Dear Piya Tan,
I was really touched by your sympathetic letter and your kind words of
encouragement. I appreciate it so much to hear your personal views,
expressed with great sincerity, on your own work and on the aim of
translation work. You gave me many thoughts for reflection. Thank you very
much.
I felt piiti and pamoda when reading your text of the Garava sutta, the
Buddha paying respect to the Dhamma he had realized. He proclaimed that even
he, himself, could not cause anybody to attain enlightenment and become
liberated from dukkha. The Dhamma is our teacher, it teaches us to develop
our own understanding. It helps us to find our own answers. No need to
think, this person says... the scriptures state... Of course, I am not
denying the immense help of the Tipitaka.
Elaborating somewhat on your allegory: the humanities student and the pure
science student. Very gradually the humanities student comes to see that
what he took for somewhat dry, abstract science is much more than that: it
has a great, direct impact on his daily life. It is in him, around him, it
teaches him about himself and gives him counsel in his actions, speech and
thoughts. Whatever text he reads, he finds that it is all there, but at
first he could not see it.
The meditation on impermanence and death, how helpful. I was delighted to
read in the subcommentary to the satip.t.thaana sutta about four meditation
subjects on all occasions: sabbatthikakamma.t.thaananti
buddhaanussati mettaa mara.nassati asubhabhaavanaa ca.
Concluding with self-effacement: I see the benefit of it, but it is a
life-long process, and longer than than that, so long as we are putthujjana
and thus full of kilesa. The Abhidhamma teaches me honesty, letting go of
illusions about ourselves. It points out fine nuances of more subtle kilesa
and their conditions, especially many details on conditions, to show us:
anattaa. I think of the second book: the Vibha'nga containing many examples
of defilements we all have, very daily. But of course we also find those in
Suttanta and Vinaya.
I enjoy it very much to concentrate on Pali texts here, the reading and
translating helps me to get to the deep meaning. Writing it out is even
better than just reading. At the same time, when I get very engrossed I have
to remind myself of the goal : to understand the reality at this moment.
What is the use if we do not understand citta now? In the Commentaries I
always come across things that surprise me, that cannot but have a great
impact upon me.
By the way, I do not want to miss the Day by Day, very restful before going
to sleep, after sometimes difficult and overwhelming (in number) posts. I
skipped always English Pali, but it is a good check. I put my hand on the
screen to check.
I always greatly respect my language teachers, they give me something
precious. There are many kind and patient teachers here on this list.
Therefore, I wish to express my great appreciation of all the good works
done by you, Yong Peng, John and others.
Anumodana,
Nina.
P.S. I tried to reach your files, but I have an IMac and this must be the
trouble. Even adobe acrobat did not want to convert. One piece I got only
had funny signs. Is it possible to give us on Email here on the list an
extract of it? My computer may not react kindly to an attachment.



op 05-02-2003 04:15 schreef Piya Tan op libris@...:

> The Abhidhamma and Commentaries in the right hands are great teaching aids.
> They certainly clarify many difficult points in the Suttas.