Dear Pali enthusiasts,

I am working on a translation of the Satipatthana sutta and at M i 58 there is the passage: "sarira.m .....vividhehi vaa paa.nakajaatehi khajjamaana.m".

Some (e.g. Rupert Gethin) translate as "a body....being eaten ....by other animals". My problem is that this does not seem to translate "jaata".

Others (e.g. Bhikkhu Bodhi) translate as "a body...being eaten... by various kinds of worms". My problem with this is that this meaning does not appear in any dictionary I can find. Buddhadatta Mahaathera in his Enlgish Pali dictionary lists only kimi, kii.ti and pulavaka as "worm".

Does anyone have an answer to my problems?

Does anyone think "a body .... being eaten by various kinds of creature hatched in it" is a reasonable translation?

Wishing you productive asubha meditations. Metta.