Generating examples for use in Voice and other applications with Georg’s script

After Karl has added “bundles of reed”, I have now added “Schilfbündel” to the examples.

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Could it be because the

is a subset of those presented in MN2. This subset is about external things/contact, whereas the other things from MN2 are more to do with the internal processes ie seeing , restraining and developing.

Added: I see Karl already gave a answer (that i read after I had replied) framing it in terms of active defilements versus the absence of defilements.

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I have added

  • have been someone else | sicher jemand anders

to the examples. It returns the very few (5) Jataka stories that are scattered through the main Nikayas.

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Oho! That gets the most wonderful mn81!

Thank you for finding this gem of the past lives. :pray:

Now I know about a wheel that rolls forth straight and true. :dharmawheel: :man_cartwheeling:

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Another examples round from my latest translations:

  • change “sweat of the brow” to “sweat of the.* brow” to include also “sweat of their brow”
  • add “von Zorn überwältigt” (EN term already there)
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Added “this immersion” to examples. This finds 7 suttas that describe in detail various meditation approaches step-by-step.

One of the most remarkable suttas brought up by this search is AN8.63, which reveals the process of developing immersion. The process itself is circular, with each cycle comprising:

AN8.63:3.1: When this immersion is well developed and cultivated in this way, you should develop it while placing the mind and keeping it connected. You should develop it without placing the mind, but just keeping it connected. You should develop it without placing the mind or keeping it connected. You should develop it with rapture. You should develop it without rapture. You should develop it with pleasure. You should develop it with equanimity.

Notably, this progression can be applied to any learning. For example, one could well learn piano or carpentry with this approach. Here, in AN8.63, the Buddha shows how to use this practice for the Noble Eightfold Path itself, applying the progression in turn to the four immeasurables followed by the four mindfulness meditations.

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Which is in itself rather remarkable. The mindfulness meditations are actually meditations supposed to lead up to immersion, and here they come only after the four immeasurables which are states of immersion.

Added “diese Versenkung”.

We have now 23 examples with “immersion”!

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Adding more examples:

  • zum hohen Geist | has already EN counterpart
  • das rechte Maß | has already EN counterpart
  • Shady Orchid Tree | Sonnenschirm-Orchideenbaum (3 results)
    The main Sutta here is AN 7.69 which has a beautiful simile, relying on botanical metaphors, about the development of the path.
  • keep them warm and incubated | warm gehalten und bebrütet (5 results)
  • marks of his fingers | Spuren seiner Finger (2 results)
    Two similes on the fact that not wishing leads to the desired result, but putting the conditions in place.
  • Vergnügen an Entscheidungen | has already EN counterpart
  • das halbe geistliche Leben | has already EN counterpart (2 results)
  • words of another (added by Karl) | Worte eines anderen (2 results)
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:laughing: I was just about to mention that. Thank you for noticing. :pray:

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Added Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī. This raises an interesting question about people in the suttas–Sariputta occurs all over the place but is not an example to be found. In the case of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, I think the importance here is her role in Buddhism as well as her relationship to the Buddha as the woman who raised him. I.e., she’s not just “his aunt”.

We still do have an open question about how one would use examples to explore the roles of other key people in the suttas. Unfortunately, the answer to that open question eludes me. In the case of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, it is the phrase “Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī” that guides an understanding of a key thread of the suttas. In contrast, Sariputta is so much involved in the very fabric of the suttas that a “Sariputta” example would simply be overwhelming in the diversity of results.

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Adding more examples:

  • going forth will not be wasted | Fortziehen nicht vergeblich
    It’s about living in a way that the donor’s gifts will be of rich fruit.
  • to one’s own spiritual companions | seinen eigenen geistlichen Gefährten
  • like a drop of dew | wie ein Tautropfen
    This is one of many impressive similes in AN 7.74 about the brevity of human life.
  • the teaching, the training | das ist die Lehre, das ist die Übung
    Connects two suttas with a similar, but slightly different summary of the Dhamma.

Are we sure we need the example “to the higher mind”? It has 43 results! :open_mouth:

Changing it to “belong.* to the higher mind” does already reduce them to 35, so that’s perhaps what I do. In German I am likewise changing “zum hohen Geist” to “zum hohen Geist gehören”.

I am still adding a few examples that lead to some of the few places with Vinaya material in the Suttas:

  • monastic codes | Ordenssatzungen (9)
  • what is an offense | was ein Verstoß ist (9)
  • principles for the settlement | disziplinarische Angelegenheit beizulegen (2)
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Hmm. That’s a bit much. I wonder if we can replace that phrase with “blissful meditations” that yields 4 suttas instead of 43. Both return AN5.179 as their top result. In addition, mn8 is also included as encouragement to not get stuck on blissful meditations.

What do you think?

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I think that’s wonderful! Just for German I haven’t found a good solution yet. But that’s not for today any more … it’s way too late already! :laughing:

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The thing is that in case of the English, most instances of “blissful meditations” are hiding behind am em-dash just before “blissful”. In German, instead of em-dashes we have an en-dash surrounded by spaces, so no place to hide for the blissful meditations … it’s just another flood!

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I think that in Pali, the term is Diṭṭhadhammasukhavihārā, which roughly translates to “abiding in a pleasant view of what is”. That occurs in 42 suttas.

It’s a subtle term. For example, first jhana is considered a blissful meditation:

MN8:4.1: It’s possible that a certain mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, might enter and remain in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.
MN8:4.2: They might think
MN8:4.3: they’re practicing self-effacement.
MN8:4.4: But in the training of the Noble One these are not called ‘self-effacement’;
MN8:4.5: they’re called ‘blissful meditations in the present life’.

However, in AN5.179, we have the first blissful meditation as:

AN5.179:3.2: It’s when a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha:
AN5.179:3.3: ‘That Blessed One is perfected, a fully awakened Buddha, accomplished in knowledge and conduct, holy, knower of the
world, supreme guide for those who wish to train, teacher of gods and humans, awakened, blessed.’
AN5.179:3.4: This is the first blissful meditation in the present life belonging to the higher mind, which they achieve in order to purify the unpurified mind and cleanse the unclean mind.

So perhaps the English example should be “.*blissful meditations”, which handles the dash and returns 38 suttas. I think it’s more important that the first five results be relevant. The other results are mostly repetitions.

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… in which case we can also keep “belong.* to the higher mind” which returns 35 results. :thinking:

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Oddly, the “higher mind” search does NOT return MN8. And MN8 is an important cautionary sutta which tells us to not just bliss ourselves into self-absorbed isolation. So I’m inclined to replace the former “higher mind” example with “.*blissful meditations”

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Okay then, please go ahead. :+1:

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ok
:white_check_mark:

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I have done the same for German and exchanged “zum hohen Geist gehörend” by “Zustände wonnevoller Meditation”. :white_check_mark:

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