Ven. Katukurunde Nyanananda's (Concept and Reality, Magic of the mind, Nibbana sermons) approach in this regard is also quite interesting. With a deep respect towards the commentarial tradition he still has no problem of pointing out when it is in conflict with the Dhamma & Vinaya and would explain by quoting the relevant passages.

Karl Eugen Neumann translated ignoring the commentaries and felt that they did not help in understanding the suttas, especially when it came to the deeper implications of the suttas. A very interesting read on this topic is his introduction to his "Buddhistische Anthologie" and "Majjhimanikayo".

Metta,
Lennart

On Jan 14, 2012, at 8:40 AM, Noah Yuttadhammo <yuttadhammo@...> wrote:

> What if Nyanavira got it wrong? we're all commentators, after all...
> whatever works, I say.
> On Jan 14, 2012 3:29 PM, "Peter Tomlinson" <gnanayasa@...> wrote:
>
> > Well, that's the crux of the issue for some of us and for Nanavira Thera,
> > see Notes on Dhamma if you wish a full exegesis on that score
> > Pete Tomlinson
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Kumara Bhikkhu <kumara.bhikkhu@...>
> > To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: Pali@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 9:50 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Pali] Translating by the views of Theravadin commentaries
> >
> >
> >
> > Nina van Gorkom wrote thus at 18:37 10/01/2012:
> > >The main thing is understanding the
> > >characteristics of those realities. The commentaries use similes to
> > >explain their subtle differences and I think that these are helpful.
> >
> > What if the commentaries got it wrong?
> >
> > kb
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
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