Thanks to all for the suggestions. I have no illusions that there can be one perfect word to translate aasava any more than one perfect word to transalte dukkha or any other major buddhist term. My question was mostly motivated by trying to understand why major translators use very different english terms. It seems absurd that I'm spending more energy and effort trying to keep track of all the english translations of aasava, compared to just learning the pali and using the pali word directly. In case the topic of aasava comes up on the list again in the future, I've summarized the discussion below, and also included the DPR entry for aasava:
Āsava [fr. ā + sru, would corresp. to a Sk. *āsrava, cp. Sk. āsrāva. The BSk. āśrava is a (wrong) sankritisation of the Pāli āsava, cp. Divy 391 & kṣīnāśrava] that which ;
-- 115 --
flows (out or on to) outflow & influx.
1. spirit, the intoxicating extract or secretion of a tree or flower, O. C in Vin ;iv.110 (four kinds); B. on D iii.182 (five kinds DhsA 48; KhA 26; J iv.222; vi.9.
-- 2. discharge from a sore, A i.124, 127 = Pug 30. -
- 3. in psychology t.t. for certain specified ideas which intoxicate the mind (bemuddle it, befoozle it, so that it cannot rise to higher things). Freedom from the "Āsavas" constitutes Arahantship, & the fight for the extinction of these āsavas forms one of the main duties of man. On the difficulty of translating the term see ;Cpd. 227. See also discussion of term āsava (= āsavantī ti āsavā) at DhsA 48 (cp Expositor pp. 63 sq). See also Cpd. 227 sq., & especially ;Dhs trsl. 291 sq.
-- The 4 āsavas are kām˚, bhav˚ diṭṭh˚, avijj˚;, i. e. sensuality, rebirth (lust of life), speculation and ignorance. -- They are mentioned as such at D ii.81, 84, 91, 94, 98, 123, 126; A i.165 sq., 196 ii.211; iii.93, 414; iv.79; Ps i.94, 117; Dhs 1099, 1448 Nd2 134; Nett 31, 114 sq. -- The set of 3, which is probably older (kāma˚, bhava˚, avijjā˚) occurs at M i. 55 A i.165; iii.414; S iv.256; v.56, 189; It 49; Vbh 364 For other connections see Vin i.14 (anupādāya āsavehi cittani vimucciŋsu), 17, 20, 182; ii.202; iii.5 (˚samudaya ˚nirodha etc.); D i.83, 167; iii.78, 108, 130, 220, 223 230, 240, 283; M i.7 sq., 23, 35, 76, 219, 279, 445 (˚ṭhāniya); ii.22; iii.72, 277; S ii.187 sq. (˚ehi cittaŋ vimucci); iii.45 (id.); iv.107 (id.), 20; v.8, 28, 410; A i.85 sq. (vaḍḍhanti), 98, 165 (˚samudaya, ˚nirodha etc.) 187; ii.154 (˚ehi cittaŋ vimuttaŋ), 196; iii.21, 93 (˚samudaya, ˚nirodha etc.), 245, 387 sq., 410, 414; iv.13, 146 (˚pariyādāna end of the ā.), 161 (˚vighāta -- pariḷāha); v.70 237a; Th 2, 4, 99, 101 (pahāsi āsave sabbe); Sn 162 374, 535 (pl. āsavāni), 546, 749, 915, 1100; Dh 93 253, 292; Nd1 331 (pubb˚); Vbh 42, 64, 426; Pug 11 13, 27, 30 sq.; Miln 419; DhsA 48; ThA 94, 173; KhA 26; DA i 224; Sdhp 1; Pgdp 65 (piyāsava -- surā, meaning?).
Referring specially to the extinction (khaya) of the āsavas & to Arahantship following as a result are the foll. passages:
(1) ;āsavānaŋ khaya D i.156; S ii.29 214; iii 57, 96 sq, 152 sq; iv.105, 175; v.92, 203 220, 271, 284; A i.107 sq., 123 sq., 232 sq., 273, 291 ii.6, 36, 44 sq., 149 sq., 214; iii 69, 114, 131, 202, 306 319 sq.; iv.83 sq., 119, 140 sq., 314 sq.; v.10 sq., 36, 69, 94 sq, 105, 132, 174 sq., 343 sq.; It 49; Pug 27, 62; Vbh 334, 344; Vism 9; DA i.224; cp. ˚parikkhaya A v 343 sq. See also arahatta formula C.
-- (2) khīṇāsava (adj. one whose Āsavas are destroyed (see khīṇa) S i.13, 48 53, 146; ii 83, 239; iii.199, 128, 178; iv.217; A i 77 109, 241, 266; iv.120, 224, 370 sq.; v 40, 253 sq.; Ps ii 173; cp. parikkhīṇā āsavā A iv.418, 434, 451 sq. āsavakhīṇa Sn 370.
-- (3) anāsava (adj.) one who is free from the āsavas, an Arahant Vin ii.148 = 164; D iii.112; S i 130; ii.214, 222; iii.83; iv.128; A i.81, 107 sq., 123 sq., 273, 291; ii.6, 36, 87, 146; iii.19, 29, 114 166; iv.98, 140 sq., 314 sq., 400; A v.10 sq., 36, 242 340; Sn 1105, 1133; Dh 94, 126, 386; Th i.100; It 75; Nd2 44; Pv ii.615; Pug 27; Vbh 426; Dhs 1101, 1451 VvA 9. Cp. nirāsava ThA 148. -- Opp. sāsava S iii 47 v.232; A i.81 v.242; Dhs 990; Nett 10; Vism 13, 438.
