Dear John,

I hope I'm not holding up a candle against the brilliant sun trying to figure out how
the Buddha would address such disicples and persons like Malunkya. I have to consider
that the Buddha was a being without anger. If it the sutta were read like a poem,
"hollow man" would be perfect (I think). If we hazard a contemporary taste to the
translation, I would use "hollow man", which not only closely reflect the original
Pali but given the emotional power by Joyce (again not sure how many Buddhists here
read Joyce).

I have thought of "vain" because it has a ring of "not taking reality seriously". I
suppose there are other connotations which readers might be more familiar with rather
than spiritual emptiness.

On the safe side, I might just stick to Bodhi's "misguided man", or perhaps a more
universal "misguided one" (-purisa notwithstanding).

Sukhi.

P.

John Kelly wrote:

> Dear Piya,
> I also like Bodhi's choice of "misguided man" for
> this. "Stupid" or "deluded" would be better than
> "vain" too, in my opinion, especially given the
> context of the sutta.
> Note also that "mogha" is related to "moha -
> delusion".
>
> John
> --- Piya Tan <libris@...> wrote:
> > Dear Pali friends,
> >
> > I'm in the midst of translating the Alaggaddupama
> > Sutta, and pondering over
> > what is the best English idiom for "mogha,purisa".
> >
> > "Empty person" is too literal.
> > "Hollow man" (after Joyce) is beautifully poetic but
> > inapplicable in the
> > English context here.
> > I'm provisionally using "Vain person" while waiting
> > for any better suggestions.
> >
> > Sukhi.
> >
> > Piya.
> >
> >
>
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