--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:

Hi Piya,

You are very gracious to this young pup snapping at your heals :-)

I hold the Pali Canon somewhat loosely. Valuing it greatly and
believing that the practices in it lead to liberation. But also
realising that it is a human creation with some human faults.
Translation is an arcane art and I am fascinated by the process of
trying to render Pali concepts into English.

What got me interested in this sutta particularly is reading an
extract of the Rhys Davids translation that summed up the practice of
confession as I do it. Only when I checked the references it doesn't
mention confession. The practice is still a good one. Ajattasattu
benefits from unburdening himself, and the Buddha is able to make a
good lesson out of it for the bhikkhus.

> Furthermore, we see the Buddha repeatedly using brahminical and
> Vedic terminology. (Indeed there are very few "original" Buddhist
> words, but mostly recycled words given Buddhist clothing): tevijja,
> dhamma, arahata, nahataka, etc. This is almost like the modern
> Buddhist speaker (like Thich Nhat Hanh) using (or recycling)
> Biblical terms...

Yes. I came across sara.naagamana in the Chandogya Upani.sad the other
day which is generally thought to be preBuddhist. I think the Buddha
was adept as using the language of his audience. He presents metta
bhavanaa as union with Brahma to men who could only understand
religion in those terms. Like teaching Christians the way to heaven
without having to die! Some of his neologisms took and some didn't -
his redefinition of Brahmin didn't work, even though his ideas may
have been close to the original conception.


> Please bear with my ignorance and stupidity all these world-cycles.

Us putthujjanas have to stick together! I barely know any Pali and am
in awe of those who can translate whole texts as compared to my
struggling with a sentence or two here and there.

bhava.m
Jayarava