Re: Eng translation of Kacc 1:1

Eisel,

> Yes, I think you probably could have guessed from my prior message
> that I am well familiar with the term (thus my stated jest that we
> would have to interpret the verse as praising the planet Mercury)
> --however, unless you would actively refute the proposition that the
> metre requires the contraction (e.g., count out the syllables) it does
> seem a very likely explanation.  "Buddha" makes more sense than
> "Budha" in the passage.

The main difference is that the form "budhaa" in the sense of "wise persons"
can include ordinary (but capable) individuals who would otherwise be
excluded if the sense were "buddhas" alone. I guess it's up to each reader
to decide which makes more sense.

Requoting the text and your translation of the first line:

seyya.m jineritanayena budhaa labhanti,

<< For their own betterment, [many would] follow the ethic of the
all-conquering [Buddha], >>

I don't think your translation reflects the simple Pali syntactical
structure of patient-instrument-agent-action.

"the ethic of the all-conquering [Buddha]" is not the patient or object of
"follow" in the Pali. Instead, "jineritanayena" functions as the instrument
(kara.na) or the means by which the action of obtaining or arriving at
excellence is accomplished and it is "seyya.m" that is the patient of
"labhanti". Also, you seem to be interpreting "budhaa" as "many" for the
agent of the verb.

Jim