Censoring what you read

I hope this example will give The Zennist reader some idea of just how far Theravada Buddhists will go to censor what you read in an effort to push their benighted doctrine of anattavada (the doctrine that there is fundamentally no self/attâ).  Here is one such example.

This passage is a Pali Text Society translation.

So to he whom the self is dear / Who longeth for the great Self—he / Should homage unto Dhamma pay, / Remembering the Buddha-word" (A .ii. 23).

Now, comes the Pali.  Notice that the "self is dear" and the "great Self" in the Pali is attakâmena and mahattam which I have put into italics.

"tasmâ hi attakâmena, mahattam abhikankhatâ; saddhammo garukâtabbo, saram buddhâna sâsana''nti.

Now for the comparison, let's look at Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the very same Pali text (The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, p. 408).

Therefore one desiring the good, / aspiring for greatness / should revere the good Dhamma, / recollecting the Buddha's teaching.

We can easily see that this translation doesn't match the original Pali.  So is this a good translation?  No it isn't.  And I would guess that when it comes to pushing their benighted doctrine of anattvada, Theravadins are not academically neutral.

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