[Buddha-l] bodhi

[Curt Steinmetz]

OK - this is really getting out of hand. Both "awakening" and 
"enlightenment" are highly dualistic metaphors with nearly identical 
semantic ranges in the English language.  And both are used as terms for 
historical periods. What exactly is it that is getting people so worked up?

To move from a state of being asleep to one of being awake seems, to me, 
neither more nor less imperialistic than moving from a state of being in 
the dark to being in the presence of light.

Curt

Franz Metcalf wrote:
> Artur,
>
> As Richard and Joanna have written, the translation of bodhi as  
> "enlightenment" is at best a lazy anachronism. At worst it is that  
> *and* an instance of cultural imperialism. How delightful to learn  
> that Polish contains a root for awakening stretching back to the  
> Buddha. Do, please continue to champion that altogether superior  
> translation.
>
> Franz Metcalf
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