SN 8.4 ānanda-suttaṃ (pali and english)

Translations
1

SN 8.4 ānanda-suttaṃ

SN 8.4 ānanda-suttaṃ
 SN 8.4 ānanda-discourse
ekaṃ samayaṃ āyasmā ānando
 One time, Venerable Ānanda,
sāvatthiyaṃ viharati
 (at) Sāvatthī (he) dwelled,
jeta-vane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.
 (in) Jeta’s-Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park.
atha kho āyasmā ānando
 Then ***, Venerable Ānanda,
pubbaṇha-samayaṃ nivāsetvā
 before-noon-time, having-dressed,
patta-cīvaram-ādāya
 (with) bowl-(and)-robe-taken,
sāvatthiṃ piṇḍāya pāvisi
 (to) Sāvatthī (for) alms (he) entered,
āyasmatā vaṅgīsena pacchāsamaṇena.
 (with) Venerable Vaṅgīsa [walking] behind.
tena kho pana samayena āyasmato vaṅgīsassa
 Now at that time Venerable Vaṅgīsa
anabhirati uppannā hoti,
 {had} dis-satisfaction arise ****,
rāgo cittaṃ anuddhaṃseti.
 lust {degraded} (his) mind **********.
atha kho āyasmā vaṅgīso
 Then the Venerable Vaṅgīsa,
āyasmantaṃ ānandaṃ
 (to) Venerable Ānanda,
gāthāya ajjhabhāsi —
 (through) verse (he) addressed:

verse

♦ “kāma-rāgena ḍayhāmi,
 (with) sensuality-(and)-lust (I) burn,
cittaṃ me pari-ḍayhati.
 Mind (of) mine completely-burns.
♦ sādhu nibbāpanaṃ brūhi,
 [the] thorough extinguishing [please] explain,
anu-kampāya gotamā”ti.
 Out-of-compassion, Gotama.
(ānanda replies)
♦ “saññāya vipariyesā,
 (your) perceptions (are) inverted,
cittaṃ te pari-ḍayhati.
 [so the] mind (of) yours completely-burns,
♦ nimittaṃ pari-vajjehi,
 (the) sign (to) completely-avoid:
subhaṃ rāg-ūpasaṃhitaṃ.
 beauty connected-with-lust
♦ “saṅkhāre parato passa,
 fabrications; alien (they should be) seen (as),
dukkhato mā ca attato.
 suffering, not the self.
♦ nibbāpehi mahā-rāgaṃ,
 extinguish (the) great-lust,
mā ḍayhittho punap-punaṃ.
 don’t burn again-(and)-again.
♦ “a-subhāya cittaṃ bhāvehi,
 Non-beautiful [perceptions] (the) mind develops,
ekaggaṃ su-samāhitaṃ.
 unified, well-concentrated.
♦ sati kāya-gatā ty-atthu,
 {be} mindful (of) body-condition,
nibbidā-bahulo bha.
 disenchantment-(in)-abundance ***.
♦ “a-nimittañca bhāvehi,
 Sign-less [meditation] (you) develop,
mān-ānusaya-mujjaha.
 conceit’s-tendency,-discard.
♦ tato mān-ābhisamayā,
 thereupon (with) conceit-penetrated,
upasanto carissasī”ti.
 (in) peace (you) abide.
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pacchāsamaṇa （a junior bhikkhu （thera） who walks behind a senior （thera） on his back or rounds）

sādhu：[adj．] good； virtuous； profitable．（adv．），well； thoroughly．（ind．），yes； alright．
Bhikkhu Bodhi translated as “it would be good …”

saṅkhāra：[m．] essential condition； a thing conditioned，mental coefficients．
To its most frequent usages （s．foll．1-4） the general term ‘formation’ may be applied，with the qualifications required by the context．This term may refer either to the act of 'forming or to the passive state of ‘having been formed’ or to both．

nibbidā：[f．] aversion； disgust； weariness．
bahula：[adj．] abundant; frequent．

These are the words that might be inappropriate.
By the way, are you using some kind of software to do the translation?

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the translations are mine, consulting various dictionaries and comparing with exisiting english translations. What I’m shooting for is a one to one correspondence between pali and english in order, so fluency is compromised. The “big picture” intention behind this style is for one learning pali, and one who chants pali, this style of translation makes it easier to make the asssociation between what pali word means what in english. A fluent translation with a scrambled order makes that process difficult.

I’m not going to address every word you questioned, but this one just to give you an example for the reasoning of my translation:

pacchāsamaṇa

samana is “ascetic”.
paccha can be temporal, like “afterwards” in contrast to “before”.
Paccha can also be a spatial relationship, like “behind” something, rather than “in front of”.

So the intent of my translation was to educate as much as possible the meaning of each individual word within compounds, rather than choose the most idiomatic specific definition which would not be helpful at all when one then confronts “paccha” in other contexts (which it does occur frequently in spatial or temporal form)

But thanks for your comments, I do appreciate people trying to help improve it. There are lots of errors in there for sure.