Re: Corrections N's transl

Dear Nina,

>Dear Jim, thank you very much. It is a great help, now I can correct also
>following similar passages. Useful to know it is a simile, and in the
>following it is explained more. I see, the parents who receive the blame
>because they did not scold their misbehaved children are like the
>bhavangacitta that is defiled. But hard to get the pointe of this simile. I
>do not quite get it. Buddhaghosa wanted to point out in which way the
>bhavangacitta that is pure can still be called defiled.

I found the next matching simile with virtuous parents, etc. and
well-behaved children, etc. (kusalacittas) helps in understanding the first
simile with the misbehaved children, etc. My translation (like most of them)
is rather a crude one since I didn't spend much time carefully choosing my
words. 'Scold' may not be right for 'tajjenti'. PED gives only 'frighten,
threaten, curse, rail against' which I felt inappropriate for 'parents of
good conduct' to engage in. I have since thought a little more about this
and think that maybe children, etc. with a healthy dose of fear instilled in
them by parents, etc. are more likely to behave well. I think the
bhavangacitta is defiled by or free from defilements by association with the
kusala or akusala cittas that follow even though the bhavangacitta still
remains pure. One interesting thought that came to mind is that a dvihetuka
bhavangacitta is more likely to have a bigger problem with akusalacittas
arising than a tihetuka bhavangacitta.

>I have come to the Tika, and this has difficult expressions, like
labbhanaka
>, itaro(other?) and:niilaadiinantiaadi. The n after niilaadii seems just to
>stick the words together, thus, anti?
>Nina.

'labbhanaka' is a difficult word and I couldn't find it in any of my
dictionaries. I think it may be an adjective from labbhana + ka (taddhita or
secondary affix). 'itaro' might be 'next'. 'niilaadiinantiaadimaaha' =
niilaadiina.m (gen. pl.) + ti (end quote) + aadi.m (acc. sg.) + aaha (he
said). I haven't been paying much attention to the tika as I thought we'd
leave it until after we've gone through the atthakatha to the end of AN I.52
before starting on the tika. I find that Dhammapala's commentaries (like the
ones on the Netti) are more difficult to follow than Buddhaghosa's. In
translating you could just try translating the parts that make sense to you
and skip the rest.

Best wishes,
Jim


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