May this thread be used for discussing alternate translations of popular Pali words.
Examples:
Pali: dukkha
Popular translation: suffering, stress
Potentially more suitable translation: sadness, unhappiness
Reasoning: in current Indian languages, dukkha and sukha are commonly used simply ordinary words that seem most equivalent to sadness and happiness, sad and happy, etc.
Pali: sati
Popular translation: mindfulness
Potentially more suitable translation: memory, carefulness
Reasoning: mindfulness seems to have come from the Judeo-Christian context meaning âkeeping the mind full of God.â Furthermore, it doesnât seem to be a simply, ordinary word that fits with the rest of the seven parts of the eightfold path (view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, concentration). âAccording to Robert Sharf, smáčti originally meant âto rememberâ, âto recollectâ, âto bear in mindâ, as in the Vedic tradition of remembering the sacred texts. The term sati also means âto rememberâ.â
Pali: bhavana
Popular translation: meditation
Potentially more suitable translation: cultivation, development
Reasoning: "To explain the cultural context of the historical Buddhaâs employment of the term, Glenn Wallis emphasizes bhavanaâ s sense of cultivation. He writes that a farmer performs bhavana when he or she prepares soil and plants a seed. Wallis infers the Buddhaâs intention with this term by emphasizing the terrain and focus on farming in northern India at the time in the following passage:
I imagine that when Gotama, the Buddha, chose this word to talk about meditation, he had in mind the ubiquitous farms and fields of his native India. Unlike our words âmeditationâ or âcontemplation,â Gotamaâs term is musty, rich, and verdant. It smells of the earth. The commonness of his chosen term suggests naturalness, everydayness, ordinariness. The term also suggests hope: no matter how fallow it has become, or damaged it may be, a field can always be cultivated â endlessly enhanced, enriched, developed â to produce a favorable and nourishing harvest.
Bhavana - Wikipedia
Pali: tanha
Popular translation: craving
Potentially more suitable translation: thirst, psychological thirst
Reasoning: Tanha (PÄli: TaáčhÄ , also tanha ; Sanskrit: táčáčŁáčÄ , also trishna ) literally means âthirst,â and is commonly translated as craving or desire.
Please feel free to offer feedback for these alternate translations and provide your own ideas and examples regarding this topic here too.