Alumna Christine Wee recalls moments during translation work when she would think, Oh, so that’s what it means! “Those realizations brought a lot of joy, and sometimes even transformed the way I practice,” she says.

For Christine, the path of Buddhist translation has been as much about inner cultivation as it has been about language. By day, she works full-time in the world of IT consulting. Once the weekend starts on Friday afternoon, she joins the alumni translation group to work on the Earth Store Sutra. “Before we start translation, we will recite the opening verses to be mentally prepared, and I think this is a good routine reminder.”

“Why not join the program first?”

Christine’s interest in translation was first sparked by books that her father brought home, introducing the family to Buddhism after he had encountered Master Hua’s commentary on the Earth Store Sutra. In the books, Christine read about the translation activities of BTTS.

Back then she expressed interest in volunteering as a translator, but nothing came of it at the time. After exploring the DRBU website, which senior DRBA monk Reverend Heng Sure had mentioned in one of his Avatamsaka Sutra lectures, she thought, “Why not join the translation program first? Maybe that way I’ll be more qualified and have a better chance of being accepted as a volunteer translator.”

She was looking for a way to engage in lasting volunteer work that could make a positive impact on people’s lives and at the same time help her create good karma before leaving this world.

“I began this translation journey because I wanted to commit to a long-term spiritual practice—something I could carry with me into retirement and continue for the rest of my life,” she says.

A New Way of Engaging

Christine finds the translation program especially memorable because she comes from a hard science background. “The learning style at DRBU was so different from what I was used to, sometimes my mind would float away. But overall I enjoyed it.”

She remembers the diversity of materials the class worked on: sutras, verses, poems, and commentaries. While some projects felt daunting, others were lighthearted and memorable. “One time, we were asked to do an Edgar Allan Poe–style interpretation of Zhuang Zhou. That one was really fun.”

The learning style opened her eyes to a new way of engaging with texts and ideas. “I found this translation program to be deeply enriching—not only spiritually, helping me understand sutra texts better, but also practically, as it allowed me to practice translation and brush up on my English. I wish I had started this journey earlier,” she says.

How It Feels to a Reader

According to Christine, translation is different from her IT and math background, where work tends to be very logical and technical. Translation challenged her to use her brain in a different way. “I had to consider how a translated passage feels to a reader. Does it make sense? What did the Buddha mean when he taught this sutra?”

Conversations with teammates, sometimes debating the meaning of a single sentence for over an hour, helped deepen her understanding. “Often, I’d have moments where I’d think, ‘Oh, so that’s what it means!’—things I had read many times but never truly understood. Those realizations brought a lot of joy, and sometimes even transformed the way I practice.”

Patience and Open-Mindedness

Some of the most valuable things Christine says she has taken from the Translation Certificate Program are patience and open-mindedness. “During the program, we not only learned from Dharma teachers from two thousand years ago and those who are still teaching today. I also learned from my cohorts that writing reflective journals is helpful.”

She shared with us the following reflection:

After reading the Five Skandhas Lab document, I felt it was a good practice and wanted to share it with my friend. So I clicked the button to download the file, but nothing happened. I clicked again—still no response. I immediately felt irritated that it didn’t work. But then I remembered what I had just read: that I should “learn to be a witness, not the main actress of the drama that unfolds in my mind.” After that thought, I felt calmer and quickly wrote this down in my reflective journal.

I found that just by reading through the instructions—especially when feeling restless or irritated—it helped remind me to “simply observe,” “don’t hold on to it,” and gradually, after reading the whole thing, I felt calmer.

For those considering the translation program, Christine’s advice is to try attending a few classes first to get a feel for the work. “Oh, and a heads-up: do you get upset when someone edits your translation? If yes, you’d better find a Zen way to get over it—because edits will happen.”

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Read Christine’s interpretation of a passage from Zhuangzi, using Edgar Allan Poe’s poetic style: A Butterfly When He Was Dreaming.