[Tlhingan-hol] The Dhammapada: A Klingon Translation, verses 1-2

[Steven Boozer]

Josh Badgley:
>You read my mind! I was definitely thinking that ghob would be an appropriate term for >Dhamma/Dharma. There's the Dhamma, "the Buddha's teaching" (paQDI'norgh?), then there's >dhamma in the sense of phenomena.  
>   [...]
>Then we have dhamma as the sense of what's morally righteous, what conforms with the super->mundane, world-transcending "law" or dhamma. And I think ghob works great, mainly because >of the way <<batlh ghob yIpab>> is explained in TKD.

FYI all known examples of {ghob} "ethics, virtue" in canon:

  qorDu' SaHlu'chugh 'ej matlhlu'chugh vaj wa' tlhIngan ghob potlhqu' 
  devotion and loyalty to family is one of the most important Klingon virtues. S13

  tlhIngan ghobmey paq 
  The Klingon Book of Virtues
  [i.e. original title of TKW acc. to MARC-CIP]

  pop 'oH ghob'e' 
  Virtue is the reward. 

TKW 47:  This proverb does not mean "Virtue is honor". The use of the word {pop} suggests that virtue is the honor bestowed as a result of acting in a manner respectful of society's values, not simply advocating them.

  ghob tIvnISbe'lu' 
  One need not enjoy virtue. TKW 

TKW 48:  The Klingon construction {tIvnISbe'} means "does not need to enjoy"; {tIvbe'nIS} would mean "needs to not enjoy", an utterly different concept.

  batlh ghob yIpab 
  Adhere to virtue honorably. 

TKW 47:  The Klingon verb in the expression, {pab}, is here translated "adhere", but it is also used to mean "follow", in the sense of following rules, suggesting perhaps that, though not officially laws, virtues should be followed as if they were.

Okrand on virtue/ethics:

TKW 189:  ... those who violate the rules of their own cultures and do not observe their own virtues are acting dishonorably and are not to be trusted.

TKW vii:  A virtue is a particularly valued quality or a form of behavior that exemplifies moral correctness, as defined by a society... Indeed, the Klingon word {ghob} may be translated as "ethics" or "virtue", linguistic evidence that the concept is not unknown or never discussed among the Klingons themselves. It is probably significant that the Klingon word for "do battle", or "wage war" is likewise {ghob}. Though some, perhaps many, of a society's virtues are represented in its legal codes, a virtue is not a law. A violation of a virtue need not carry with it any legal sanction. A virtue does not even have to be followed all the time to still be considered a virtue. What is important is that members of the society agree that the virtue represents what *should* be done, even if it is not done. When a virtue is ignored, all recognize the transgression, even if there are no immediate consequences.

TKW 122 (ill.):  Kor admires the virtues in one Organian, unaware that he is a Starfleet officer." (TOS "Errand of Mercy")

See also _The Ethics of Star Trek_ by Judith Barad & Ed Robinson (NY: HarperCollins, 2000).


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons