Sonom Gara

{{Short description|Mongol Buddhist translator}}

Sonom Gara (fl. 13th century) was a Mongol Buddhist monk and translator.{{cite periodical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqNwAAAAMAAJ |periodical=Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies |volume=32–33 |page=496 |publisher=Monumenta Serica Institute |year=1976 |title=Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4iCcFatytgC|title=Inner Asia |volume=1–2 |page=15 |publisher=White Horse Press |year=1999}}{{cite book|author=Suomen Itämainen Seura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rz3tAAAAMAAJ|title=Studia Orientalia Volume 45|page=188|publisher=Finnish Oriental Society|year=1976}} He was a Tantric priest. Sonom Gara is best known for translating, in the late 13th century, Sa-skya Pandita's Legs-bshad ("Elegant Sayings of Sakya Pandita";Jackson, David P. (1997) The Entrance Gate for the Wise (Section III): Saskya Pandita on Indian and Tibetan Traditions of Pramana and Philosophical Debate. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetisch und Buddhistiche Studien Universiteit, p. 2. "Aphorisms"). His version is not literal, but still faithful to the original. However, Sonom changed the sentence pattern and added and removed words; further, he reformulated the negative original message of the work into a positive one: "While the Tibetan says that wealth acquired by sin or violence is not genuine wealth, Sonom Gara states that only wealth acquired by knowledge is genuine."{{cite book|last=Kara|first=Györgi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jt55DwAAQBAJ|title=Dictionary of Sonom Gara's Erdeni-yin Sang A Middle Mongol Version of the Tibetan Sa Skya Legs Bshad. Mongol - English - Tibetan|page=XVII-XXI; 265|publisher=Brill|year=2009|isbn=978-90-04-18224-0}}{{cite web|title=Mongolian literature|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Mongolian-literature|publisher=Britannica|access-date=18 May 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210518095116/https://www.britannica.com/art/Mongolian-literature|archive-date=18 May 2021}}