Re: the last part of Sd 880

Thanks Jim and Lance for the very helpful comments.

>  I also wonder if 'wicked' is the
>opposite of 'lovely'. Perhaps, 'good or bad' might be better: wishing
>for a future goal, good or bad, is called 'aspiration'.

Yes, I went out on a limb there. I'm curious what you and others
think about the words 'sundara' and 'asundara'. I read them as being
slightly flowery uses of language in the Pali. So I translated with
'lovely' (like in the well-known translation of kalyaa.na) which
combines moral goodness with beauty. 'Wicked' was an attempt to find
an antonym at the same stylistic level, though I admit it does sound
like something from Snow White or the Wizard of Oz. Normally one
would expect a more sober tone in grammatical literature.

Perhaps sundara and asundara really are just plain prosaic words in
the Pali? Opinions, guesses?

Another word which I have a similar question about is sa.mcaranti in:

paa.liya.m hi etaa hiyyatan'-ajjataniyo anekasahassadhaa
maa-yoga.t.thaane sa.mcaranti. Sd 888

"These imperfect/aorists turn up in numerous thousands of ways in the
canon in connection with 'maa'."

The choice of sa.mcaranti made me smile, as though he had chosen a
playful expression. The image was like a bunch of little verbs
frolicking on a green pasture. But again, this might just be a plain
term which only looks playful to a relative beginner who's reading
too much into the metaphor.


best regards,

/Rett