Wednesday, August 23, 2023

sujato translation error AN 6.72

Where I highlighted 'skilled', it should be "NOT skilled"

 

AN 6.72: Balasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (suttacentral.net)



 What six?

Katamehi chahi?It’s when a mendicant is not skilled in entering immersion, skilled in remaining in immersion, or skilled in emerging from immersion. And they don’t practice carefully and persistently, and they don’t do what’s suitable.Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu na samādhissa samāpattikusalo hoti, na samādhissa ṭhitikusalo hoti, na samādhissa vuṭṭhānakusalo hoti, asakkaccakārī ca hoti, asātaccakārī ca, asappāyakārī ca.A mendicant who has these six qualities can’t attain strength in immersion.Imehi kho, bhikkhave, chahi dhammehi samannāgato bhikkhu


Tracking other errors here:




Bodhi's translation for comparison, reformatted neatly so errors are easy to spot


6.72 – AN 6.72 (8) Strength


“Bhikkhus, possessing six qualities a bhikkhu is incapable of attaining strength in concentration.
What six?
(1) Here, a bhikkhu is not skilled in the attainment of concentration;
(2) he is not skilled in the duration of concentration;
(3) he is not skilled in emergence from concentration;
(4) he does not practice carefully;
(5) he does not practice persistently;
and (6) he does not do what is suitable.
Possessing these six qualities, a bhikkhu is incapable of attaining strength in concentration.

“Bhikkhus, possessing six qualities a bhikkhu is capable of attaining strength in concentration.
What six?
[428] (1) Here, a bhikkhu is skilled in the attainment of concentration;
(2) he is skilled in the duration of concentration;
(3) he is skilled in emergence from concentration;
(4) he practices carefully;
(5) he practices persistently;
and (6) he does what is suitable.
Possessing these six qualities, a bhikkhu is capable of attaining strength in concentration.”


I've caught a number of Sujato translation errors in other suttas that are a result of...


Trying to really shave words off  English translation being concise and fluent.
Whereas Bodhi above, is less fluent and follows the oral tradition boring matrix style of listing things.

The boring style is less fluent, but it aids in memorization (important for oral tradition), and also makes it easy to spot and catch errors in accuracy of memorized Dhamma.

I'm not trying to be negatively critical of Sujato here, since concision and fluency has its proper place and tiime.




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