Charles Hastings

By mark

Published on March 29, 2021

Senior Editor

Charles has been a Dharma practitioner and scholar for over fifty years, and was one of the founding members of Padmakara Translation Group. Charles is one of our in-house editors and a mentor for junior editors and translators. He brings both editorial skills and a wealth of Dharma knowledge and experience to his role.

Charles’s adventure with the Dharma started in 1968. He has had the great privilege of receiving teachings from great masters, including Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Dudjom Rinpoche, and had the immense fortune to spend two years in India with his root teacher, Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche. Charles has completed about nine years of retreat, including two traditional three-year retreats in Dordogne, France, as well as a couple of shorter retreats. During these retreats he received detailed instructions on the nine yānas and had the opportunity to put them into practice intensively.

Charles has BA and MA degrees in Asian languages from Cambridge University, where he studied archaeology and anthropology. He also studied Sanskrit, Prakrits, and Pāli under Professor K.R. Norman, whose methodology and rigor continue to inspire his approach to translation and mentoring. Charles was cotranslator of the renowned translation of Patrul Rinpoche’s The Words of My Perfect Teacher, which attempts to reflect the verve of the original in a way that is comprehensible and inspiring for modern readers. He has translated two books by his long-time friend Matthieu Ricard from French into English. He has also worked as an editor for 84000, mainly working on Prajñāpāramitā texts.

Charles lives in the Dordogne and spends his spare time writing, reading, and curating a meditation app called Imagine Clarity.