Skip to main content

Exhibit A: why 'dhamma' needs to be left untranslated: The skillful thief and skillful murderer are "skillful qualities", but not "skillful Dharmas"

 

Re: What does it mean to be skillful?

Post by frank k » 

Without pointing to a specific pāḷi word, you can't answer that question.
Translators most often are referring to 'kusala' (skillful, or wholesome is the usual translation).
The kind of general skillfulness, like a skillful liar or skillful thief, skillful craftsman, could be the pāḷi word 'nipako'
nipaka 1
adj. intelligent; wise; discerning; astute [nipa + ka] ✓
grammarexamplesdeclensionword familycompound familyfrequencyfeedback
nipaka 2
masc. chief; master ✗
This is one of the big objections I have for people overtranslating 'dhamma' instead of leaving 'dhamma' untranslated.
This happens most often with Thanissaro's and Sujato's "skillful qualites" (instead of "skillful Dharmas")
which leads to the very common misunderstanding causing you consternation.

If you had been reading my translations instead, seeing "skillful and unskillful Dharmas" all over the place, that should be clear then that a skillful thief skillful at killing and lying and stealing is not in accordance with Dharma, therefore not a skillful dharma.



Lester wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2023 7:27 pmThe dhamma puts an emphasis on being skillful. But what is it exactly?

Being honest is good as is pointed out in the 5 precepts. But how about being a honest person without skillfulness?

As evident in the first story of the Jataka, the Buddha was a clever merchant in his previous life. Seeing through the deception of a goblin king. He could not see a dark cloud in the distant sky, nor hear thunder, nor see lightening strikes.

A skillful mind is the mind of a thief. But not skillful in the sense of formulating lies, rather he is skillful in detecting lies. A honest heart with a mind of a thief. This is the skillful mind.

But what about a skillful mind with a deceptive heart? The cowardly heart is dishonest. He is a narcissist.

The heart of a warrior is honest, but the heart of a thief is deceptive and opportunistic.

But what about the mind of a warrior? The mind of a warrior is dumb, for there is a thin line between the brave and the asinine. The honest mind is not skillful, for it is easy prey for deceptions.

But what if someone is dumb with a dishonest heart? For sure he is to fall into hell. For an unskilful mind is a guarantee for wrong view and delusion.

But skillfulness is not the sole domain of the mind. Some are skillful in using the sword. Some are skillful to forge a sword. Some are skillful with words. Some are skillful with commerce. Some are skillful hunters with the bow. Some are skillful with computers and cars. Some are skillful to deal with people.

:namaste:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lucid24.org: What's new?

Link to lucid24.org home page :    4👑☸   Remember, you may have to click the refresh button on your web browser navigation bar at to get updated website. 2024 9-17 Lots of new stuff in the last 2 and a half years.  Too many to list. Main one justifying new blog entry, is redesign of home page. Before, it was designed to please me, super dense with everything in one master control panel. I've redesigned it to be friendly to newbies and everyone really. Clear structure, more use of space.  At someone's request, I added a lucid24.org google site search at top of home page. 2022 4-14 Major update to lucid24.org, easy navigation of suttas, quicklink: the ramifications 4-2 new feature lucid24.org sutta quick link 3-28 A new translation of SN 38.16, and first jhāna is a lot easier than you think 🔗📝notes related to Jhāna force and J.A.S.I. effect AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here? 3-13 Added to EBPedia J.A.S.I. ('Jazzy...
3 comments
Read more

AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here?

What these 3 suttas have in common, AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111, is the very interesting feature of explicitly describing doing vipassana, while one is in the jhāna and the first 3 formless attainments. LBT (late buddhist text) apologists, as well as Sujato, Brahm, claim that the suttas describe a jhāna where one enters a disembodied, frozen state, where vipassana is impossible until one emerges from that 'jhāna'.  Since Sujato translated all the suttas, let's take a look at what he translated, and how it supports his interpretation of 'jhāna'.  AN 9.36: Jhānasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (suttacentral.net) ‘The first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements.’ ‘Paṭhamampāhaṁ,   bhikkhave,   jhānaṁ   nissāya   āsavānaṁ   khayaṁ   vadāmī’ti,   iti   kho   panetaṁ   vuttaṁ. That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Kiñcetaṁ   paṭicca   vuttaṁ? Take a mendicant who, q uite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskill...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pāḷi and Sanskrit definition of Viveka

  'Viveka', Sanskrit dictionary Primary meaning is ‘discrimination’. Other meanings:  (1) true knowledge,  (2) discretion,  (3) right judgement,  (4) the faculty of distinguishing and classifying things according to their real properties’. Wikipedia (sanskrit dictionary entry 'viveka') Viveka (Sanskrit: विवेक, romanized: viveka) is a Sanskrit and Pali term translated into English as discernment or discrimination.[1] According to Rao and Paranjpe, viveka can be explained more fully as: Sense of discrimination; wisdom; discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent; discriminative inquiry; right intuitive discrimination; ever present discrimination between the transient and the permanent.[2]: 348  The Vivekachudamani is an eighth-century Sanskrit poem in dialogue form that addresses the development of viveka. Within the Vedanta tradition, there is also a concept of vichara which is one t...
Post a Comment
Read more