God in Tibetan: On the Use of an Impersonal Concept as a Translation for “God”

Abstract

The word for God used in many Bible translations in Tibetan-related languages is dkon mchog, a Tibetan Buddhist concept originally designating the so-called “Buddhist Trinity”: Buddha, dharma (the teachings), and sangha (the community of disciples). The expression was first used by Jesuit missionaries in the eighteenth century, and a review of their argumentation shows that its use is due to more than simply its superficial resemblance to the Christian Trinity. Expressions used in translation for unknown concepts undergo over time a semantic shift, by which the concept is reinterpreted and filled with new content corresponding to the biblical understanding. This shift can take place via metonymic or metaphoric extension, and the change is relatively unconstrained. The metonymic shift required in order for the concept dkon mchog to convey the biblical meaning is not likely to result in polysemy and may therefore give less cause for misunderstanding than the polysemous expressions (God/god) used in most other Bible translations.