Rethinking Ap/Pamāda = Sobriety/Stupor

Discussion
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Diligence/Negligence are pretty fossilized for these words, but I think there are some nuances lost with such translations. I believe Pamāda represents a state of frenzy, addiction & confusion, while Appamāda is it’s opposite, sobriety.

I propose Sobriety for appamāda. For pamāda, it’s a bit tricky, there’s a few words in English that fit with varying levels: Indulgence, stupor, Intoxication, Dissipation, Intemperance, Stupefaction.

pamāda 2 masc. intoxication; inebriation; drunkenness ►

√mad root. √mad (be mad, be intoxicated) ►

Negligence sounds pretty tame compared to the extensive use of the word in the canon. Negligence is me cleaning the floors and missing the spot. Pamāda includes me going out on a party with Johhny Depp and doing things that I’ll pretty much regret. It includes all types of vices, indulgence, drunkship, drugs and such, beyond just missing a spot when cleaning the floor.

Fools and half-wits
devote themselves to stupor.
But the wise protect sobriety
as their best treasure.

Don’t devote yourself to stupor,
or delight in sexual intimacy.
For if you’re sober and meditate,
you’ll attain abundant happiness.

Maghavā became chief of the gods
by means of sobriety.
People praise sobriety,
while stupor is always deplored.

Who is Maghavā, and what was his victory? It’s another name for Indra, or Sakka.

Let’s read up on Sakka’s sober victory:

At that time the asura folk (asuragaṇā) lived in the Tāvatiṃsa deva-realm. They were alike to the devas in appearance and in life-span. When they saw Sakka and his company they prepared a drinking festival (mahāpāna) to greet the newly arisen devas. Sakka instructed his companions:

“We made our own merit, it was not done with these others. Do not drink the wine (gaṇḍapāna). It will make you intoxicated.” So they did not. The foolish asuras drank it and fell into a drunken sleep. Sakka, the king of the devas, ordered his followers to take them by the feet and throw them down head first to the foot of Mt. Sineru. (MN-a 37) (Translation: Ajahn Punnaddhammo)

Intoxication vs sobriety is a clear theme in this story, going beyond just Diligence / Negligence.

I’ve been also reading up on different suttas that talk about these terms, and there’s a common theme.

For example, in SN 35.246:

Suppose the crops have ripened, but the caretaker is stupefied. If an ox fond of crops invades the crops they’d indulge themselves as much as they like.

In the same way, when an unlearned ordinary person doesn’t exercise restraint when it comes to the six fields of contact, they indulge themselves in the five kinds of sensual stimulation as much as they like.

Later in the same sutta:

Suppose a king or their minister had never heard the sound of an arched harp. When he first hears the sound, he’d say, ‘My man, what is making this sound, so arousing, sensuous, intoxicating, infatuating, and captivating?’

Pamāda is linked in teachings that go beyond just neglecting to clean a spot, but generally about indulgence/frenzy. Just like alcohol, drugs, six fields of contacts is something that people indulge in, get drunk off. In this sutta, there’s the image of a cow indulging on crops, a king indulging on music, so on and so forth. Something more than negligence, IMO

Looking at SN 35.97:

And how does someone pamādavihārī?

When you live with the eye faculty unrestrained, your mind becomes polluted when it comes to sights known by the eye. When the mind is polluted, there’s no joy. When there’s no joy, there’s no rapture. When there’s no rapture, there’s no tranquility. When there’s no tranquility, there’s suffering. When one is suffering, the mind does not become immersed in samādhi. When the mind is not immersed in samādhi, principles do not become clear. Because principles have not become clear, you’re considered to pamādavihārī .

This is really nothing about neglecting a duty - this is about indulging in sense base unrestrained. An intoxication, if you will.

Through indulgence, the mind is polluted and so the dhamma is unclear - this is what makes a person pamādavihārī, not neglecting to do something.

And how does someone appamādavihārī?

When you live with the eye faculty restrained, your mind doesn’t become polluted when it comes to sights known by the eye. When the mind isn’t polluted, joy springs up. Being joyful, rapture springs up. When the mind is full of rapture, the body becomes tranquil. When the body is tranquil, one feels bliss. And when blissful, the mind becomes immersed in samādhi. When the mind is immersed in samādhi, principles become clear. Because principles have become clear, you’re considered to appamādavihārī.

And again, the most important action is restrainment of the sense base. It’s not developping good qualities in general, it’s what happens when sense base is restrained and there’s an ensuing clarity of the mind with regards to Dhamma. Quite a sobering up experience, IMO.

I fail to see how Diligence / Negligence is applicable to this sutta, except in a very loose and roundabout way. :person_shrugging: Entire sutta is about 6 sense bases and whether someone indulges in them or shows restraint towards them - that’s what defines ap/pamāda.

To be honest, I’ve used stupor as a catch-all term to include drunkship and carelessness - I think Intoxication is too narrow, I’ve toyed with Indulgence but that doesn’t always work (For example an4.116 “Don’t sleep on these bhikkhus!”). But I think Sobriety is spot on. Considering whole of the path and restraint and purification of mind, six sense base, khadas etc. I believe Sober/Mindless connonations bring out a whole other dimension to the teachings that were previously ignored.

In this way, it becomes both the method and the fruition of the path, nibbāna being the ultimate sobriety, zenith of purity. Which, I can’t really say for diligence. See for example AN 6.53, where Appamāda is praised as the highest. Is it meticulousness, or purity of mind, that’s being praised here?

I submit to our teachers and people much more proficient in Pāli than I. :slight_smile:

Ven. @sujato @sunyo @brahmali & @stephen @srkris @Sphairos to page a few.

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Hard words to translate!

I have a much stronger connotation with negligence. What pops into my mind is “negligent homicide,” so for me it’s instantly a strong word. As far as cleaning the floor and missing a spot I would say “careless.” If someone has been negligent then there was something that they had a duty to do and by not doing it they are in serious trouble.

I also feel like sobriety, just out of the box, is so strongly tied to the literal state of not drinking alcohol that it’s hard for my mind to go anywhere else with it. Even when I expand it, it still has the sense to me of not doing something rather than the more active “diligence.”

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Which might just be the whole point, Bhante; what do you think? Sober is what happens naturally and beautifully when not doing anything, not indulging in senses, when letting go. diligence sounds too busy for such a thing, IMO., maybe?

To me, linking drugs & drinks with six senses & khandas, could be a very clear analogy. Not getting drunk off senses sort of thing.

One of the things I like to do when considering these alternative translations is to see if the new word has been covered in Pāli before.

For example “Sober” has 0 results in DPD. So, what’s the Pāli word for “Sober”?

But also, “neglect” has only virādhaya listed for it. Which is a word I haven’t dug into at all, so I can’t say anything. But “Don’t be pamāda” sounds to me like “Don’t sleep on this!” “Don’t be confused about this matter!”.

Indeed! :sweat_smile:

I appreciate the insight!

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To me appamāda is very active. Developing good qualities is certainly active.

In modern (North American?) English the word sober has a very strong meaning of someone who is addicted to alcohol and no longer drinks it. I realize the play you are trying to make with intoxication, but it just doesn’t work for me.

I know words can have multiple meanings, but the “alcoholic who is not currently drinking” is just too strong in my mind. If it was used in a specific context, like “a sober outlook on life” then it’s clear it’s not talking about alcohol. But in the ways you have it above, lacking that context, my mind just jumps to the alcohol meaning exclusively.

Just my $.02

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I don’t mean to sound obtuse, but I believe especially the word we translate as “Diligence” requires nothing less than %100 diligence, so I persist in my questions respectfully! :smiley:

Also if it was just my personal practice, I’d just choose it thus and be on my way, but this is for my work, and so I want to be diligent, and I can’t ignore these connections, nor do I want to make such a radical choice without the insight of those like you. :slight_smile: So I thank again for your patience and time.

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I think that not-vigilance and vigilance conveys the meaning quite accurately, in my case. I agree that intoxication feels better choice that negligence.

Don’t devote yourself to recklessness,
or delight in sexual intimacy.

Isn’t kammarati just delight in sensual pleasure?

And obviously, in precepts, we use pamāda to mean intoxicating drugs and liquors but also anything that causes addiction would be covered.

I think it has nothing to do with addiction, drugs, or anything alike. Sensual pleasure is addictive, and is the root of most, if not all, addictions. Buddha considered wordly people to be addicted to sensual pleasure. That precept does not rule to avoid sensual pleasure, or addictive stuff or activities.

Imho, it has to do with things that makes you lose your restrain in regards the things you committed to not to lose your restrain.

So, imagine you you were committed to right speech. Then, you read the news, or talk with your neighbor, or any activity it may has little to do with sensual pleasures or addiction… yet this activity overwhelms you, intoxicates you, leads you to lose your vigilance, and you step into wrong speech, low talk, gossip… then those innocent activities are intoxication for you. If you followed truly the spirit of the five precept, you should not engage in them at all - just as an alcoholic should cut alcohol if he were to follow the five precept.

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Hi Dogen,

Perhaps you would also consider “sober-mindedness”, “non-indulgence” for appamāda?

And yes, in German, we sometime refer to (early) Buddhism and Buddhist attitudes as nüchtern, Nüchternheit. These words are literally translated as “sober”, “sobriety”/“soberness”, but they also have many different connotations: of rationality, reasonability, decency, plainness, dullness and many others.

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“Indeed, sobriety in the Holy Orthodox Christian tradition is not simply a matter of not being drunk, as is the common way we think of and use the word in American English. Rather, sobriety is about being and doing something. It has a positive and not just a negative aspect to it. To be sober is to be alert to every movement of the soul, every thought, every action, and every word we speak. It is alertness and wakefulness at the highest level.
“The Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers of the Church are full of references to sobriety (nepsis in Greek). For example, St. Peter, in his first epistle, writes, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour” (5:8, RSV).”
(Source)

According to online sources, ‘nepsis’ in the ancient setting was also used to literally mean sober from alcohol. But in the Christian tradition in Greek it is closely related to diligence and watchfulness in a spiritual sense.

As Ven. @Snowbird alludes to, though, the difficulty is between choosing rich words that are alienating from their more plain, obvious sense, and more plain words which are less rich. I personally would recommend you contemplate who will be the audience for your translation, and then consider what they will understand the words to mean without a commentary explaining them. Since you are translating into Turkish, the audience may be people who are not used to Buddhist ideas at all. But the words for ‘sobriety’ may also have similar connotations in Islamic spirituality which would be understood. There are many factors. But the audience is important to consider. If they are not going to get it, it doesn’t really provide the richness of the word you have in mind, so the point will be lost. :slight_smile:

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Indeed! What I’m considering are Ayıklık / Sersemlik, which are like Wakefulness (that is used for sobriety) / Befuddlement (oh, another possible English rendering ?); Sarhoşluk as literal drunkness sounds too restrictive, and alcohol (among other vices / indulgences) causes Befuddlement.

I think they are simple and clear enough words to convey the ideas, that convey alertness & purity vs a state of confusion & connonations of intoxication. :slight_smile:

Very interesting to hear about the Christian perspective! Yes, I think such a perspective is also found in the suttas as far as I can see. :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot for your insight and as always, interesting knowledges about other traditions bhante! :smiley:

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In the US, at least, ‘sobriety’ always has to do with the consumption of alcohol. For instance , there are ‘sobriety checkpoints’ on roads to check for drunk driving.

So I don’t think that translation choice would work here.

The PTS dictionary offers : “ carelessness, negligence, indolence, remissness” for pamāda, and ‘ thoughtfulness, carefulness, conscientiousness, watchfulness, vigilance, earnestness, zeal’ for the opposite.

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I think precisely my point that this meaning, which is highlighted with Sakka offering alcohol to asuras to trick them out of heaven (which is what’s mentioned in the Appamāda section), and the view of sense bases like they’re alcohol and drugs, seems lost. :slight_smile:

We’re taking a rich metaphor that considers all experience like a drug, and narrowing it down to “carelessness/vigilance”.

Or consider these verses:

Don’t devote yourself to recklessness,
or delight in sexual intimacy.

How’s negligence related to sexual intimacy? What does it mean to be devoted to negligence?

Clearly, something like “Don’t go out drinking and partying, don’t delight in sex” kind of meaning is lost in our translations I feel. I’ve met many people who were precisely devoted to getting high or drunk. :slight_smile:

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It would be neglecting the Dhamma.

Which has to do with more things than getting drunk from alcohol.

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How is that so?

Again, I haven’t seen an alternative explanation for Sakka offering alcohol to Asura, being mentioned in a passage about a word that is also translated as intoxication. Sakka’s abstinence from alcohol is praised blatantly and this passage has nothing to do with intoxication?

And Nibbāna isn’t a real fire going out. But it’s a rich metaphor. :slight_smile:

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Perhaps, in summary, giving in to sensual pleasure.
Intoxication by alcohol is a type of neglect, but certainly not the only one.

In the M. Parinibbana sutta, when the Buddha towards the end tells his monks to strive on with diligence, he’s not simply telling them to avoid alcohol.

appamādena sampādethā

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I think a kind of sobriety that Ven. Vaddha has eluded to earlier.

If you viewed all sense base as a drug (as in the elaboration in SN 35.246), sobriety would mean abstinence from six sense base, prizing the clarity of mind away from all senses.

To me, the link is obvious. :slight_smile:

But I’ll try to see if there are other passages that link sense base with sober/drunkship. :+1:

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I suppose it depends on how significant alcohol is present in one’s world view.

One can redefine the word ‘sobriety’ however one likes, I only speak to how I believe it would land on many American ears.

From the wiki article, first sentence:
" Sobriety is the condition of not having any effects from alcohol and other drugs"

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Again, I would offer SN 35.246 because I’d have to copy/paste it entirely, but it’s an entire section about indulgence with sense bases with two different similes, talking about ap/pamāda. Indulging in music, indulging in food, indulging in sense base, etc. are likened to an addictive attitude.

Suppose a king or their minister had never heard the sound of an arched harp. When he first hears the sound, he’d say, ‘My man, what is making this sound, so arousing, sensuous, intoxicating, infatuating, and captivating?’

What word would you use to bring out this lost in frenzy / abstinence from indulgence connonations then?

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I think ‘heedfullness’, or ‘diligence’ works fine.

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:man_shrugging: :sweat_smile: I see I won’t convince you on this perspective!

‘It seems that there’s nothing to this thing called an arched harp or whatever’s called an arched harp! But people waste their time with it, negligent and heedless!’

Negligent feels very out of place here, for example. Earlier he specifically says he was intoxicated with evaṁmadanīyo.

But all the same! :smiley:

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I don’t generally have a problem with existing translations.

It seems much harder to me to practice Dhamma than translate Pali. Even spending too much time worrying about translation choices is a type of negligence. A distraction. We don’t pay heed to, pay proper attention to what really matters.

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