About Śraddhāpa

As a Dharma translator, I aim to translate Buddhist sacred texts into clear, readable, elegant English in order to support and inspire English-speaking Buddhists in their practice.

I was born and grew up in Scotland, and have always loved learning other languages. My first degree was in Scandinavian languages and French, and I went on to study translation, religion, and the languages of the Buddhist scriptures – principally Sanskrit, but also some Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan. From 2006 to 2018 I lived in Oslo, working as a language teacher, studying at the University of Oslo, and practising and teaching at the Oslo Buddhist Centre. In 2018 I moved to Taiwan to improve my Chinese, and I am currently studying for a PhD in Buddhist Studies at Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts near Taipei.

I have been practising within the Triratna Buddhist Community since the age of 16, and I was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2015. As part of my ordination I was given the name Śraddhāpa, which means ‘He who protects his faith’ in Sanskrit.

Academic Qualifications

MA(Hons) Scandinavian Studies, University of Edinburgh, 2003
MA Advanced Scandinavian Translation Studies, University College London, 2006
Diploma of Education, University of Oslo, 2009
BA History of Religion, University of Oslo, 2012
MPhil Sanskrit, University of Oslo, 2017
MPhil English Literature, University of Oslo, 2019