Great story, thanks! Itâs easy to forget how subjective and impermanent our responses are.
I also applaud the idea of using auto+ expansion: evolve a script that will do the basics, and tweak it as we go on a per-sutta basis.
Dealing with such a large and complex all the time, I am always on the lookout for ways to keep things simple and repeatable.
Now, this is very speculative: I wonder whether it might be possible to, over time, evolve an expansion formula that applied to all the suttas? One that took into account the different kinds of expansion? Say, for example, that experience showed that expansions had to be calculated in four basic ways, we could mark up the text to reflect that. There would be individual exceptions, too, like the peyyala series which no sane person is going to want to listen to. So once such a formula is worked out, it could be applied on a general basis to produce expanded and unexpanded versions of the texts, in any format/
This was indeed my hope as well. However, as I applied the MN1 algorithm to MN2, MN3 and more, I found to my horror that each of the those other suttas had tiny little quirky departures from my clever rules. So I hung my head and sighed. And embraced defeat.
I therefore donât think it feasible to write an algorithm that expands all existing suttas.
However, I do think it possible for translators to use ellipses in a single consistent manner that can be auto-expanded.
Basically, if all the suttas use MN1 style ellipses, we will be ⌠fine.
At this point I know we are laughing together at what that means.
But if we start from the point of trying to expand some rather than all, how do things look then? i.e. are there any group of suttas where expansion is reasonably consistent?
Unfortunately, I didnât manage to edit my comment to include a major qualification. What about including selected expanded versions, one for each narrator cum language option (Pli/Pli+En/En), in the SCV wiki, at least until general auto-expansion becomes feasible? That way, auto-expanded MN 1 will still be available to autoexpandophiles.
Even MN1 is inconsistent. I had to change the algorithm several times to get through all of MN1. What worked for the first expansion didnât work for the second expansion, etc. This led to the false hope that my efforts would pay off for the rest of MN. But when I tried the MN1 expansion out, I realized that my journey had just begunâŚ
The worst case I have found is actually the simplest:
the second absorptionâŚthe fourth absorption
It is the worst case because it relies on global knowledge (i.e the reader knows the absorptions). Auto-expansion requires local information. That said, it is technically feasible to feed all the unexpanded suttas to an AI along with their expanded versions and we would have perfect expansions for all the existing suttas. The silly part here is that one would need to feed the expanded suttas to the AI.
Robots require local consistency. They excel at doing the same thing over and over again without regard for global context.
The question of what suttas should be expanded is quite an interesting one. I think Bhante, as a teacher with experience, would be the best person to answer this tough question. I do think that expansion could serve as an initial learning tool. Given such a set of expandable suttas (maybe 5-10?), I do think it possible to generate an auto-expansion algorithm that would serve those suttas exclusively (but see caveat above about local knowledge)
Robbie, are youâŚrestlessâŚwith MN1?
Take a certain person who is restless. And they donât truly understand the freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom where that restlessness ceases without anything left over.
)
@ robbie