Dharma Pearls Updates

Do you know what Sanskrit terms they are translated from?

No, there’s no original available to check it against, but I think these are early Chinese attempts at translating the same terms. The eightfold path is pretty consistent in Indian sources.

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So much knowledge. :pray:t4: thank you

I always believed that sramanas and Brahmins, had to be like you translated, ascetics and priests

It’s more nice. But it’s seems that’s what they meant actually. How is the Chinese?

The Chinese had a couple translations for these terms, but they were foreign concepts, so most of time they are transliterated as 婆羅門 (ba-ra-men) and 沙門 (sha-men). I translate them as a policy now, so that isn’t really coming from the Chinese in that case. I just settled on those English translations.

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I think the priest then is a good choice. Because in a hindu text. Brahmin caste. Was explained as the priest caste.

Did you know this? I found this in a Diamond Sutra text

1250: The number of bhikshus was made up primarily of the three Kashyapa brothers and their disciples, who totaled 1,000 members. Hence, it was quite natural for the elder of the three, Uruvilva, or Maha Kashyapa, to assume leadership of the First Council after the Buddha’s Nirvana. In addition, the assembly also included Shariputra, Maudgalyayana, Yashas, and their disciples. Thus, by converting these six men, the Buddha attracted a group of 1250 disciples who were present at many of his sermons and who were known collectively as the mahata bhikshu-samgha (full assembly of monks). Commentators suggest the reason the Buddha’s first five disciples were not included in this number is that the figure was rounded off.

@cdpatton

Ok, thank you, your translation and explanation confirm my guessing that these 2 factors are just different wording but the same meaning in this old topic:

Yeah. Sankalpa typically has a couple interpretations in Chinese: Thought or intention. This reading seems to be trying for “control” or “managing” thought, but the word itself usually is used for governing an organization or government. The Chinese were like Americans in many ways, and one of them was putting techniques of management high on the list of virtues (but in government rather than private business).

Vyāyāma is usually diligence or method in Chinese translation, so that’s par for the course in Chinese texts.

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Yeah, I have heard this explanation. I think it was a later addition to the introductions. At first it was 1,250 monks. Then once listing the number became common, sutra writers especially the creative Mahayana writers, started increasing the numbers and listing a plethora of humans and non-humans. It’s one of those hints at a text’s lateness.

I seems to me your last translation with those numbers indicate a Mahasanghika suttas. They used those numbers. And then they started creating Vaipulya sutras

But for those numbers chosen by that sect indicates their own late entry in the schools.

Scholars believe from the beginning it was about Mahasanghika splitting with Sthaviras.

But I think it’s about Sthaviras splitting with Sarvastivada.

And then later. Mahasanghika was a new school.

There is a inscription as if Sarvastivada going to teach Mahasanghika the truth. :thinking:

  1. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “There’s one entry to the path that purifies the conduct of sentient beings.

Is this “one entry to the path” is the same meaning with the Pali word ekayana magga in MN 10?

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More or less. I’m not sure if the original said ekayana or something else. EA 12.1 glosses “one entry” as being focused on one thought, which doesn’t occur in the other versions. It may have been worded a little differently, or the translator might have inserted that. It’s hard to say.

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Greetings ,

四意止 is 四念處 as you already aware of (is the four bases of mindfulness) . But not as literal as four mental stops .

意 here refers to 作意 which is manasikara (keeping attention at) .

止 is 停留 (stop)(meaning is synonymous with
居住、处所 = location) .

Regards

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It’s true that 意 could be translated differently. It tends to translate words with the mano- root. As a Chinese word, it’s more like rational thought, generally, so it can mean different things in context. English speakers tend to read mind that way (as opposed to heart or spirit), so I decided to settle on that for now. I think it probably refers to the actual mindfulness practices that are described in the sutra, which are mental exercises. It’s probably not attempting to translate smṛti.

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I see the Chinese characters are 一入道 (“one”, “enter”, “path”) which can be rendered as “path to enter the one” (much like ekayana magga, path to the one). I think this is more make sense. Just IMO :grin:

Well, that’s the fun part of Chinese, there’s plenty of room for interpretation. Normally, 一 in front of a noun just means it’s singular. It could just be “an entry to the path.” But then the sutra tells us what it means by that. That’s why I say maybe the translator added that. :man_shrugging:

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Thank you for your opinion, I’m trying to translate this EA 12.1 into Indonesian with reference from your English translation and others. I think I will make my own wording choice :grin:

Mine is probably going to change when I go back and review it. It’s not final, and I’m still getting a better feel for how the Ekottarika reads compared to the other Agamas. It’s like translating Anshigao.

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I put my web admin hat on this week and took things a bit further by setting up a bona fide webhosting account to serve as home to the root domain dharmapearls.net that points to the subdomains. The Github Pages site now has the canon.dharmapearls.net subdomain.

I’ve been wanting to move forward with creating a glossary and encyclopedia resource to help readers understand and study the Agamas (and other translations in the future). So, we now have a MediaWiki project set up at subdomain wiki.dharmapearls.net as a first step.

I know some of you here at SuttaCentral have experience working with wikipedia content and interests in Chinese Agamas, so feel free to become contributors. I want Dharma Pearls Wiki to focus on Buddhist content found in Chinese Agamas: A glossary of terms and encyclopedia entries for concepts, stock passages, characters, parables, and lore. Basically, if the content helps readers understand the context of what’s in an Agama translation, it’s fair game for this wiki.

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