[Buddha-l] A vocabulary question for Stephen and Lance(oranyoneelse)

[jkirk]

Hi Stephen-
1) Thanks for clarifying. The problem was that since you didn't tell us you 
were using the Gita Skt text, some of us got confused and thought you were 
referring to Buddhist concepts. In addition, as I said, when I tried to 
access praj~naa in the cologne MMW dictionary nothing came up. Maybe they 
spell it romanized some other way. Anyway I tried 3 different spellings. So 
I was surprised to read that you were referring to the word in the actual 
Skt. Gita text. Especially when I typed in "wisdom" and got a myriad of 
glosses which did not include praj~naa! I wonder what English term would 
bring up praj~naa in the MMW.
2) Nice to know that the various translations you have access to mainly 
indicate samadhi and not some weird withdrawal of the senses as was reported 
in the quotation that I started this thread with.
Best
Joanna


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Hodge" <s.hodge at padmacholing.plus.com>
To: "Buddhist discussion forum" <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 4:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] A vocabulary question for Stephen and 
Lance(oranyoneelse)


> Joanna Kirkpatrick wrote:
>
>> The query would be about the term in Sanskrit (speaking of the Bhagavad 
>> Gita).
>
> Dear Joanna,
>
> I am not sure what the problem is.  I just gave you the Sanskrit term that 
> appears in the BG -- praj~naa.  If it helps, here is the whole verse:
>
>    yadaa sa.mharate caaya.m kuurmo '"ngaaniiva sarva"sa.h |
>    indriyaa.niindriyaarthebhyas tasya praj~naa prati.s.thaa ||  2.58 ||
>
> I also think too much is being made of "sa.mharate" and its gloss 
> "upasa.mharati" -- translated by some as "withdraws".  The object here is 
> the achievement of samaadhi -- frequently defined, inter alia, in Buddhist 
> sources as one-pointedness of mind.  The five commentaries I have here on 
> the BG merely talk about preventing the attention becoming diffused and 
> distracted via the senses with their customary objects and, instead, 
> focussing within.  It seems fairly common-place in Buddhism also, that 
> praj~naa more easily arises when the mind is stilled and undistracted. 
> There doesn't seem to be anything remarkable about this at all.  There is 
> no implication of sensory deprivation and all the other red herrings that 
> have arisen here.
>
> Best wishes,
> Stephen Hodge
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