Lightly edited Summary of Discussion on various translations of "aasava" from pali forum on yahoo on Feb. 2010
FK wrote:
http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/a/aasava.htm
dictionary uses: cankers
B.bodhi uses: taints
thanissaro: fermentations (also effluents?)
I prefer either canker or taint myself, probably canker because the
meaning is very clear, that there is something undesirable festering
within us.
fermentations doesn't strike me the same way. I think of making beer, or
the fermented foods like tempeh, sauerkraut, yogurt. It doesn't have a
negative connotation, in fact the first impression is positive.
effluents? I'm a fluent english speaker and I didn't know that word. Had
to look that one up. Effluent? I thought it had something to do with
language (as in fluency), or something to do with "affluence".
LL wrote:
I personally like the more literal in+flux (ā + sava) and think of a moment where sensual desires or opinions (just to name two āsava) become so strong that they overpower us like the wave of a tsunami :-)
PT wrote:
Up to some years back, I had been using "canker" for aasava. But as you
mentioned, it is a poetic term. A poetic term is best used in verses or
contexually as the occasion dictates.
I have chosen "influx" which is close to the etymology, of sense-data
glowing IN and flooding our sense-faculties, and so defiling our system
because we fail to see them as they are. "Effluent" I think comes from EX
(out) + fluent, meaning OUT flow. It is used sometimes in reference to
industrial waste and pollutant that flow OUT into the drainage system, etc.
Some scholars have used the term untranslated, that is, anglicized them,
which can be useful to a point here. However, if asava gets around long
enough like nirvana, dharma, karma, etc, we will get used to its meaning.
I'm often guided by the dictum "the word is not the thing." Terms and
translations are at best little key-holes or windows for us to open (with
the right key) or see through to envision true reality. As such, no
translation is perfect, and we need the direct knowledge of mindfulness of
that inner eye cultivating stillness and clarity.
We should get used to the idea that there is no one way of translating a
Pali word or term. While Pali is a classical language of early Buddhism,
which has more or less "frozen" and preserved the intended senses in some
way, English is a living and growing language.
Decades back ex-PTS President, Miss I B Horner wrote me in a letter saying
that ideally a new translation of the Pali texts should be done every 50
years or so.
NVG wrote:
> I'm often guided by the dictum "the word is not the thing." Terms and
> translations are at best little key-holes or windows for us to open
> (with
> the right key) or see through to envision true reality. As such, no
> translation is perfect, and we need the direct knowledge of
> mindfulness of
> that inner eye cultivating stillness and clarity.
--------
N: I most heartily agree with you here. If we only think of words we
shall have theoretical understanding of the Dhamma. But the teachings
refer to realities in daily life. The characteristics of realities
can be understood when they appear at the present moment.
Thus, the aasavas are flowing right now so long as there are
conditions for their arising. Each section of the Dhamma illustrates
the truth that what we take for self are only conditioned phenomena.
We keep on forgetting the truth and thus we have to be reminded again
and again.
I quote from my "Cetasikas":
<There are four aasavas (Dhammasanga.ni 1096-1100):
the canker of sensuous desire, kaamaasava
the canker of becoming, bhavaasava
the canker of wrong view, dit.t.thaasava
the canker of ignorance, avijjaasava
The Atthasalinii (I, Part I, Chapter II, 48) explains that aasavas
flow from the senses and the mind. In all planes where there is nama
arising aasavas occur, even in the highest plane of existence which
is the fourth aruupa-brahma plane. The aasavas are like liquor which
has fermented for a long time, the Atthasalinii explains. The aasavas
are like poisonous drugs or intoxicants. The Visuddhimagga (XXIl, 56)
states that the aasavas are exuding "from unguarded sense-doors like
water from cracks in a pot, in the sense of constant trickling". The
aasavas keep on flowing from birth to death, they are also flowing at
this moment, Are we not attached to what we see? Then there is the
canker of sensuous desire, kaamaasava. Seeing experiences visible
object, and shortly after seeing has fallen away there are most of
the time akusala cittas rooted in attachment, aversion or ignorance.
When the object is pleasant there is likely to be attachment to the
object because we have accumulated such a great deal of attachment.
We are attached to visible object, sound, odour, flavour and tangible
object. We are infatuated with the objects we experience through the
senses and we want to go on experiencing them. Because of our foolish
attachment to what is actually impermanent we have to continue to be
in the cycle of birth and death. We have to be reborn again and again
until the cankers have been extinguished. The arahat has eradicated
the cankers, he does not have to be reborn again. >
------
P: I have chosen "influx" which is close to the etymology, of sense-data
> glowing IN and flooding our sense-faculties, and so defiling our
> system
> because we fail to see them as they are. "Effluent" I think comes
> from EX
> (out) + fluent, meaning OUT flow. It is used sometimes in reference to
> industrial waste and pollutant that flow OUT into the drainage
> system, etc.
-------
N: Yes, it is dirty. I like the idea of constant trickling like water
from cracks in a pot. This happens when the sense-doors are not
guarded by mindfulness.
DCW wrote:
I would go for "canker" as the translation of aasava.
It most probably comes from aa + savati. Savati would mean flow. So aasavati
would be flow in. So aasava is what is in one's mind having flowed in.
aasava can increase or decrease or completely eradicated. aasavas when they flow
in increase suffering etc (vighataparilaahaa)
canker is a disease (apple trees). Obviously when the disease comes it increases
the suffering of the tree.
Oxford Dictionary gives the following for the figurative meaning of canker:
(figurative) a malign and corrupting influence that is difficult to eradicate.
Canker is the word used by Acarya Buddharakkhita in his translation of
Sabbaasavasutta including a commentary (Published as a book by BPS).
By the way aasava is a disease of the mind.