Dear Yong Peng
I find your comments about the ancient Commenatry worrying. If we
wnat to understand the meaning of the suttas then reliance on
ATTHAKATHA ( consider the meaning of the word) is essential .
Even Mahayana people have renditions of the suttas (with some
distortions of course)but the interpretation is at odds with the
ancient tradition of Theravada where the texts and commentaries were
preserved in PALI.
Robert

In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Ong Yong Peng" <pali.smith@...> wrote:

>
> Dear Nina,
>
> thanks again. While the commentary is a good source for

understanding

> the Buddha's words, a large portion of the suttas can be read and
> understood without the aid of the commentary. Therefore, I do not
> favor incorporating the commentary in the sutta. The commentary, at
> the very best, can only be a secondary source for Buddha's

teachings.

>
> I think every sutta presents a fountain of knowledge, a chart for
> discoveries, and we should preserve its original form as much as
> possible so that each individual can then make the discovery for him
> or herself. In this way, the sutta and the commentary (or the
> commentator) each has its place and role.
>
> The commentary says "dukanipaatassa pa.thame vajjaaniiti dosaa
> aparaadhaa": in the first of Dukanipaata, vajjaani = dosaa

aparaadhaa.

> We will take note of this whenever we come across 'vajja' in the

first

> five vaggas.
>
> Thanks also for your expansion on 'kamma'.
>
> metta,
> Yong Peng.
>
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Nina van Gorkom wrote:
>
> > I understand 'vajja' not just to refer to something severe,
> > but misdeeds and wrongdoings in general. In the perspective
> > of this sutta, we may infer 'vajja' to mean "evil deeds",
> > but I think the word has a wider and more general usage.
>
> N: I looked at the Co: vajjaaniiti dosaa aparaadhaa. Dosa is here

from

> another stem than dosa meaning illwill. It means corruption,
> depravity, fault etc. Vajja has a wide sense as you say. Aparaadha:
> sin, fault, offense. I think, considering the heavy punishments,

that

> fault is too weak. We could chose: offense, corruption, depravity.
>