勿以恶小而为之

勿以恶小而为之，勿以善小而不为
-诸葛亮

莫轻小恶，以为无殃，水滴虽微，渐盈大器，凡罪充满，从小积成。
莫轻小善，以为无福，水滴虽微，渐盈大器，凡福充满，从纤纤积。
- 汉传《法句经》第289、290偈
- 南传《法句经》第121、122偈

这第一句与《法句经》经里的两偈非常相似，网上查找了，发现是孔明诸葛亮说的。

生活里，小善与小恶最容易被忽略，应谨记之。

How to translate corn

Sace dhavati te cittam
kamesu ca bhavesu ca
khippam nigganha satiya
kitthadam viya duppasum.

If your mind runs wild among
sensual pleasures and things that arise,
quickly restrain it with mindfulness
as one pulls the cow from the corn.

如果心念狂奔于
爱欲与生有中，
尽快以正念制服住，
好比勒住要吃玉米的牛只。
(my translation into Chinese)

This another interesting case of "lost in translation". On the surface, the translation of kittha (Pali) to corn (English) and finally to 玉米(Chinese), seemed perfectly alright. However, as pointed out in the post "Is there corn during Buddha's time?", maize was introduced out of America only in the 14th/15th century.

I consulted with Ven. Dhammika. Indeed, maize is not known in India during Buddha's time. In this context, "corn" should be interpreted as grain.

I had always known of corn as another name for maize. I checked a couple of dictionaries and found that corn also means "the edible seed of certain other cereal plants, esp. wheat in England and oats in Scotland."

The English translation is thus correct, although it could lead to misunderstanding since corn is more commonly understood as maize nowadays.

The problem comes in the Chinese translation. The Chinese word 玉米 can only mean "maize" and do not carry the meaning of "grain". Thus my Chinese translation is technically wrong.

I tried to cross check with other Chinese translations and found the following two:

心若生贪欲，应当自谴责；如缚田中牛，不使伤稼禾。 -- translated as "crops"

汝心若欲起诸欲，终日奔驰生有间，疾以正念来制服，如制恶畜食生谷。-- translated as "grains"

Perhaps they did not make the mistake as the translators were able to translate directly from Pali.

Is there corn during Buddha's time?

Sace dhavati te cittam
kamesu ca bhavesu ca
khippam nigganha satiya
kitthadam viya duppasum.

If your mind runs wild among
sensual pleasures and things that arise,
quickly restrain it with mindfulness
as one pulls the cow from the corn.

- Theragatha, verse 446.

I came across this verse many times as I was working on the Chinese translation of Gemstone of the Good Dhamma.

I did not see any problem with it until I remembered something I had read about corn. Corn is native to America. It was only introduced to the rest of the world after the Europeans got in touch with America in the 14th/15th century.

So theoretically, corn was not know in India during Buddha's time.

I checked a Pali-English dictionary. It explains kittha as corn.

I am wondering if kittha is really corn as we know it today or something else...