[Buddha-l] Non attached & mindful culinary triumphalism?

[Dan Lusthaus]

>All these passages seem to be talking about what is blameworthy and frowned 
>upon (sāvadya), which I take to be a rather different concept from 
>prohibited (pratiṣedha).

That's part of how Buddhists used the term, but not the whole picture. Cf. 
Edgerton's Buddhist-Hybrid Dictionary, p. 594; PTS Pali-Eng Dict, p. 707. It 
is not just how others look at something (assigning blame), but also a flaw 
in someone's character or criminality in action.

The Chinese translators used two equivalents to render sāvadya in this 
context:

1. jie 戒, which means precept, rule, discipline, śīla, etc.

2. zui 罪, wrongdoing, crime, misdeed, "sin," etc.

One finds, for instance, discussions of the "two types of crimes" 二罪 (er 
zui):

(a) 性罪 (xing zui) prakṛti-sāvadya, "a crime by its very nature", 
understood as a crime which is wrong in itself, such as murder, etc.;
(b) 遮罪 (zhe zui) pratikṣepaṇa-sāvadya, "a crime against what has been 
prohibited or forbidden", i.e., the monastic rules. Its conventional nature 
is also captured when the term prajñapti-sāvadya is used, prajñapti implying 
here something conventionally-derived.

These terms are also rendered in Chinese as:
(a) 性戒 (xing jie) prakṛti-śīla, prakṛti-sāvadya, i.e., rules in accordance 
with the nature (of actions). (NB: This term can also be used when talking 
about positive deeds, esp. the 10 basic kusala activities.)

(b) 遮戒 (zhe jie) pratikṣepaṇa-sāvadya, prohibitive precepts.

To be clear:
性 xing = "nature" (as in Buddha-nature, human-nature, and is used by some 
translators like Xuanzang for -tā and -tva suffixes). It is the 'nature of 
x".

遮 zhe means to forbid, reject, prohibit, bar, hinder, etc., and one of its 
attested equivalents is pratiṣedha.

To illustrate the meaning of the Chinese term zui 罪 (wrongdoing, crime) in 
non-Buddhist contexts, here are the senses and some common expressions using 
the term from Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary:
http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Lindict/

(1)  A criminal act: 犯罪 commit crime;
有罪 guilty;
無罪 innocent;
死罪 a capital crime;
罪上加罪 doubly guilty;
罪有應得 serve you right;
罪該萬死 hideous crime deserving the harshest punishment;
罪犯 [zui4fan4], 罪人 [zui4ren2];
罪名 [zui4ming2], 罪狀 [zui4zhuang4];
罪魁 [zui4kui2].

(2)  Wrongdoing, misconduct, a sin, moral transgression: 罪過 [zui4guo4], 罪孽 
 [zui4nie4]↓;
罪過兒 a wicked act, (retribution for) wrongdoing;
罪惡 [zui4e4]
罪戾 [zui4li4]1 ;
罪愆 [zui4qian1] ;
得罪 give offense to (s.o.);
問罪 denounce and punish: 興問罪之師 make a punitive expedition;
告罪 (LL) publicly announce criminal charges against person: (modn.) 
“excuse me, please,”“pardon me,”“I am sorry”;
請罪 ask person for pardon, acknowledge one's guilt (fault, mistake).

(3)  Hardships, sufferings, painful experience: 受罪 suffer mental agony 
(physical pain).
Words 1. 罪案 [zui4an4], n., (law) a criminal case.
2. 罪愆 [zui4qian1], n., a guilty conscience, wicked acts.
3. 罪惡 [zui4e4], n., a deadly crime.
4. 罪犯 [zui4fan4], n., a criminal, a condemned prisoner.
5. 罪過 [zui4guo4], n., a guilty conscience: “罪過，罪過”(court.)“you 
give me a guilty conscience” (by extending courtesies).
6. 罪己 [zui4ji3], v.i., to blame oneself for wrongdoing: 下罪己詔(of a 
ruler) acknowledge by royal decree one's responsibility for misgovernment or 
national calamity.
7. 罪狀 [zui4zhuang4], n., an indictment against person for crime committed.
8. 罪魁 [zui4kui2], n., chief culprit.
9. 罪戾 [zui4li4]1, n., criminal responsibility.
10. 罪隸 [zui4li4]2, n., dependents of criminals forced into slavery.
11. 罪名 [zui4ming2]([zui4ming0]), n., criminal charges leveled against a 
person.
12. 罪孽 [zui4nie4]([zui4nie0]), n., (1) wrongdoing, sin; a (2) retribution 
for wrong done.
13. 罪人 [zui4ren2], (1) n., a convict; (2) v.i., to blame s.o. for 
misconduct.
14. 罪行 [zui4xing4], n., a criminal act.
15. 罪責 [zui4ze2], n., responsibility for misconduct.

This is more than community disapproval, though that is also entailed. Blame 
is not assigned arbitrarily or merely conventionally, but according to the 
nature of the action.

Dan