Thanks to Lai Hoe Peng, but otherwise I have been completely
underwhelmed by the response to my question! Firstly I would say
that the PTS translation is better aesthetically ie the English
flows better, but my main point is this: That in the PTS version
there is a sense of timelessness, that it could be that 'he who
attends the sick' today in the twenty first century (or any other
century) in some sense attends on the Buddha. So I would like to
know is it fair to read it in this way, or would this be to take it
out of context? The Thanisarro Bhikkhu version seeems more like
those who wish to attend on me (the historical Buddha), and so that
the opportunity to attend the Buddha only applies to those bhikkus
who lived contemporaneously with him. So my question re translation
is also about how one should read the suttas, and how one views the
Buddha. Of course the Buddha is talking to the Bikkhus when he says
this, but does it have any relevance to us today?


thanks

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "eltopo1uk" <eltopo_@...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I don't know any Pali but would just like your learned views on
this
> quote of Lord Buddha re a sick bhikkhu. In the Pali Text Society,
it
> is translated 'He who attends on the sick attends on me'. (Vinaya
> Pitaka i, 301ff) Thanissaro Bhikkhu's translation is "Whoever
would
> tend to me, should tend to the sick." Does anyone have a third
> translation or does anyone have any comments re the different
> connotations here or which of these two is more accurate?
>
> thanx