Changes to MN table

[thesunshade]

Shall we put discussions of specific changes to the list of MN Characters here? Just to keep things organized?

[thesunshade]

I'd say that the Kassapa in mn124 should be referred to as Acela Kassapa, just for clarity.

In general, I'm not a fan of Bhante S's practice of translating names. For example Gaṇaka-Moggallāna, Gopāka-Moggallāna, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, etc. And especially Ven. Kumāra-Kassapa. Unless you are familiar with his translations, the names won't be recognizable to you. So I'd be inclined to not translate them to keep it more accessible. Just my opinion.

[thesunshade]

Interesting thing in MN 68. This is the text by Bhante Sujato:

The venerables Anuruddha, Bhaddiya, Kimbila, Bhagu, Koṇḍañña, Revata, Ānanda, and other very well-known gentlemen.

This is from Bhante Bodhi:

It looks like it is a known variant:

Variant: kimilo → kimbilo (bj, sya1ed, sya2ed, km, pts1ed); kimmilo (cck) | bhaddiyo → nandiyo (pts1ed) | koṇḍañño → kuṇḍadhāno (bj, pts1ed)

[chaz23]

So I'd be inclined to not translate them to keep it more accessible.

So you're saying we should use Ganaka Moggallana for example instead of Moggallana the Accountant? My thoughts on this are that we include the original untranslated version in the aliases field. That way:

• Since sutta-science and buddhism-in-color are both referencing Bhante Sujato's translations, the names in the character field will be in line with the way he has translated them elsewhere.
• If someone tries to search for a character by typing in Gopaka Moggallana for example - they'll still be able to find the right person.
• When we use this dataset (or other similar datasets in the future) to lookup occurences of the same character across the sutta and vinaya pitakas, we will be able to accurately match the names, because:
  • Bhante Sujato would have translated consistently across his texts.
  • If Ajahn Brahmali has used the original, we still have the original in the aliases field.

Thoughts?

[chaz23]

By the way I'm also thinking of moving the MN characters dataset to sutta-science once it's finalised and done. The reason I made that repository before working on this is that I'd like that to be the central data-store, and a resource that anyone can use.