Tuesday, May 17, 2022

MN 56 Sujato rewriting dictionary for jhāna terms for 'thinking'

 The term we're interested in, Ananugatantarassa,  from MN 56 verse section describing mind of Buddha in jhāna.





Bodhi has:

He is the Noble One, developed in mind,
who has gained the goal and expounds the truth;
Endowed with mindfulness and penetrative insight,
he leans neither forwards nor back;597
Free from perturbation, attained to mastery:
The Blessed One is he, and I am his disciple.

He has fared rightly and abides in meditation,
inwardly undefiled, in purity perfect;
He is independent and altogether fearless,598
living secluded, attained to the summit;



Thanissaro:

Of the noble, developed-in-mind, attainment-attained explainer—

mindful, clear-seeing, not bent forward, not bent back,

unperturbed, mastery-attained:

Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.

Of the path-completed, absorbed-in-jhāna, uninfluenced-within, pure,

independent, fearless, living-secluded, attained-to-the-summit,

crossed-over one leading others across:

Of that Blessed One, I’m a disciple.




Narada has:

Of him who is noble, is developed,
has attained to advantage, mindful, intuitive,
free from like and dislike,
is devoid of craving and has attained mastery,
of that Blessed One am I a disciple.

Of him who has fared well, is absorbed in meditation,
is
independent, is pure, is unattached, is to be abandoned,
is secluded, has attained to pre-eminence,
has crossed (the Ocean of Sorrow) and
causes others to cross,
of that Blessed One am I a disciple.


IB Horner has:

Of the pure one, whose self is developed, who has attained the attainable, the expounder,
The one with recollection, whose vision is clear, not bent on passion, without hatred,
Impassible, attained to mastery, of this Lord the disciple am I.

Of him who has gone to the highest, the meditator, inwardly unobstructed, cleansed,
The unattached, the unaiming, the aloof, the attainer of the highest,
The crossed over, the helper across, of this Lord the disciple am I.



Sujato 2022-may 

The noble one, evolved,Ariyassa bhāvitattassa,he has attained the goal and explains it;Pattipattassa veyyākaraṇassa;he is mindful, discerning,Satimato vipassissa,neither leaning forward nor pulling back,Anabhinatassa no apanatassa;he’s unstirred, attained to mastery:Anejassa vasippattassa,he is the Buddha, and I am his disciple.Bhagavato tassa sāvakohamasmi.

He has risen up, he practices absorption,Samuggatassa jhāyissa, Variant: Samuggatassa → sammaggatassa (bj, sya-all, pts1ed)not following inner thoughts, he is pure,Ananugatantarassa suddhassa;independent, and fearless;Asitassa hitassa, Variant: hitassa → appahīnassa (bj, pts1ed); appabhītassa (sya-all)secluded, he has reached the peak,Pavivittassa aggappattassa;crossed over, he helps others across:Tiṇṇassa tārayantassa,he is the Buddha, and I am his disciple.Bhagavato tassa sāvakohamasmi.



Conclusion

From Digital Pāḷi Dictionary:

an-anugat-antara = adj. undefiled inside; internally unafflicted. [na + anugata + antara]

antara = adj. inside; inner; internal; within. [anta + ra]


It would be good for Sujato to give an explanatory note for his translation choice, how the Buddha's jhāna according to Sujato, unlike the other translators and normal Pāli dictionaries, means "not following inner thoughts". 

The several other translators translate the term with some generality and vagueness as to what is 'not followed', unlike Sujato who seems to have special knowledge that it's not 'defilement' or 'affliction' that is being 'followed', but just 'thought' (whether negative or positive or connected to Dharma).

Perhaps to match the special Sujato dictionary where he redefines first jhāna's vitakka as "placing the mind" (i.e. first jhāna is a frozen stupor devoid of thought capability)? 


It looks like Sujato fixed his translation of anenja (imperturbability) here in 2022.

From his 2018 translation, he wrongly had that as 'still':

Anejassa vasippattassa,
he’s still, attained to mastery:
Bhagavato tassa sāvakohamasmi.
he is the Buddha, and I am his disciple.
    


A  sure sign you (should) know your interpretation of jhāna and vitakka is wrong, is when you inconsistently and incoherently translate it in different suttas.

example, here in AN 1.583 it's a first and second jhāna context and he accidentally translates vitakka correctly as 'thinking': https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2019/12/b-sujato-accidentally-translated.html


In AN 5.139, where there's a clear connection between enduring unpleasant stimuli via the 5 sense doors  in samādhi to khamo and anenja , Sujato wrongly translates samādhi in AN 5.139 as 'stillness', whereas he normally translates samādhi as 'immersion'. 

When you can't consistently translate vitakka in first jhāna, samādhi, anenja, you probably have a wrong interpretation of jhāna. That's the thought process that should be going through the mind of an objective translator.


Apparently, Sujato translated suttas while he was in his special version of MN 56 jhāna, which does not 'follow inner thought'. Evidently,  he was in a frozen trance of 'stillness' when he was validating his translation for consistency and coherence.


With that kind of 'jhāna', 'no following inner thoughts', how do the scores of sutta occurrences where someone thinking about Dharma WHILE listening to Dharma spontaneously attain stream entry?

Such as this very sutta in question, ,where Upali in MN 56, attain stream entry in an unspecified samādhi (but described as free of 5 hindrances and joyful)?  

How do you attain stream entry WHILE hearing Dharma if you're in a first jhāna with no thinking allowed?

Sujato never explains this mysterious type of rule breaking 'jhana' that is not 'first jhana' that happens with spontaneous stream entry while listening to and THINKING about Dharma, frequently in the suttas.








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