Do.

Do.

(students)

Do.
Now you gotta know all the senses of do because this is…this is what the Tibetan translators were feeling when they chose the word, okay. The first meaning of do is brief. Okay. And that’s the beauty. I mean, the most famous books of ancient Asia are all the short ones. Heart Sutra, Yoga Sutra. These survived the test of time. I mean, a master has to know how to keep it short. You know, His Holiness always shows up on time, he always finishes on time, and he keeps it short. You know, he just, boom. If you went to Central Park and you heard him this year, last year, he’s like boom, he gets it said and he leaves. “See you later, thank you!” He just, “Thank you.” And he’s out, you know? And you know like a real master knows how to keep it sweet, simple, pure, boom. You know and that’s the first meaning of… that’s third meaning of sutra is short. Okay.


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short.