Dear Mahinda,

You're right, it is a possible case of "mixed metaphors."

However, as I said it is a "free" translation: the idea is that when one
constantly practise the Dharma, one gets better at it like adding
oil to make a medicinal herb more potent.

This is not a "growth" imagery but an efficacy imagery.

Any other suggestions for translation.

If the wiser remain silent, blame not the more foolish from

With metta,

Piya Tan

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 2:39 AM, mahipaliha <mahipal6@...> wrote:

> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com>, "Piya Tan"
> <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for filling in Mahinda. Sorry I could not respond earlier,
> as I lost
> > my file
> > of a new translation of the Kukkuravatika Sutta (M 37), but now
> that I have
> > managed to undelete it, I can answer my mails.
> >
> > A lot of helpful suggestions has been made by Mahinda, but
> > sneha+anvayam+iva+osadhaa is interesting. Firstly, it is a hapax
> legomenon,
> > a one-time occurrence in the text.
> >
> > A possible translation is
> >
> > like a medicinal herb (more potent) after (anvaaya) oil has been
> added to
> > it.
> >
> > So we can perhaps out this into modern English:
> >
> > Ye ca saddhammagaruno, viha.msu viharanti ca;
> > Te ve dhamme viruuhanti, snehaanvayamivosadhaa ti.
> >
> > as
> >
> > They who have lived revering the true Dharma, and continue living
> so,
> > Indeed, grow in the Dharma, like a medicinal herb [drug] (more
> potent) after
> > adding oil to it.
>
> Dear sir,
> This might look plausible, but it does not fit the metaphor. The
> metaphor is that of growing. Plants do not grow by oil, they do by
> water or moistness. At Jataka, I 108. 18 (PTS) we have "ti.naani
> he.t.thaa udaka-sinehena u.t.thitaa": grasses have sprung up from
> the moisture of water underneath (them). ("the moisture of water" is
> how CPD translates the phrase. See CPD s.v. udaka-sineha) This is
> the way to understand sinehanvaya.m of the stz under discussion too.
>
> CPD translates anvayam as "in consequence of". See s.v.
>
> Best wishes
> Mahinda
> >
>
>
>



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