In Pali, is there a general rule for how to translate/interpret negations, e.g. (subha, asubha)

by frank k » Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:33 am

In Pali, is there a general rule for how to translate/interpret negations, e.g. (subha, asubha)
After all these years, I still have no idea.

For example:
In English, if we contrast beautiful with non-beautiful,
non-beautiful has a broad spectrum from not beautiful at all, all the way to extreme beauty.

Similary, if we were to translate subha/asubha as not-ugly, and ugly,
then 'ugly' tends to imply, 'more than a little ugly', but not-ugly has a range from not ugly at all, to extremely ugly.

atta, anatta
nicca, anicca
abypada, bypada

How do you translate and interpret those?

For subha and asubha, the passages definitely seem to be on the extreme end in context. If one only had a neutral attitude to contemplating 31 body parts or corpses, you wouldn't expect to see scores of suicide in SN 54.9 for example.
And subha-nimitta, the sign of beauty, is definitely not average beauty, it's something very enticing of lust and passion.

So is there a general rule for negation pairs in pali?

What about byapada and abyapada in right resolve?
B. Bodhi and Thanissaro translate it literally, so I've always interpreted abyapada as 'non-ill will', a spectrum from neutrality to very kind. Whereas B. Sujato translates (and presumably interprets it) as 'good will', making it nearly synonymous with 4 brahmaviharas. (the word 'abyapajjena pharitva viharati' appears in the formula for all four). In the context of right resolve, it makes more sense to have the spectrum of meaning, than to have an injunction for followers to always force a positive attitude and be nice to everyone.

So is there a general rule, or we have to check case by case for each pali word?

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