[Buddha-l] bodhi

[Stefan Detrez]

Hi,

I understand "Buddha" to be a metaphor. If he really was the only person
> awake in his time, there wouldn't have been many dialogues. That being
> established, why translate "buddha" by "the awakened" rather than "the
> awake"? If he metaphorically woke up, he may have been "the awakened"
> for a moment, but after the buzz wore off and during the rest of his
> long life he was simply metaphorically "awake". Does the term "Buddha"
> somehow specifially mean the awakened rather than the awake? Could
> someone please enlighten me on this?
>
>
Since we're attempting to find more liberal or at least semantically more
meaningful translations of 'Buddha', why not try 'the Sobered Up One', or
'the Cleared Up One'. They both suggest the end of a process moving from a
smudged, misty view to a clean, clear view, much like the inner eye was
treated with Windex. It might sound comic to our modern ears, but I sense it
to be an honest and unpretentious representation, both in metaphorical and
psychological terms, of the the Buddha's mind state.

Stefan