Wrong livelihood (MN 117)

[seniya]

Dear All,

In the MN 117 we have the definition of wrong livelihood as follow:

Katamo ca, bhikkhave, micchāājīvo? Kuhanā, lapanā, nemittikatā, nippesikatā, lābhena lābhaṃ nijigīsanatā—ayaṃ, bhikkhave, micchāājīvo.

From SC we have 3 versions of MN 117 in English translation:

Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation:

“And what, bhikkhus, is wrong livelihood? Scheming, talking, hinting, belittling, pursuing gain with gain: this is wrong livelihood.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation:

And what is wrong livelihood? Scheming, persuading, hinting, belittling, & pursuing gain with gain. This is wrong livelihood.

Sister Uppavalanna’s translation:

Bhikkhus, what is wrong livelihood? Deceit, muttering for a livelihood, soothsaying, performing jugglary and coveting for gain on gain.

Bhikkhu Bodhi’s and Thanissaro’s translation is much closer, but Sister Uppalavanna’s translation is very different, especially for nemittikatā (hinting vs soothsaying) and nippesikatā (belittling vs performing jugglary).

I’m not a Pali language specialist or translator, but can anyone help me which translation is more accurate and reliable?

Thank you

[SarathW1]

@seniya

soothsaying

I like to know how Bhante @sujato translate this.

[daverupa]

Sister Uppalavanna

Thanks for that info, Ayya. I don’t know much about her, so this is all new for me. What I do know, based on my recollection of a conversation with Ven Mettavihari, is this. When he was setting up metta.lk, he knew of her translations and asked if he could put them on his site; this was in the late 90s, I think. She was reluctant, as she said the texts were not good enough to publish, being done purely for her own study and practice, as a way of learning the Suttas. He persuaded her, saying tha…