Hello June,

> What do you think "saa.theyya" means? It's one of the 16
> imperfections of the mind (in the Majjhima Nikaya, I forget
> which sutta, I think MN 7...)...The thing is, in the English
> version, Bhikkhu Bodhi translated it to mean "fraud", but in
> the Thai version, they translated it as "showing off"....

One needs to bear in mind that the standard Thai renderings
of most Pali words were fixed centuries ago using a blend of
literary Thai and the royal court language. Naturally the
meanings of many of these words will have changed over the
years. In particular, the word's original meaning will
seldom precisely match that which it has in the modern
colloquial language. So, when reading the Tipi.taka in Thai
it is a good idea to have the Raatchabandit Dictionary close
by and to consult it often. The dictionary is unfortunately
deficient in that it does not actually mark which of its
definitions are archaic. Nevertheless, it is the most
comprehensive Thai-Thai dictionary to date, so one just has
to make the best of it. When Raatchaabandit gives several
definitions for a word it will usually be the last one or
two that show what it originally meant, hence what it is
likely to mean in the Thai Tipi.taka.

So, in the case of saa.theyya, the Thai translation is
"khwaam ô uàd". Raatchabandit's first few definitions of
"uàd" all have to do with boasting, showing off, or acting
pretentiously, but the very last one reads:

"sàdaeng hâi phûu eùn khâo jai wâa ton mii khun-
sõmbàt chên nán tháng tháng thîi mi dâi mii,"

which seems like a good definition of hypocrisy.

> By the way, does anyone know who translated the Thai-Thai
> version of the Tipitaka?

The complete editions were translated by committees of monks
at the Mahachula and Mahamakut Universities.

Best wishes,

Dhammanando