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Understanding (Süyagada I 1.)
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it is) it does not see it. 9. Thereby it is ... 32 in danger, caught by the snare it suffers death in that very place. 10. So too some wandering brothers who hang on to a wrong doctrine (and) are good for nothing: they are afraid of what is harmless (and are) unsuspectingly in danger. 11. As for proclaiming the doctrine, they are afraid of it, the foolish ones; [but] they are not afraid of injurious) deeds, immature [and] ignorant (as they are). 12. Casting away selfishness, arrogance, all deception (and) unfriendliness, 33) one has no part in an effective act. For the sake of such things (one) plunges [into the noose like the] wild animal.34 13. Those who do not recognize this, because they are hanging on to a wrong doctrine (and) are good for nothing will, snared at the feet like a wild animal, endlessly often go to death.
14.[7.] Some brahmins [and] wandering brothers" maintain (that they posses) an exclusive knowledge (for themselves alone, namely:) "All(36) the beings in the whole world know nothing." 15. Just as a foreigner is a repeater of what the native has pronounced to him—the meaning of which he does not understand, on the contrary, repeats [only] what was spoken: 16 in the same way, those who teach agnosticism, (38) even if they maintain [to have) an exclusive knowledge (for themselves alone), do not know the exact content [of it), without insight like a foreigner. 39) 17. The train of thought of those who teach agnosticism hinders (one) (if one would once like to follow it] through the very assertion) of agnosticism. (40) [They are] not in a position (with their own strain of thought] to teach“ another [inclined to them), let alone
12 The words of a soul that is not good, of an intellect that is not good" partly entail a moral judgement, which does not apply to an animal. The words presuppose a similar, to a certain extent unconscious, understanding of the previous manda. (This translation and objection to ahiyalahita are unfounded because in both Pāli and Sanskrit the word has always been ethically value-free (WB).
* For "deception" (nūma) see Norman 1990, pp. 247ff., especially p. 254 and for "unfriendliness" (appattiya) see Bollée 1977, pp. 91f. (WB).
54 Or perhaps: "one is re-embodied as an animal"? For Śīl.cue means tyajet, as if cae were there. (With such a semantic approach one would be outside the simile which continues in the next vs. 13 (WB). » The annāņiya-(ajñāna-)vādin. (These agnostics are called Pyrrhonists by Basham 1954, p. 249 (WB).) 36 For ege and savve here see the addition in Appendix 4.
Perhaps one should read h'eyam for heum, see Bollée 1977, p. 94 (WB). ** Jacobi 1895, p. 241 and Jayatilleke 1963, p. 110 translate this as 'ignorant' (WB).
For Śil.'s comment here see Jayatilleke 1963, p. 118. The stanzas 15f. are quoted in Haribhadra's Dhammasangahani 508f. (WB).
* Jayatilleke 1963, p. 111 has 'scepticism'. See ibid. pp. 115-120 for $il.'s comment (WB). 4. Since this is a pure negation it cannot be passed on as "knowledge."
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