Which Palicanon translation to use?

Exploring the Dhamma, as understood from the perspective of the ancient Pali commentaries.
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mikenz66
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by mikenz66 »

Entomology. Not to be confused with Etymology, the study of the history of words.
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anando
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by anando »

Hi,
i´m in a lucky situation to be able to read german. The best edition of the Pali-Canon is: Neumann, Karl-Eugen: Die Reden Gotamo Buddhos, Wien, Szolnay Verlag. K.Neumann is a Doktor of Indologie.
My editionis from the above is also from Artemis, Switzerland in 1957. Artemis is not engaged any more in Pali-Canon.
Neuman was a Dr. of Indologie with l ot´s of experience in archeological sight of Pali-Canon
He studied the Pali-Canon in Colombo, with contacts to the abot of a monestry and studied in London what he could find there.
I do favour his third edition, the Dighanikayo. It´s the late G.-Buddho and he tells lots of thing he didn´t say in the Mahjjimmanikayo.
I succed the path.

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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by Spiny Norman »

David N. Snyder wrote: In my opinion, Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations are the "gold standard."
I like Bikkhu Bodhi's work, which I feel is faithful to the original text and not "over-interpreted." Having said that it's interesting to read different translations.
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anando
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by anando »

Hi,
there in this big world. The basic literature of buddhist teaching is the Pali-Canon. Thre are some translations. Yöou should make a different approach to Pali-Canon. You just at firs look what kind of academic reputation the
translater has. Ther is a good traslation bei Neumann in german, but also in englisch.
If you don´t have a master teacher, go and help yourself by reading Pali-Canon and practicing after the instructions.

anando
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marc108
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by marc108 »

i think its important to compare translations and not to just rely on a single translator. i prefer Ven. Thanissaro & Ven. Bodhi but there are SO many other translations worth reading. http://www.suttacentral.net/ is great & will give you all the major, publicly available translations
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anando
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by anando »

Hello,
it´s not only importand which translation of the Pali-Conon is well done.
The quality of translation depends on the qualifikation in Pali, from the translater.
As i know from the translation of Kai Zumwinkel, that he´s translating a version of Pali-Canon that is based on fairy-tales und sagas.
The second german edition is from K.E. Neumann. For being adoctor of indology und several travellings to cloisters in Shri Lanca and London, he also
embodied the historicals facts that were found out of this time.
In his language he is very precise.
I don´t know no Englisch translation so i can´t esteem the value of these translations.

anando
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Kare
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by Kare »

anando wrote:Hello,
it´s not only importand which translation of the Pali-Conon is well done.
The quality of translation depends on the qualifikation in Pali, from the translater.
As i know from the translation of Kai Zumwinkel, that he´s translating a version of Pali-Canon that is based on fairy-tales und sagas.
The second german edition is from K.E. Neumann. For being adoctor of indology und several travellings to cloisters in Shri Lanca and London, he also
embodied the historicals facts that were found out of this time.
In his language he is very precise.
I don´t know no Englisch translation so i can´t esteem the value of these translations.

anando
I respectfully disagree. I have just finished my Norwegian translation of the Majjhima Nikaya from the Pali, so I can claim some knowledge of the Pali text. When I compare different translations, I find that Kai Zumwinkel's German translation of the Majjhima Nikaya is very clear and precise. Can you tell me which version of the Pali Canon that is based on fairy-tales and sagas?
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reflection
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by reflection »

To answer the original question, what is considered the best of course has no single answer. Also there is no gold standard. But if it were up to me, I do very much like the German translations by Nyanatiloka, Nyanaponika and Zumwinkel. Although I'm by all means no pali expert, in general they seem to me more consistent and direct than other translations I've found so far. However, I do like to read multiple translations and I think that's the best way to go about it, other than reading it fully in Pali.



edit: I see now this thread is already about a year old. Don't know if this advise is still useful, but here you go.
Ananda26
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by Ananda26 »

Alobha wrote:Hey everyone,

I decided that i want to study the palicanon in english from now on. Almost all dhammatexts I read are english and I rarely felt comfortable with the german translations of the palicanon.
So I wonder if people could give me advice on which palicanon translation is considered the "best".
For the start i'm looking for good translations of the Samyutta Nikaya, Digha Nikaya and the Majjhima Nikaya.

Are the translations of Thanissaro Bhikkhu the "Gold standard ?
A flaw I encountered in german translations is the sometimes inconsistent or unclear translation of paliterms. I'd prefer a consistent use of terms or, even better, an index for chosen translation for core paliterms. For example if dosa is sometimes translated as hatred, sometimes as ill-will, sometimes as rejection, sometimes as grudge then I find it hard to learn the more systematic connections.

So, if you have any experience what's not just good for a good read, but actually useful for learning about the Dhamma systematically, i'd appreciate your input!

Best wishes,
Alobha
The most recent full translations of those 3 are Long Discourses of the Buddha, Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, and Connected Discourses of the Buddha. All 3 of these have been published by Wisdom Publications.
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mikenz66
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by mikenz66 »

Bhikkhu Bodhi's new translation of the Numerical Discourses (AN) appeared in 2012:
http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/numerica ... ses-buddha
http://www.palitext.com/palitext/tran.htm

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