As I understand it, "nor" means all of those clauses have to be met to satisfy the conditions, whereas "or" only needs to satisfy one of the conditions.
The verse in question, with pali + english (my translation, derived from B. Sujato's, not grammatically exact so I can have corresponding word for word close to fluent translation).
Yo na hanti na ghāteti, | (If) you don’t kill nor encourage-others-to-kill, |
na jināti na jāpaye; | don’t conquer nor encourage-others-to-conquer, |
Mettaṃso sabba-bhūtānaṃ, | (with) friendly-kindness (for) all-sentient-beings, |
veraṃ tassa na kenacī”ti. | enmity ***** (you have for) no one.” |
B. Bodhi and B. Sujato use "or" instead of "nor"
From the verse section near the end:
(b.bodhi)
One who does not kill or enjoin killing,
who does not conquer or enjoin conquest,
one who has loving-kindness toward all beings1620
harbors no enmity toward anyone.
who does not conquer or enjoin conquest,
one who has loving-kindness toward all beings1620
harbors no enmity toward anyone.
(b. sujato)
which means...
That you only have to satisfy one condition to qualify for the conclusion of doing metta properly.For example, I don't kill anyone (satisfies one of the 'or' clauses), but I encourage others to kill, so obviously I wouldn't qualify for being 'metta'. But because 'or' was used instead of 'nor', I would qualify as 'metta' because I met the one of the 'or' clause conditions.
Am I understanding the difference between "or" and "nor" properly?
Is that distinction in the pali? (between 'or' and 'nor)?
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