# Tibetan: It’s easy to do nothing. It’s hard to forgive.



## Broken Wolf

Salutations, everyone.

Could someone please translate the following into Tibetan?

"It’s Easy To Do Nothing. It’s Hard To Forgive"

Thank you in advance.


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## L'irlandais

What’s the context?  Is this a common Tibetan phrase?


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## Broken Wolf

It's a quote from a show called Avatar: the Last Airbender; and the character who said it is from a culture based on Tibet.


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## L'irlandais

The spiritual word *forgive* can be expressed as [dka' rnyog sel ba] དཀའ་རྙོག་སེལ་བ
If you translated it to English it would literally be: to clear away trouble (discord)
Source: The Tibetan and Himalayan Library
To translate the word « nothing » in this context (as an opposite to forgiving) is no easy task.
I see no way of reconstructioning the juxtaposition from the American comic.  For me it’s a seemingly paradoxical statement, which doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.  That’s to say, it is not easy to not forgive; it is in fact soul destroying.  And correspondingly, for Buddhists from Tibet, forgiveness is letting go of anger, resentment, bitterness and other negative emotions, as a form of healing.

Compare this genuine buddhist saying:  « _Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. »
So for Tibetans not forgiving is holding on to pain.  Culturally not viewed as an easy thing to do._


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## Broken Wolf

Firstly, the character who said that line is saying it to another character who doesn't share that belief. 
Secondly, it's not a comic. It's a cartoon. Thirdly. I just want the translation into Central Tibetan. It's just a sentence. I doubt it's very hard.


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## L'irlandais

Fair enough.  Beyond my ability, in any case, so I am bowing out.
[off-topic comment removed by mod]


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