Skip to main content

DN 21: Let's keep it platonic. Does B. Sujato know the difference between lust (kāma) and friendliness (metta)?

Because he translates both of these terms as 'love':  lust (kāma) and friendliness (metta).   

https://suttacentral.net/dn21/en/sujato


In the verse section of DN 21, the Gandhaba (Fairy god being) was praising the Buddha, Dharma, and his love interest. 


Sakko ce me varaṃ dajjā,
If Sakka were to grant me just one wish,
tāvatiṃsānamissaro;
as Lord of the holy Thirty-Three,
Tāhaṃ bhadde vareyyāhe,
my darling, you’re the only one I’d wish for,
evaṃ kāmo daḷho mama.
so strong is the love for you from me.

elsewhere in the verse:

Sakyaputtova jhānena,
 Absorbed, the Sakyan meditates (does jhana),
ekodi nipako sato;
 at one, self-controlled, and just mindful,
Amataṃ muni jigīsāno,
 the sage aims right at the deathless state—
tamahaṃ sūriyavacchase.
 like me, oh my Sunshine, aiming for you!
Yathāpi muni nandeyya,
 And just like the sage would be rejoicing,
patvā sambodhimuttamaṃ;
 were he to awaken to the truth,
Evaṃ nandeyyaṃ kalyāṇi,
 so I’d be rejoicing, lady,
missībhāvaṃ gato tayā.
 were I to end up as one with you.    


One of these days, 

but not today and not in this sutta, I'm probably going to run into a sutta where 'love', metta, kāma all collide in a horrible ambiguous accident. 50 points to the first person who can find this glorious accident. 


As you may know, B. Sujato really loves the word 'love', using the same ambiguous word to translate sensual lust (kāma), friendliness/goodwill (metta), desire/wish, good (kalyana), and probably several more distinct pali words that would really appreciate distinct unambiguous translations. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha
Post a Comment
Read more

SN 48.40 Ven. Thanissaro comments on Ven. Sunyo's analysis

This was Ven. Sunyo's analysis of SN 48.40: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2024/05/exciting-news-honest-ebt-scholars-like.html And here is Ven. Thanissaro's response to that analysis: I think there’s a better way to tackle the issue of SN 48:40 than by appealing to the oldest layers of commentarial literature. That way is to point out that SN 48:40, as we have it, doesn’t pass the test in DN 16 for determining what’s genuine Dhamma and what’s not. There the standard is, not the authority of the person who’s claiming to report the Buddha’s teachings, but whether the teachings he’s reporting are actually in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma that you know. So the simple fact that those who have passed the Buddha’s teachings down to us say that a particular passage is what the Buddha actually taught is not sufficient grounds for accepting it. In the case of the jhānas—the point at issue here— we have to take as our guide the standard formula for the jhānas, a
Post a Comment
Read more

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex
Post a Comment
Read more