AN 4.30, appamāda (assiduity) definition

A-byāpanno sadā sato,	One who has non-ill-will, ever rememberful,
ajjhattaṃ su-samāhito;	internally, thoroughly undistractable-&-lucid,
Abhijjhā-vinaye sikkhaṃ,	avarice-removal, training in that,
appamattoti vuccatī”ti.	is called ‘an assiduous one’.”

Basically, being appamada means assiduously, continuously, practicing 4NT & (☸ 8aam)

all the time, nonstop. The quote from AN 4.30 above, hits the major items: samadhi, sati, samma sankappo, samma ditthi.

Other translators render appamada/pamada as:

b.thanissaro: heedful/heedless

b.sujato: diligent/negligent

One thing B. Thanissaro said that doesn't make sense to me, he disagreed with someone who rendered appamada as "careless", and said, "no, not careless, heedless." I looked up both words in the dictionary, they're pretty synonymous. I think this is a case where B. Thanissaro has a very specific EBT meaning assigned to 'appamada' in his own mind, but its impractical because other people are using more standard dictionaries.

I go with assiduity because:

appamada = assiduity (both words start with 'a' and two consonants),

assiduity = ass + sit + do + it + ee

you 'sit' your 'ass' down until you can 'do it'

Comments

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