Sallekha

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asahi
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Sallekha

Post by asahi »

Hi Pali teachers ,

Can Sallekha translated as humility ?

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Eko Care
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Re: Sallekha

Post by Eko Care »

If my memory is correct, I have read something like below:

Sallekha = Sam + Lekha
Sam: a prefix
lekha: write or draw(by cutting) or cut off (vegetables etc.)

Here the meaning is derived as:
Sallekha = cut off kilesas (cut kilesas off)

Sallekha patipada means strong practices like Dhutangas which help to cut kilesas off.
asahi
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Re: Sallekha

Post by asahi »

Dhammanando wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:47 am ......

Bhante , do you think below title translation appropriate ?




Please refer to below translation where Sallekha sutta Title is Humility .

https://suttacentral.net/mn8/en/suddhaso

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Dhammanando
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Re: Sallekha

Post by Dhammanando »

asahi wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:33 am Bhante , do you think below title translation appropriate?
No. As I understand it, the semantic range of sallekha is about the same as that of tapas. Like tapas it can be used in a negative sense to refer to the extreme austerities of ascetics outside the Buddha's teaching, and in a positive sense to refer to the kind of ascesis the Buddha approves of.

I can't imagine why Ven. Suddhaso thought that "humility" would be an apt rendering, nor why Ven. Sujāto opted for "self-effacement". But if you raise the question at Discourse Sutta Central I'm sure the latter will be happy to explain his reasoning.

Horner's "expunging" and Bhikkhu Bodhi's "effacement" both seem fine to me, as does the Thai explanatory rendering "ธรรมเป็นเครื่องขัดเกลากิเลส", "dharmas that serve as the means for the attrition of defilements".
Rūpehi bhikkhave arūpā santatarā.
Arūpehi nirodho santataro ti.


“Bhikkhus, the formless is more peaceful than the form realms.
Cessation is more peaceful than the formless realms.”
(Santatarasutta, Iti 73)
ssasny
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Re: Sallekha

Post by ssasny »

Whitney gives √likh as "scratch", and Monier-Williams gives "to scratch, scrape, furrow, tear up (the ground)"

PED gives "austere penance" for sallekha.

Vens. Ñaṇamoli and Bodhi use 'effacement', as in 'erasing defilements'.

Ven. Bodhi's footnote (#106) states, "The word sallekha, originally meaning austerity or practice, is used by the Buddha to signify the radical effacing or removal of defilements. ... it is here said that [the 8 attainments] should not be called effacement because the bhikkhu who attains them does not use them as a basis for insight..."
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