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MA Madhyama Āgama (Chinese parallel to MN majjhima nikāya) corrected sutra translations with jhāna meditation that works

4👑☸ → 🏛️ → MA → MA-bdk  

Lucid24.org version has all 222 English sutras (as a single html file).

For e-ink devices:
MA (bdk) - bdk.azw3 
MA (bdk) - bdk.epub



Lucid24.org version of MA was derived from free PDF files available from on BDK's website:

Madhyama Ãgama (Middle-Length Discourses)
Vol. I Vol. ll Vol. III Vol. IV




Unfortunately, their publications contain a grave error in the standard jhāna formula.

The error,  in great detail here:

https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/vitakka/index.html

It's important for publishers not to misrepresent the Buddha's teachings, especially on such an indispensable critical key to the whole enlightenment process, jhāna meditation.

Until they publicly retract and disavow their errors on jhāna meditation, 

I'm publishing the corrections for them.

Using a few simple 'search and replace'  word substitutions, this did the trick.


Egregious errors:


vitakka & vicāra  ≠ initial and sustained application of THE mind -

V&V =  directed-thought and evaluation


vitakka & vicāra  ≠  initial and sustained application of mind 

V&V =  directed-thought and evaluation (same as previous one, sometimes they had 'application of THE mind' and sometimes 'of mind'). 


vitakka ≠ [directed] awareness 

vitakka =  directed-thought: you don't lose awareness, nor directed-awareness after first jhāna into the higher jhānas and formless attainments. Unless you die. See MN 111. Cetana (volition), attention, sati, are present in all four jhānas. You don't lose 'awareness' or the ability to 'contemplate' after first jhāna and into the higer samādhis. 


vicāra ≠ [sustained] contemplation 

vicāra = evaluation: On it's own, "sustained contemplation" is perfectly fine translation, but in conjunction with "initial application" it's invoking a wrong view of Theravāda Commentary interpretation that removes verbal thought. Also, 'contemplation' gets used elsewhere in their Agama translations for 'sampajāno' in satipaṭṭhāna, so this ambiguity results in an error of sampajāno ('contemplation') still being present in 3rd jhāna, when first jhāna vicāra ('contemplation') was supposedly abandoned. 


Minor errors

1. absorption -> jhāna (absorption is a workable translation, but since 'jhāna' is already widely in use and acccepted, it's better to keep it untranslated. 'Zen' would work just as well)

2. (ekaggata) one-pointedness -> singular-focus

 The English phrase 'one-pointedness' already has well estabished meaning in corrupted meditation instructions from Theravāda Buddhism, otherwise the English on its own is not necessarily a wrong translation.  


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