Affected by clinging

Is there a better or different English translation for “affected by clinging” that we see a lot in the suttas ?

hi Joel. For me, it is actually the best translation. The translation problem seems to lie within the word compound: “pañcupādānakkhandha” (eg. in SN 56.11 or SN 22.48).

Here, the word “upādāna” means “attachment” or “grasping” or (not the best translation) “clinging”. It seems to be an adjective; describing the khandhas.

Since the word is “upādāna”; it cannot be translated as “clung to” or “attached to”; because these would be a different word form of “upādāna”; such as " upādāniya". For example:

Any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near, which is accompanied by defilements and is prone to being grasped: this is called the aggregate of form connected with grasping.

Yaṁ kiñci, bhikkhave, rūpaṁ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṁ …pe… yaṁ dūre santike vā sāsavaṁ upādāniyaṁ, ayaṁ vuccati rūpupādānakkhandho.

SN 22.48

Note above, even Sujato translates “upādānakkhandho” as “connected with grasping”.

Originally, Thanissaro translated “pañcupādānakkhandha” as “the five clung to aggregates” but then later changed it because it is linguistically inaccurate.

Thanissaro and Sujato now use “five clinging aggregates” and “five grasping aggregates” but these literal translations seem problematic because they give the impression the aggregates themselves are engaged in the activity of grasping or clinging.

As said, “clinging” & “grasping” seem to be an adjective here, therefore the translation probably should included a hyphen, such as:

  • five clinging-aggregates
  • five grasping-aggregates.

As I said, I prefer Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation of “five aggregates subject to/affected by clinging/attachment” or Sujato’s departure in SN 22.48 of “connected with grasping”. :slightly_smiling_face:

Keep in mind, SN 22.48 refers to two types of five aggregates:

  1. five aggregates unaffected by attachment
  2. five aggregates affected by attachment
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I heard the translation SUBJECT to clinging before… what is Ven Sujato’s translation of Affected ?

Checking, Bhikkhu Bodhi used Nanamoli’s “affected by clinging” in his older translations, such as in his MN (here: SuttaCentral). The following translations seem to be of the same type:

  • affected by clinging (Nanamoli/Bodhi)
  • subject to clinging (Bodhi)
  • connected to grasping (Sujato)

Note: as previously stated, the words “affected by/subject to/connected to” are not literally found in the Pali. They are mere interpretations, similar to “Anapanasati”, which has been interpreted as:

  • mindfulness of breathing
  • mindfulness with breathing
  • mindfulness when breathing
  • mindfulness towards breathing.
  • etc

In Pali, anapanasati literally means: “in-breathing + out-breathing + mindfulness”.

Similarly, in Pali, pancupadanakhandha literally means: “five + attachment/grasping + aggegates”.

Thus it could be translated as simply: “five attachments of aggregates” or “five attachments towards aggregates”.

What exactly are your personal concerns/issues with these “upadana” translations? Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

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Just making sure I had sufficient understanding. I’ve been using Nanamoli’s translation

I think suttas such as SN 22.48 and SN 22.1 explain the basic principles in more simple terms.

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Possibly the distinction in SN22.48 could be expressed as “grasped aggregates” v. “ungrasped aggregates”.

Thank you Martin however i already discussed this. It seems it is not possible to translate “upadana” as “grasped”.

If upadana is an adjective, then I think “grasped” and “ungrasped” would work as descriptions for the aggregates. It does convey the distinction made in SN22.48.

I am not fluent in Pali but as already posted “grasped” would involve a different form of upadana, such as “upadaniya” (as found in SN 12.52). It was already posted SN 22.48 says:

Any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near, which is accompanied by defilements and is prone to being grasped: this is called the aggregate of form connected with grasping.

Yaṁ kiñci, bhikkhave, rūpaṁ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṁ …pe… yaṁ dūre santike vā sāsavaṁ upādāniyaṁ, ayaṁ vuccati rūpupādānakkhandho.

upādāniya
adjective

  1. (from upādāna) likely to be taken as one’s own, tending to produce grasping; serving as a support or fuel