Re: Eng translation of Kacc 1:1

Hi Jim,

Yes, I had seen your translation before I undertook my own.

I do not think it would in any wise be an improvement to use
"Excellence" (noun) for "Seyya"; my prefernce for translating with
various phrases resembing "one's own betterment" in this context has
its grounds (although you may disagree with them). I think that some
sense of the reflexive (or: passive) needs to be preserved in the
translation.

No, I am not about to replace this with "Obtain Excellence" (an
extremely wooden rendering) on basis of the narrow reading of "seyya.m
... labhanti".

I regard the commentarial traditions with an eyebrow raised; for
example, I do not see any reason to suppose that "naya" in this
passage is intended by its author to infer eightfold path, etc.

E.M.