FUTURE TENSE AND MODALITY IN CLASSICAL TIBETAN OF BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES

Abstract

People from the East have a completely different perception of time compared with Europeans. One of the best ways to understand the mentality of people and the grammar of time in each culture is through the study of languages, where abstract ideas and notions are expressed in concrete terms. Therefore, three languages have been selected for comparison. Tibetan is treated as a representative of the Eastern civilization, English – as a representative of the Western civilization. Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European language family. However, geographically it has a closer connection to Asian (Indian) culture; therefore, it forms a conceptual bridge between the two traditions.

The research is mainly based on a close-to-text grammatical analyses of the Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (or Bodhicaryāvatāra) by Śāntideva. Specific features of Tibetan verbs and auxiliary constructions referring to the future tense are examined in comparison with Sanskrit and English text versions. Conclusions offer insightful and practically relevant observations on modes of expression in Classical Tibetan, which are shaped by distinct cultural characteristics and spiritual attitudes. By comparing the Tibetan text with its Sanskrit and English counterparts, the author contributes to a clearer understanding of Tibetan verbal forms and proposes several approaches to their translation into English.