Mundane right view: "atthi sattā, opapātikā" -- there is beings and the overlord (有眾生、有天)?

Textual analysis and comparative discussion on early Buddhist sects and scriptures.
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starter
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Mundane right view: "atthi sattā, opapātikā" -- there is beings and the overlord (有眾生、有天)?

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Mundane right view / Law of Kamma:

‘atthi dinnaṃ, atthi yiṭṭhaṃ, atthi hutaṃ; atthi sukatadukkaṭānaṃ kammānaṃ phalaṃ vipāko; atthi ayaṃ loko, atthi paro loko; atthi mātā, atthi pitā; atthi sattā opapātikā; atthi loke samaṇabrāhmaṇā sammaggatā sammā paṭipannā ye imañca lokaṃ parañca lokaṃ sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā pavedentī’ti.’ (MN 60)

Traditional translation:
‘There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the other world; there is mother and father; there are beings who are reborn spontaneously; there are good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realised by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world.’ (by Bhikkhu Bodhi)

"sattā opapātikā" has been translated as "spontaneously reborn beings" in English, which doesn't make much sense here to me.

Some Chinese āgama suttas translated the equivalent phrase of "sattā opapātikā" from Sanskrit (or similar) to:
1) "無天、無化、無眾生[/u]" (DA 27): "there is no overlord, no creation, no sentient beings ";
2) "無眾生" (SA 154): "there is no beings";

DA 27's translation makes much more sense. While "there is mother and father" is an important aspect of the mundane right view/Law of kamma, "there is beings and the overlord" is even more important for the world to maintain harmony and peace between each other & between human & "nature", by respecting other beings, and revere the overlord (天). 【需禮敬、奉養父母, 需禮敬、回报天,需尊重眾生】

I propose to translate the paragraph as:

“There is [fruit and result of] what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed; there is fruit and result of good and bad actions; there is this world and the next world; there is mother and father; there is beings and the overlord; there are recluses and brahmins in the world who have entered upon the right path and have practiced rightly, proclaim this world & the world beyond, after having themselves realized by super-knowledge.” (MN 60)

"有布施、有供养、有祭祀 ,有善惡業、有善惡業報,有今世、有後世,有父、有母,有眾生、有天,世上有步上正道修行圆满的沙門梵志 --他们以證智亲自证悟后宣说此世、他世。"

DA 27:「無施、無與,無祭祀法,亦無善惡,無善惡報,無有今世,亦無後世,無父、無母,無天、無化、無眾生,世無沙門、婆羅門平等行者」(CBETA, T01, no. 1, p. 108, b13-16)。

SA 154:「無施、無會、無說,無善趣、惡趣業報,無此世、他世,無母、無父、無眾生、無世間阿羅漢」(CBETA, T02, no. 99, p. 43, c24-26)

Metta to all!
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Re: Mundane right view: "atthi sattā, opapātikā" -- there is beings and the overlord (有眾生、有天)?

Post by Coëmgenu »

I would translate 無天 as "There are no gods" or "There are no heavens," all of these meaning basically the same thing.

Opapātikā are a class of beings referring to all gods, as well as (if I'm not mistaken) all hell-dwellers and ghosts or asuras. They do not proceed from the womb or the egg. They aren't moisture-born, like how medievals believed certain marine insects to be produced from the water itself, or flies produced from the rotting food itself.
What is the Uncreated?
Sublime & free, what is that obscured Eternity?
It is the Undying, the Bright, the Isle.
It is an Ocean, a Secret: Reality.
Both life and oblivion, it is Nirvāṇa.
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