Re: Nina's transl. co 49. A.N. I 51

Dear Nina,

aacaarasampannaa maataapitaro viya ca* aacariyupajjhaayaa viya ca
bhava"ngacitta.m da.t.thabba.m,

* the first 'ca' reads 'hi' in the PTS ed. The Budsir IV cd reads 'ca'.

N: the lifecontinuum should be seen as those who have a teacher, as parents,
as preceptors,

'as those who have a teacher' is incorrect for 'aacaarasampannaa'.

J: The life-continuum should be seen like the parents, teachers, and
preceptors who are [all] possessed of good behaviour,

puttaadiina.m vasena tesa.m akittilaabho viya javanakkha.ne
rajjanadussanamuyhanasabhaavaana.m lobhasahagataadiina.m* cittaana.m
vasena uppannehi aagantukehi upakkilesehi pakatiparisuddhampi
bhava"ngacitta.m upakkili.t.tha.m naama hotiiti.

* 'lobhadosamohasahagataana.m' in Budsir.

N: As the acquirement of a bad name for them, through the children etc., at
the moment of impulsion through the cittas accompanied by desire, etc.,
that are of the nature of defilement, corruption and infatuation, such is
the life-continuum, that is by nature pure, indeed soiled, by the oncoming
defilements that have arisen.

Your translation here is syntactically sound. I question the choice of
'defilement' for 'rajjana'; 'corruption' for 'dussana'; and 'infactuation'
for 'muyhana' because of their corresponding relationship to 'raaga (lobha),
dosa, & moha' respectively. I did some checking up on the word 'upakkilesa'
where 'impurity' seems to be the favoured translation in some circles.
Nyanatiloka in his dictionary thinks that 'defilement' should be reserved
for 'kilesa'. The problem with 'impurity' is that it doesn't have a
convenient cognate verb or past participle form like you can get with
defilement, stain, taint. or corruption. I thought of 'tarnish' but the pl.
noun 'tarnishes' is one I don't think I've ever seen before. The COD defines
the verb 'tarnish' as 1. "Lessen or destroy the lustre of  (. . . (fig.) a
tarnished reputation)" and the noun as 3. "Loss of lustre, blemish, stain .
. ." This word seems apt in the sutta because it can be tied to both
'pabhassara' (luminous) and the reputation of parents, teachers, and
preceptors in the simile. Here's my translation but I'm still using
'defilement' for now:

J: Like their getting the blame because of the children, etc., the naturally
pure life-continuum too is indeed defiled at the moment of impulsion by the
oncoming defilements that have arisen because of the cittas accompanied by
greed, etc. having the nature of being passionate, hateful, or deluded.

Thanks for submitting the remaining parts of your translation of the
atthakatha on the AN suttas. Because I have such a big backlog of other
unanswered messages and new ones arriving it will likely take me awhile
before I can go through all your work. I'll just work on small parts at a
time and send them in when done. If we ever get to the end of it (including
the tika) we might want to continue on with the next sutta (AN I.53) because
it has quite an interesting but long commentary that goes into considerable
detail about the Buddha's daily routine which I know very little about and
would like to know more.

Best wishes,
Jim


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