Dear Alan,
Thank you for taking on this very useful exercise, and thank you for
such an excellent introduction. I am glad to hear that you are
planning a slower pace of postings than YP's AN translations. His is
a wonderfully worthwhile project too, and I would very much like to
have kept up with those, but have found the length of each post too
overwhelming for the time I have available. No doubt it makes sense
to have a choice of different "speeds" for different list members.

With metta,
John

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Alan McClure" <alanmcclure3@...> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> As discussed with Yong Peng, every Saturday for the forseeable
future I will
> be posting a translation of one or two suttas (depending on length)
from the
> Sa.myutta Nikaaya. Taking on this project has occured to me for two
main
> reasons:
>
>
> First, I noted that a project such as that being conducted by Yong
Peng,
> i.e. the Anguttara Nikaaya, really had the potential to help me learn
> Paa.li, but that it was moving too quickly for my own pace as a
beginning
> Paa.li student.
>
>
>
> Secondarily, I knew that due to the layout of the Sa.myutta Nikaaya
(to be
> discussed below) I would come across very similar passages in suttas of
> related topics and thus this would help ingrain the Paa.li
vocabulary in my
> mind. Indeed, memorizing vocabulary, of whatever language, has always
> seemed a pitiable task to me, especially when it is me that has to
do the
> memorizing. I wanted to avoid the task of rote memorization as much as
> possible. So I slowly began translating my first sutta.
>
>
>
> As I have worked on the Sa.myutta, I have also continued to move
through the
> "Introduction to Pali" text by Warder. In my opinion, these two
projects
> really go hand in hand as I learn the grammar from one and have a
place to
> test out my new knowledge in the other. Initially, I began posting
these
> Sa.myutta and Warder translations piece by piece in the Theravada
Forum at
> E-Sangha were I am a moderator. But, as the posts moved forward, I
began to
> see that no-one seemed to be watching. It seemed to me that if I
was going
> to be posting full translations and grammatical analyses, that
someone might
> as well know about it and learn from it. So, I spoke with the
administrator
> of E-Sangha, and had the Pali Forum at E-Sangha started in which I
am the
> moderator.
>
> See: http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showforum=50
>
>
>
> Subsequently, I moved my translations of the Sa.myutta and the Warder
> excercises into that forum. At that time, I had completed only the
first
> three suttas of the second vagga, the Nidaana Vagga, and was feeling
> overwhelmed about moving onto the fourth through the tenth which are
all
> virtually identical, but even one, is quite long and seemed, at the
time, an
> insurmountable task. Luckily, starting a new Pali forum allowed more
> exposure for my project, and Ven. Phra Noah Yuttadhammo happened
across my
> translations. He offered to share the load and so it was decided
that, at
> least for the foreseeable future, he would translate the suttas and
I would
> do the grammatical analysis until I felt that I had the skills to do
both
> and still remain a sane human being.
>
>
>
> From this point, Ven. Yuttadhammo and I completed about two suttas
per week
> and are now working on the seventeenth sutta of the Nidaana-Vagga. The
> reason why I started with the second of the five Vaggas, and why we are
> continuing on with it, is very simple, the first Vagga contains much
verse.
> Bhikkhu Bodhi, himself, pointed out in the introduction to his
translation
> that even he would have risked not finishing the Sa.myutta if he
would have
> started with the first Vagga for this very reason. Having also read
A.K.
> Warder's comment that he chose the Diigha Nikaaya for use in his
text due to
> the lack of verse, which is more conducive to beginning students
> understanding grammar, etc., I decided that the second Vagga would
be the
> best place to start.
>
>
>
> As some of you may remember, when I first began the project, I
posted a few
> questions that showed that I was very confused regarding grammar and
had a
> very, infinitesimal, shall we say, grasp of Paa.li grammar. While my
> understanding of it has probably not grown too much since then, I
hope that
> you will see some amelioration of my ability by way of my analyses
not being
> too filled with mistakes. Of course there are tricky spots, and
compounds
> are still not my strong side, but I am hoping that with a few
(hopefully not
> too many) corrections here and there, that my analyses will be more
than
> satisfactory and will continue to improve. Additionally, I will
make note
> of any terms/phrases/etc. that seem particularly tricky to me so that
> mistakes do not slip by. As for the translations themselves, since
Ven.
> Yuttadhammo will not be here to discuss his choices, I will not make
any
> changes to the final translation drafts that I am posting on my
web-site and
> ask for the final translation to remain the same anywhere else it is
posted
> too, i.e. Tipitaka.net. However, I will make notes of any discussion
> regarding terms, and so I hope that despite the somewhat rigid
nature of the
> final translation, that we can still discuss the translation choices
> none-the-less and that more people than I will find it useful.
>
>
>
> As for the paa.li version, I started with the CSCD for the first two
suttas,
> switched to the Buddha Jayanti Version through sutta 15 due to computer
> issues, and then reverted, and will stay with, the CSCD for the
remainder of
> the project. The digitized Buddha Jayanti has had one too many
spelling
> problems, and so we have switched. I will note at the top of each
> translation which version we have used, but after sutta 15, it will
always
> be the CSCD.
>
>
>
> As for the title of this collection of the discourses, the "Sa.myutta
> Nikaaya," the name has been translated as the "Connected Discourses
of the
> Buddha" by the Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. "Sa.myutta" itself is a past
participle
> from: (sa.m+yuj II), which means connected or joined together.
Furthermore,
> As Bhikkhu Bodhi points out in his introduction, "yutta" means
"yoked" and
> "sa.m" means "together." This shows that the quality of the
"connection"
> of these discourses is like that of topics being "yoked together,"
which is
> somewhat different, but not altogether unlike the old PTS version
title:
> "The Book of Kindred Sayings," which Ven. Bodhi's translation has,
for all
> intents and purposes, replaced in terms of quality. The reason why the
> Sa.myutta Nikaaya is so named is because the discourses are arranged in
> related themes. So far, the main theme of the Nidaana-Vagga has been
> pa.ticcasamuppaada: "dependent origination," and more generally
"causation."
> However, the topics run the gamut from the aforementioned one to
> mindfulness, to breathing, to Naagas, to stream-entry, etc. This is
why, as
> I mentioned, the Sam.yutta is a very useful tool for learning to
translate.
> It allows one to see similar terms, slight variations on a theme, and
> repeated terms in various cases, etc. which is highly conducive to
learning
> Paa.li.
>
>
>
> Thus, with all of this in mind, I bring this introduction of the
upcoming
> "Sa.myutta Nikaaya translation project," by Ven. Yuttadhammo and
myself, to
> a close. I hope that everyone will find it useful in more ways than
one.
> As mentioned, this series will run on Saturdays and will consist of
one or
> two suttas depending on their relative lengths. This series will
hopefully
> continue at the same pace until completed, in however much time that
may
> take. I have tried to cover most of the relevant information about
this
> project in the introduction above, but please let me know if you
have any
> further questions.
>
>
>
> With a heart of metta,
>
>
>
> Alan McClure