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

Oh, good!

For German, just “unübertrefflich” would return 50+ results with only like 26% of the canon translated, so I have to keep it “unübertreffliche Dinge”. But this does also return AN 6.30 as the number 3 result.

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Added “mountain top”. How could both of us have forgotten this phrase of the heart? :laughing:

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Too strange! For German we have “wie wenn es auf einem Berggipfel stark regnet”—and I don’t know why there is no counterpart in English … :thinking:

Thanks for adding it!

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Perhaps the reason is … in English, we have

  • like when the rain pours down on a mountain top
  • like when it rains heavily on a mountain top
  • suppose it rains heavily on a mountain top

:laughing:

But “mountain top” catches them all. :white_check_mark:

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Yes. It was quite strange. I wanted to find these suttas today and couldn’t. So surprising!

And it does allow Bhante Sujato to be a little different in each translation. If we nagged him he would probably fix them but the inconsistencies just make me smile.

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Adding from latest translations for German:

  • schwieg der Buddha | (already in EN: the Buddha kept silent)
  • ihr solltet den Hausbesitzer | (already in EN: remember the householder)
  • eben da nahm ich beim Buddha | (already in EN: I went for refuge)
  • mit Enthaltsamkeit als fünfter | (already in EN: with celibacy as the fifth)
  • zum hohen Geist | (already in EN: belong to the higher mind)
  • genügsam | (already in EN: having few wishes)

New examples for both languages:

  • encourage others to do the same | andere bestärkt, das Gleiche zu tun
  • miss your moment | Augenblick versäumst (as a complement for “lost opportunit”)

And … :thinking:

AN8.30:8.1
<span class="ebt-matched">First you’ll reflect on these eight thoughts of a great man, and you’ll get the four absorptions—blissful meditations</span>

Is this what you had in mind when adding .*blissful meditations? I am not so sure if it is a good idea to use .* at the beginning of a phrase. You can just as well use blissful meditations, can’t you?

Ah no, I see the difference: that em-dash is the problem! :grimacing: This is one of the few cases where things are easier for German: we use en-dashes surrounded by spaces instead.

Suggestion: Use blissful meditations as such (4 results only instead of 38); and we have already belong to the higher mind which catches the part between the em-dashes and has 34 results—the ones that are missing from the blissful meditations.

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For me, blissful meditations is the key challenging phrase of MN8. I struggled with MN8 for several years before it has lately settled down to a peaceful understanding. Having done so, I became curious about the other uses, so wanted a “wider net”. And 50 suttas is definitely a wide net…

Interestingly, “blissful meditations” don’t always refer to jhana, which really startled me.

Having “blissful meditations” not work with dashes is a problem. And the fix is using the “.*” Admittedly it’s an ugly fix, but I currently have no better one.

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Well … :woman_shrugging:

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I am adding “erlöschen, bevor ich nicht Nonnenschülerinnen” to the German examples, which is the counterpart to “extinguished until i have nun disciples”.

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I have added

  • the detailed meaning | die ausführliche Bedeutung

to the examples—although it returns 35 results.

These Suttas can be considered as being the “germ cell” (that’s how we would call this in German, anyway) of the commentarial tradition: The Buddha giving a brief statement which the mendicants or a specific interlocutor doesn’t understand, and either they ask the Buddha for clarification, or they go to another senior mendicant who then “comments” on the short statement. Sometimes someone seams to feel inclined to comment on a statement by the Buddha even without being asked, like for example Sariputta in AN 7.35.

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:laughing: oh yes. I study Ven. Sariputta, but I think I would keep company more with Ven. Moggallāna. I feel comfortable with his nodding off quiet.

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I am still adding

  • as they arise | während sie aufkommen (6 results)

—which is about mindfulness of perceptions, thoughts, feelings.

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That’s a nice one! Thank you. :pray:

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Bhante Sujato needs some help generating JSON for Ayya Suvira. I think I can provide some Javascript code that may help them. I would have to pause on sound stuff for a bit, but hopefully this would not take too long. Bhante has been doing this manually and it looks really tedious. Once the JSON is generated, it will go into Bilara so Ayya can edit it there.

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Adding another example:

  • like a great rain cloud | wie eine große Regenwolke (2 results)

We currently have “observes the sabbath” which returns 2 results. If we’d modify it to “observ.* the sabbath”, this would also include “observe”, “observed”, “observing”, or “observance of” the sabbath and return 17 results. Would that be too many?

There’s another case with a somewhat questionable example: We currently have “she has the wisdom” and “arising and passing away” which are both part of the same stock passage. The passage goes:

She has the wisdom of arising and passing away which is noble, penetrative, and leads to the complete ending of suffering.

In only two cases it’s “she has” the wisdom. In most cases it’s “they have”, and in some it’s “I have”. I don’t see a particular interest in the two suttas that have “she has” that would justify to single them out in such a way. Since we have already another example in the same stock passage, I’d tend to take “she has the wisdom” out.

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“Rain cloud” alone might suffice as it generates only 8 suttas. Does the “like a great” add value?

Actually, perhaps we should simply use “the sabbath”. In UD5.5, Bhante translates “perform the sabbath”. And UD5.5 is a rather interesting sutta with some food for thought.

Perhaps “accomplished in wisdom” instead? It returns 11 and is gender balanced.

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Good, we can do that. I will change accordingly.

That would totally be a new example. If you find that of value, we can add it of course.

Oh. I thought that would simply replace “she has the wisdom”?

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No. “She has wisdom” is part of the stock passage quoted above, which is already well represented with “arising and passing away”.

Well, then I don’t understand the above?

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