Oh... I completely forgot about that one! Thank you. It makes more sense now.

I still have a problem with the eva though. As you said, it's meant to "strengthen the idea of the word it follows". Thus you suggested ""He should be a fulfiller of just/only/merely the sīlas," which I find hard to make sense of in the context. Maybe it's mean to emphasize more than that. How about this?
Should a bhikkhu wish, "...," indeed, let him be a perfecter in regards to the sīlas, a devotee of internal mental settling, ...

(Sorry for the late response. I was conducting a retreat.)

On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 9:23 AM, Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [Pali] <Pali@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


Dear Ven.,

I think in this case assa is a 3rd person optative, parallel with ākaṅkheyya ce ("if he should wish..." also optative) therefore I would translate,  "He should be a fulfiller of just/only/merely the sīlas.." (lit: a fulfiller merely in regards to the sīlas). One could also translate he should be just a fulfiller of the sīlas, but, since eva usually follows the word it modifies (sīlesu eva), the first translation might be better, although they probably come to the same thing.

I think the sense of the eva is that he only has to fulfill the sīlas in order to accomplish his virtuous goals. Since eva can also mean "truly, really, indeed" (MW), it could also here be translated as "He should truly be a fulfiller of the sīlas..." (or "a fulfiller in regards to the sīlas, truly") as well. But the more normal meaning is to strengthen the idea of the word it follows, so the sense is that merely the fulfillment of the sīlas, is all that is required.

Mettā,

Bryan
P. S. assa here I don't think means "own" (that would be attano). It's a verb, optative in this case, I think.

From: "Kumara Bhikkhu kumara.bhikkhu@... [Pali]" <Pali@yahoogroups.com>
To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 4:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Pali] siilesvevassa

 
How's this?
One who makes perfect in regard to his own behaviour.

Not sure if "eva" can be rightly rendered as "own" in the case.

Note: I don't intend to have a verbatim translation as the end
product. Just want to translate as literally as I can first, so that
I have a better feel of the original text. I find jumping straight to
an idiomatic translation may miss out certain things. You know, it's
not so paripuura.m.

with metta,
Kumara Bhikkhu, ven.

Kumara Bhikkhu wrote thus at 09:59 AM 31-05-17:
>Thanks, Bryan (and others who responded). I thought so too, but
>wondered it could be different as I had trouble seeing how it fits into
> siilesvevassa paripuurakaarii
>from Aka"nkheyya Sutta (MN6)
>
>My main trouble is with the eva. How does it fit in English? Just,
>quite, even, only, very?
>The other is connecting paripuurakaarii with siilesu. One who
>fulfills in regard to behaviour (siila) of his?
>
>Can some try to translate it literally, while making as English as
>possible? Never mind if it's stilted.
>One who fulfills in regard to behaviour (siila) of his own?
>
>with metta,
>Kumara Bhikkhu, ven.