English-Sanskrit Translation please?

[mattknobs]

Hi, I was hoping you could help me translate this…

“The path towards Buddhahood” or “Pathway towards Buddhahood”

I am not concerned about a literal translation but something as close as possible to any of those words (towards/to, buddhahood/enlightenment, the path,pathway, etc)

I may be wrong but the words I think are:

marga - the path?, pathway? (I also saw Maarga, Pathi, and Patha as possible substitutes with variations on the spellings)?
upa, prati-, abhimukha, abhimukham - towards? (not sure which is best for the sentence)?
buddhatva - buddhahood ?

Thanks so much for the help!

[Terje]

I actually studied sanskrit at the university several years ago. Forgotten too much to be of any direct help right now, I’d have to check with the books first (if I can find them… ), but here are two thoughts: This sentence (or something very similar) should be there somewhere within the tradition and in that case I’d use the traditional version of it instead of trying to come up with one of my own. I’d say it’s more likely to be one word than a typical sentence, a composite word, it’s very easy to make one in sanskrit and it simplifies things a lot (no need to think too much about verbforms and stuff, you turn it all into a noun).

So just like Vishuddhimaarga means “the path of purification” you could combine buddha with maarga and get “the way of the buddha”. You want buddhahood and suggest buddhatva which just sounds too technical to my ears, and a bit unmusical. How about bodhimaarga? I’m just winging it here, someone who knows hopefully comes in and sets it all right soon