Actions you can take RE: The First Free Women(TFFW) by Mathew Weingast

It would be interesting to know if they will be giving it a new title (which would certainly help)

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Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu! That sounds fantastic, as good as could be expected. Let’s see if they follow through.

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The letter implies, by omission, that the title will be staying the same. But we’ll have to wait and see.

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This is a positive step, and so much credit to be given to those on this forum that successfully advocated for the Therigatha. I hope that Nikko follows through with his claims as to the remedies he’s applying.

Having said that, it might be a good step that he directly consult, for example, with Bodhipaksa and Bhante Sujato on a revised title, and with the “subtitle, cover, descriptive copy, and the Library of Congress information.” It may not be helpful for the same folks that engineered this mess to be taking the lead in fixing the mess, or tweaking it. I’d be very encouraged if Nikko agreed to consult with those that took a leadership position on this issue to create some remedies that are not just window dressing.

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As always, @dougsmith creates such a thoughtful and intelligent vlog, in this case, explaining the FFW issues.

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Anumodana! Great example of networked consumer action.

We are certainly seeing damage control here for the publisher, the author and the endorsers, as the stain of a bogus translation wasn’t going to wash away.

The existing title still appears in the Shambhala shopping cart, just “out of stock” and so far it is hard to find any link on their site or their Facebook page to their “ffw-response” post.

Nikko says, “we feel an immense responsibility to consider our publications with care”, so we want to see some acknowledgement of the “how” by which such errant publication process comes from the “largest publisher of Buddhist books”.

In practical terms - why was no reputable Buddhologist invited to screen a book published as a translation, and what will change in this respect?

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I’m very rarely looking at such videos on youtube, but I’m happy I did this today: while that many written texts about the affair explained this “translation”-hoax already very well, this video gave the information a vivid additional personal component, which went to the heart. This has really instructive power and -for me- gave the matter the center of/for its gravitation. Thank you very much, Mr. Smith!

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You’re very welcome @Nessie, and thanks to @UpasakaMichael for the kind words as well. Whatever small benefit was in the video came from the great work by @Charlotteannun, @sujato, @Akaliko, @Bodhipaksa and so many others. It’s not mine at all. :anjal:

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Yeah, that’s what I assumed as well. It should really be changedd (as well as the actual titles of the poems!), but I imagine even the title won’t be revised…

I understood that the title is “First Free Women”, and the subtitle, “poems of the early Buddhist nuns”. So the latter is what they intend to change. Which is a significant step.

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Even if they just wrote “inspired by” that would be fine IMO bhante because it is generally true. The way that Weingast is credited on the cover I saw he looks like an author not a translator anyways.

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I’m not sure how things work on Amazon, Goodreads, etc., but I have a concern that if the title stays the same, the many reader reviews referring to the book as a translation will follow it and continue to cause confusion. That’s something I’d like to follow up with Shambhala.

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A proposal for a new (sub-) title: “The First Free Women: A Reverence to the Early Buddhist Nuns” or even “The First Free Women: My Personal Reverence to the Early Buddhist Nuns”. Something like this might also underline any basic well-meaning of M. Weingast in his poetic piece.

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Is this the one you’re referring to: Shambhala Publications
I can see my post and Ven Canda’s as well :grinning:

Thanks for the link @Vann. I think SP have been deleting comments there. Now that there’s a response about intended remedial actions and associated apology, I was looking to see if that post would get any visibility on the publisher’s pages. I couldn’t find anywhere from which that response was linked.

Nice. :slight_smile: I was thinking of something like “The First Free Women: Poems inspired by Therigatha” or eventually “The First Free Women: Poems inspired by Early Buddhist Nuns”. :slight_smile:

btw. Thanks to everyone involved in this and much mudita for seeming succes of operation. :anjal: :partying_face:

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I suggest a new title for Matty’s book:

First Free Women: My Reflections on Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns

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This appears to be the first non-buddhist internet forum to cover the issue. It probably would have been a sympathetic audience to seek out initially.

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It’s a good discussion there, with some excellent comments.

“Place in microwave for two minutes” - Buddha

@Bodhipaksa do you want to do a Fake Buddha Quotes on that one?

I also like this one:

people are going to have feelings about it one way or the other

That is some 20th century western yogic BS, and I would know, I am Californian. Equally applicable to supporting a sexually harassing guru or cutting in line at Starbucks.

:joy_cat:


But more seriously, it’s amazing how, when you get out of the bubble, people see through it all so quickly. It’s not hard to see the problems.

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In consultation with the author, we have decided to reissue this book in a manner that positions it clearly and unambiguously as an original work, rather than as a translation. We will also be updating the subtitle, cover, descriptive copy, and the Library of Congress information (the CIP data).

Nikko Odiseos
President, Shambhala Publications

And, on that note, Friends, let us call an end to this thread! A big Thank you to all who participated. I need not remind this spiritual community that a difference in views and opinions is nothing but Impermanent… holding onto our anger and grudges is the source of Suffering. The Master said:

Not hate, but love alone makes hate to cease:
This is the everlasting law of peace.
Some men the law of self-restraint despise,
But who make up their quarrels, they are wise.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT
https://firstfreewomen.org/

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