Dear Lennart,

Well, if Ven. Ananda was hesitant how to title this discourse, than no surprise we also have some problems with understanding this title :)

My interpretation is that due to the nature of our conceptual thinking, we always try to make relationships between things in the world we live in, which is actually kind of "net" or "network" (in the internet generation idiom), and each of them was made from the different point of view. As in this sutta Buddha reviews few dozens of than existing "nets", making actually kind of "network of networks", I understand "Brahmajala" as supreme view, which clearly see other views' limits and therefore not being affected by them.

As for Tipitaka translation into Serbian (or Serbo-Croatian), the situation is not as bad as one might think. Namely, late Bhikkhu Nanjivako did a pioneering work in that area, although he was more concerned with the comparative religion topics and did translate suttas or their parts only as an illustration for his elaborations. On the other hand, from 1999 on the website "Budizam" I post my sutta (and other Buddhist) translations (from English), collecting so far some 350-400 suttas. Among them are some of the most well known (Dhammacakkappavattana sutta, Mahaparinibbana sutta, Kalama sutta, complete Sutta Pitaka etc.) Just recently I delved into learning pali, feeling that would be a step into right direction of better understanding the Dhamma. Here in Budapest, where I live now, there is a Buddhist College and for a half a year I was attending pali classes on weekends. Unfortunately, they changed the schedule to working days and because of work I couldn't continue.
Therefore, I learn on my own, starting with quite short suttas from Anguttara Nikaya...

I apologize for this longish message, but as I haven't introduced myself before, I saw this as a good opportunity.

Metta,
Branko




Lennart Lopin <lenni_lop@...> wrote: Hi Branko,

This is a very good question. If you have a look at the end of the text,
Ven. Ananda is even asking the Buddha for a good name to bestow on this
Dhamma discourse...

At these words the Venerable Ánanda said to the Lord : "It is marvelous,
Lord, it is wonderful. What is the name of this exposition of Dhamma?"

*"Ánanda, you may remember this exposition of Dhamma as the Net of
Advantage, the Net of Dhamma, the Supreme Net, the Net of Views, or as the
Incomparable Victory in Battle."*

http://www.buddhistinformation.com/ida_b_wells_memorial_sutra_library/brahmajala_sutta.htm

Karl Eugen Neumann translated it as "The priests' net". While it does say
Brahma-Jala and not Brahmanajala i still find this to come very close to the
essence of the Sutta because it describes all kinds of views (which are very
often compared to a net in other Suttas) which philosopers/priests hold
instead of seeing the origin of those views...feeling.
*
** This the Tathágata knows, and more, but he is not attached to that
knowledge. And being thus unattached he has experienced for himself perfect
peace, and having truly understood the arising and passing away of feelings,
their attraction and peril and the deliverance from them, the Tathágata is
liberated without remainder."*

I wish you much success with your translation...i guess there are many parts
of the Tipitaka yet untranslated into Serbian, right?

mettaya,
Lennart

On Nov 28, 2007 3:26 AM, Branislav Kovacevic <ja_sam_branko@...>
wrote:

> Greetings!
>
> With my quite limited knowledge of pali I endeavored to translate
> Brahmajala sutta into Serbian, for exercise and fun. But, as usual,
> challenge came at the very beginning :)
>
> The question is about the title of this sutta. What does Brahma means in
> this context? I see the title has been translated differently into English,
> as "Discourse on the Net of Perfect Wisdom", "The Supreme Net" or simply
> left as "Brahma's Net"
>
> Many thanks for your help.
>
> Branko
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try
> it now.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

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