Reviews Of Diffeent Books

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

Page 44

238
REVIEWS
divaukasām ca priyatam yad eti satyapriyaś citram idam na tādrk /
"It is not so strange that a lover of truth becomes beloved by the gods." Carol Meadows translates: “And that such a lover of truth.” In a note she remarks that tādrs connotes a holy person (p. 281). In another note relating to tādrgvidhajñāna she again refers to tādrs "holy, religious' (p. 302).
Let me conclude by drawing attention to a number of mistranslations in the first chapter. In 1.21 lajjāmayasyaiva ca bhūṣaṇasya' is translated as a modest ornamentation'. In 1.36 it is said that the Buddha does no harm to beings while giving: dadāti notpidanayā parasya. Carol Meadows translates: "That one (the bodhisattval does not give ... under pressure from another." In a note on p. 273 she translates nästi sattvotpidanādānam as "There is no giving under pressure from sentient beings." In 1.42 the text says that the bodhisattva does not look at the face of others while giving: nāsau mukhollokanayā dadāti, Carol Meadows seems always to translate instrumentals in the same way and renders this as follows: "He does not give because he is looked up to (with admiration." In 2.54 the text has 'parānanollokanakātarah syāt, "he would be afraid to look at the face of others." Carol Meadows translates: "He would be reluctant to have the faces of others looking up at him sin admiration)." 3
In 1.50 Carol Meadows completely mistranslates the word sādhārana: sādhāraṇam raksyam atarpakam ca: “[possessions are common to all, must be guarded and do not give satisfaction". Carol Meadows renders sādhāraṇam by 'ordinary possessions'. This use of sădhāraṇa is well known from the Jātakamālā, cf. V.15ab: vidyullatānrttacale dhane ca sādhāraṇe . naikavighātahetau. See also Saundarananda V.23 and Buddhacarita XI.26 with Johnston's note (here sādharana is used of the passions).
In 1.53 Carol Meadows misunderstood pādas c and d: prāyo viyogo hi parigrahebhyo / dānād bhavaty abhyudayo yasas ca // "For, as a general rule, one is separated from one's possessions, but from giving proceed well-being and glory." Carol Meadows translates: "For, as a general rule, separation from property through giving turns into well-being and glory."
In 1.54 Carol Meadows translates klesaparigraha “possession of the defilements' by 'possession by the defilements'.
Carol Meadows must have spent many years in studying the Pāramitāsamāsa. In her preface she writes that the translation and analysis presented in this book were done as part of her 1976 Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia University. Both were subsequently changed and modified on the basis of the new edition prepared from the Kathmandu manuscript. Undoubtedly,