Well, I have responded to such “attacks” in many posts (in addition to my posts at Dhamma Wheel, but I stopped posting there.)
See, for example, “Distortion of Pāli Keywords in Paṭicca Samuppāda.“
- The person you quoted, “Coemgenu” is the one who was confused about how an Arahant can have the sense faculties because the “Patiloma Paticca Samuppada” (uddesa version) says, “When ignorance ceases, choices cease. When choices cease, consciousness ceases. When consciousness ceases, name and form cease. When name and form cease, the six sense fields cease.” (of course, if you understand the niddesa and patiniddesa versions you know that none of them cease to exist)
- He was confused because the translator should not have done that “word-by-word” translation of the udddesa version.
- Please read the above post carefully, and you can see my response.
- “Coemgenu” was the author of the discussion thread at Dhamma Wheel I pointed out in #5 there. He had no understanding of Paticca Samuppada. Of course, the translator did not either.
It is fruitless to engage in discussions with such people. I no longer participate in the Dhamma Wheel discussions. However, I think many people are starting to understand these issues. Over half a million reads on the thread where I posted. So, there is hope!
- In any case, if anyone wants to clarify any issues raised, please feel free to ask questions. I don’t want anyone to have any doubts.
- If you have questions, ask them in your words. I am not going to respond to quotes from others. I have already responded to them. Also, see “Word-for-Word Translation of the Tipiṭaka.”
- These problems are entrenched even in Theravada. Many people are confused.
P.S.
Regarding Coemgenu’s specific comment that you quoted:
“The colloquial Sinhala pronunciation of it is actually a mispronunciation when judged by the phonetic descriptions in the ancient Pali grammars. When Sri Lankans pronounce Pali words their commonest mistake is to make aspirated consonants into non-aspirates and non-aspirated consonants into aspirates. This can be seen in the unorthodox romanization system used at the Pure Dhamma site:
gathi instead of gati
hethu-pala instead of hetu-phala.
micca-ditthi instead of micchā-diṭṭhi
satipattana instead of satipaṭṭhāna
Etc., etc.”
He (and most translators) apparently have no understanding of the Sinhala or the Pali languages. This is a critical issue we have today. Many translators use Sanskrit roots to interpret Pali verses. That leads to massive confusion.
- The Buddha expressly PROHIBITED even translating the Tipitaka to Sanskrit. See #13 of “Misinterpretation of Anicca and Anatta by Early European Scholars.” It is a good idea to read the complete post.
