Digha Adama 09 (01)
TC Nguyen
Digha Agama 28
Never a tricker acquires something worth. ( DDa.o ho.c chi nha^n chung
ba^'t
tha`nh khi' ) ( a Chinese saying )
Can someone convince you with something you see as illogic ?
The worse thing for a sentient being in search for his own happiness, is
to be
buddhist, to be xian, to be muslim, to be ..ist.
But also the worse thing for a sentient being in search for his own
happiness is to
consider all teachings of the past as the hindrance for his path.
Po.t.thapa-da sutta
This sutta is the ninth in the Digha Nikaya, and the 28th in the
Chinese
Agamas. Between the two there are many differences. I have two
translations
from Pali, one from Rhys Davids, one from Maurice Walshe. Of the three,
the
ones translated from Pali are more intelligible, clearer, the one
translated to
Vietnamese has many passages incomprehensible, and illogical. I regret I
don't
have the original text in Chinese to check. I translate the one from
Vietnamese
which is the translation of the Chinese version, for people here to have
something for reference. I try to translate it word by word, and comment
on it
later.
I will treat two questions :
1. Is this sutta corrupted ?
2. Is the non mentating the highest teaching or the end goal of
buddhism
taught by Gautama.