The Gradual Course

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Part I
The Gradual Course

Preface

Because I believe it is a matter of good practice^[1] that you know certain relevant information about the one who is presenting you with this material:

My Name is Michael Olds. I have been studying the Pali since the early sixties. During the 60s when many were seeking, I first sought out the Pali and have never wavered from this Teaching.

I have had numerous teachers (American, Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and Sri Lankan).

One American Teacher (Bhante Jinamurti) taught me "Just remember, this is not you."; one Chinese Teacher (Venerable Mew Fung Chen) taught me the meaning of being a "Master Giver"; one Sri Lankan Teacher (Bhante Punnaji) taught me that NIBBANA is not something you get, it’s what remains when you get rid of what is not NIBBANA. These were my Great Teachers.

The method I have studied and the one I will present is that of the Gradual Training, with intense concentration on the Satipatthana. My practice has always centered on the importance of the sitting practice and the practice of Letting Go.

On Translating Pali

No one has made any criticism of me for suggesting alternative translations to numerous Pali concepts. For that I am very grateful. I would like, in any case, to put forward some justification for my doing so.

I was fortunate enough to be able to begin my Dhamma Vicaya by reading the Pali Text Society Translations at just the time when these translations were reaching completion. Subsequently I put aside my study of virtually every other discipline with the exception of actual meditation practice. It soon became apparent to me that there was a fair gap between what I was reading, and what was happening in practice. This, I finally realized, was the consequence of the fact that, in spite of their best intentions, the Pali scholars were first and foremost linguists, and, as well, as a consequence of their not being first and foremost practitioners of Buddhism, they brought to their translations Christian and English prejudices.

The scope and quality of the Pali Text Society Translations has made them, for a hundred years, the foremost authority on Pali in the English Speaking world. The result of that is that the second wave of translations the English speaking world has, and is receiving, from Asian Language Speaking practitioners of Buddhism, (a clear step foreword), has relied on these translations for their English vocabulary.^[2]

What I represent is a third wave of translators (and I do not claim to be a "translator", but merely to have worked out the translations of the most important Pali words)^[3], native English speakers who are first and foremost meditators and who have devoted sufficient portions of their lives to walking it like they talk it, such that they can claim a working knowledge of the actual practice thought out in English.

There is a method by which an intelligent person can come to know the proper meaning for himself. It is by making scrupulous comparisons between practice and sutta and sutta and sutta.

A word used to describe a method must not contradict the overall goal, and a word used in one place must not contradict a word used in another place.

In most cases, Pali being at the Root of English, an English word can be found for the Pali concept. Sometimes time has splintered the meaning irredeemably and two or more words have to be used (Dhamma, is one good example).

Each word used must not be in contradiction of the meaning found in another place (although there are exceptions even to this as in the early stages of this language some words had dual, opposite meanings).

I have found that the more concrete and fundamental the word, the more successful will be the translation.^[4] To translate Dukkha for example as "Anguish" or even "Suffering" is generations away from the closest synonym given in the Pali, where, under the definition of Dukkha, is found the concept Dukkha juxtaposed with the concept for mental pain, "misery", and defined as physical pain. Clearly the intended meaning in this context is physical pain, or Pain. Using "Pain" one is then able to understand that the term, in exactly the same way as "pain" is used in English, includes both Physical and Mental pain depending on the way it is used. There is an even better translation which, unfortunately in this uptight society is acceptable in speech, but not in writing. Say: Do-do, uk, ukky, ka-ka, or k-kha.

This work is neither original with me nor a translation. It is presented in the tradition of the Elders, The Dhamma as I have heard it.^[5] The sources are too many and intermixed to cite formally in each instance.^[6] Most of what is contained here is from translations I have made. Other material comes from translations others have made, most especially those of the Great Benefactors of the Western Buddhist Community, the translators of the Pali Text Society. Whoever the translator, their material was not included until it had become Dhamma as heard by me as in the popular expression: "I hear ya."

APPAMADA

As the center pole
Is the central pole
Of a House
With a center pole
So the center pole
Of The Word
Is the Word
APPAMADA

Contents of The Gradual Course

^[1]See: DhammaTalk: Teachers Not Worth/Worth Following. You should understand that I am not claiming to be fully enlightened, and you should know how long I have been studying the system, and if possible my biases in terms of the system and translation -- see DhammaTalk: On Translation Bias, and if possible from what I have written here you should attempt to know how well I have translated the theory into my own personal practice. And you should not simply take my word for anything: see: How to Judge from Personal Experience. These are some of the things you should attempt to learn about me; for the materials of other translators, the attempt here is being made to provide a rich cross section of materials with multiple sources, including the original Pali, for many translations.

^[2]A Christian English Linguist goes to an English speaking Sri Lankan Bhikkhu (who may or may not have any experience meditating and because his English is a second language, who may not have a good grasp of the subtlties of the English language), for the meaning of some Pali term (e.g. dukkha); with jestures and synonyms they work out a meaning that both agree is pretty good (the Bhikkhu has indicated that the word means the all-round worst of everything; the Englishman hears "suffering"); later an English-speaking Sri Lankan bhikkhu doing his own translation, relies on that word as the meaning of the Pali term. His meaning is intended to be different, and his manner of use of the term is different, but he is thinking: The English hear this word as meaning such and such. But often what is needed is a completely fresh start, from the perspective of the native English Language speaker, determining from experience the closest English word to the term as it is used in the Pali -- often a completely different word than that worked out by the original translator.

^[3]See the Glossology section for the basic terms as worked out by me as compared to the terms used by other translators.

^[4]By "successful" I mean that the translation is clearly understood by a very broad base of listeners in such a way as to enable them to correctly repeat back the meaning as they hear it. That means that although not everyone will "hear" the same thing when "dukkha" is translated "shit", everyone who hears the term will repeat back some term that is their understanding of "shit".

^[5]"I HEAR TELL:", the words that begin every true Pali sutta, is traditionally understood to mean that the "I" doing the speaking is Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and the person chosen to recite the suttas when the collection was formally put together after the Buddha's death. The reader of The Pali Line here, should also hear in those words, in those translations done by me, me, stating that this is how I hear the meaning.

^[6]As the reader goes further into the materials collected on BuddhaDust he will find that there is a completely referenced sutta translation, with possibly multiple other translations and the original Pali for almost every teaching found in the Pali Line.

Part I The Gradual Course

Preface

On Translating Pali

APPAMADA

Contents of The Gradual Course

Part I
The Gradual Course