Philip Yampolsky
Encyclopedia
Philip Boas Yampolsky was an eminent translator and scholar of Zen
Buddhism
and a former Director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University
. A scholar of Chinese and Japanese religious traditions and a specialist in Zen studies, Yampolsky was known for his translations of canonical Zen writings, which were used as textbooks in both graduate and undergraduate Asian studies courses in American universities. His style was regarded as highly analytical.
Yampolsky’s translations included the Platform Sutra
of the Sixth Patriarch
(1967) and The Zen Master Hakuin
: Selected Writings (1971), both published by Columbia University Press
. Yampolsky's last books before his death, Selected Writings of Nichiren
and Letters of Nichiren
, translated and elucidated the writings of the 13th century Buddhist intellectual and reformer whose thoughts inspired religious and political movements that remain active in Japan to this day. These books were published by Columbia University Press in 1990 and 1996.
In 1968, Yampolsky was appointed to the post of librarian of Columbia's East Asian Library, which was known as the C. V. Starr East Asian Library. It is one of the major such collections in the United States, with more than 600,000 items in Japanese
, Chinese
, Korean
, among others. Yampolsky remained in this position until 1981.
Yampolsky was born in New York City
on October 20, 1920 and was one of a pair of identical twins (his brother, Robert, died in 1987). His grandfather Franz Boas
was an anthropologist
who founded Columbia's Department of Anthropology. Yampolsky took his secondary education at the Horace Mann School
and graduated with his undergraduate degree in 1942 from Columbia College. He joined the United States Navy
that year in the midst of World War II
, which the United States had entered following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
in December 1941. Yampolsky studied Japanese
, training as a translator in an elite group at the Navy Language School in Boulder, Colorado
. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima
. He served under the Navy's Joint Intelligence Center. Yampolsky was awarded the Bronze Star
, being cited for his "meritorious service as a translator".
In the late 1940s on invitation from the Library of Congress, he joined Columbia Librarian Miwa Kai to help catalogue seized Japanese books acquired by the library from the Washington Document Center.
In 1954 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to work on his dissertation on Huineng
in Kyoto
, Japan
, where he lived for the following eight years. The Fulbright scholarship supported him for two years; then, after a year on his own, he was employed by Ruth Fuller Sasaki
as an active member of a group of scholars and writers who studied Zen, including scholar Burton Watson
, poet Gary Snyder
and Japanese academics Seizan Yanagida and Yoshitaka Iriya. They worked on influential texts such as The Record of Lin-Chi
and Zen Dust, which helped to popularise Zen in the English speaking world. In the summer of 1957, through his friendship with Snyder, he met Kyoto Women's University
student Yuiko Takeda, who became Yampolsky's wife the following year.
Yampolsky returned to the United States in 1962 to pursue further study at Columbia. He joined the staff of the East Asian Library and completed his Ph.D. in 1965, becoming library head in 1968. Yampolsky was promoted to a full professorship of Japanese in 1981. He retired in 1990 but continued as a special lecturer until 1994. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the Buddhist Studies Senior Scholar Award, created in his honor with gifts, mainly from Japan, through the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies, recognising his teaching and research career.
He died on July 28, 1996, at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City
at the age of 75. Yampolsky was survived by his wife, Yuiko, and their two children: Ruri and Robert. He had a daughter, Susan, from a previous marriage and left six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and a former Director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. A scholar of Chinese and Japanese religious traditions and a specialist in Zen studies, Yampolsky was known for his translations of canonical Zen writings, which were used as textbooks in both graduate and undergraduate Asian studies courses in American universities. His style was regarded as highly analytical.
Yampolsky’s translations included the Platform Sutra
Platform Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch , is a Buddhist scripture that was composed in China. It is one of the seminal texts in the Chan/Zen schools. It is centered on discourses given at Shao Zhou temple attributed to the sixth Chan patriarch, Huineng...
of the Sixth Patriarch
Huineng
Dajian Huineng was a Chinese Chán monastic who is one of the most important figures in the entire tradition, according to standard Zen hagiographies...
(1967) and The Zen Master Hakuin
Hakuin Ekaku
was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He revived the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice...
: Selected Writings (1971), both published by Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
. Yampolsky's last books before his death, Selected Writings of Nichiren
Nichiren
Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching...
and Letters of Nichiren
Nichiren
Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching...
, translated and elucidated the writings of the 13th century Buddhist intellectual and reformer whose thoughts inspired religious and political movements that remain active in Japan to this day. These books were published by Columbia University Press in 1990 and 1996.
In 1968, Yampolsky was appointed to the post of librarian of Columbia's East Asian Library, which was known as the C. V. Starr East Asian Library. It is one of the major such collections in the United States, with more than 600,000 items in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, among others. Yampolsky remained in this position until 1981.
Yampolsky was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on October 20, 1920 and was one of a pair of identical twins (his brother, Robert, died in 1987). His grandfather Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
was an anthropologist
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
who founded Columbia's Department of Anthropology. Yampolsky took his secondary education at the Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
and graduated with his undergraduate degree in 1942 from Columbia College. He joined the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
that year in the midst of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, which the United States had entered following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
in December 1941. Yampolsky studied Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, training as a translator in an elite group at the Navy Language School in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. He served under the Navy's Joint Intelligence Center. Yampolsky was awarded the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
, being cited for his "meritorious service as a translator".
In the late 1940s on invitation from the Library of Congress, he joined Columbia Librarian Miwa Kai to help catalogue seized Japanese books acquired by the library from the Washington Document Center.
In 1954 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to work on his dissertation on Huineng
Huineng
Dajian Huineng was a Chinese Chán monastic who is one of the most important figures in the entire tradition, according to standard Zen hagiographies...
in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where he lived for the following eight years. The Fulbright scholarship supported him for two years; then, after a year on his own, he was employed by Ruth Fuller Sasaki
Ruth Fuller Sasaki
Ruth Fuller Sasaki , born Ruth Fuller, was an important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett , she met and studied with Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki in Japan in 1930...
as an active member of a group of scholars and writers who studied Zen, including scholar Burton Watson
Burton Watson
Burton Watson is an accomplished translator of Chinese and Japanese literature and poetry. He has received awards including the Gold Medal Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1981 for his translation with Hiroaki Sato of From the Country of...
, poet Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
and Japanese academics Seizan Yanagida and Yoshitaka Iriya. They worked on influential texts such as The Record of Lin-Chi
Linji
Línjì Yìxuán was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Linji was born into a family named Xing in Caozhou , which he left at a young age to study Buddhism in many places....
and Zen Dust, which helped to popularise Zen in the English speaking world. In the summer of 1957, through his friendship with Snyder, he met Kyoto Women's University
Kyoto Women's University
is a private women's college in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1899, and it was chartered as a university in 1949.-External links:*...
student Yuiko Takeda, who became Yampolsky's wife the following year.
Yampolsky returned to the United States in 1962 to pursue further study at Columbia. He joined the staff of the East Asian Library and completed his Ph.D. in 1965, becoming library head in 1968. Yampolsky was promoted to a full professorship of Japanese in 1981. He retired in 1990 but continued as a special lecturer until 1994. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the Buddhist Studies Senior Scholar Award, created in his honor with gifts, mainly from Japan, through the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies, recognising his teaching and research career.
He died on July 28, 1996, at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
at the age of 75. Yampolsky was survived by his wife, Yuiko, and their two children: Ruri and Robert. He had a daughter, Susan, from a previous marriage and left six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.