Dear Anthony,
op 10-01-2005 03:22 schreef Antony Woods op antony272b@...:

> "Through many a birth in Samsara wandered I,
> seeking but not finding the builder of the house.
> Sorrowful is birth again and again.
> O housebuilder, thou art seen!
> Thou shall build no house again.
> All thy rafters are broken;
> the ridge-pole is shattered.
> My mind has attained the unconditioned.
> Achieved is the end of suffering."
>
> Dhammapada (vv. 153-154) According to the commentary, these verses are the
> Buddha's "Song of Victory," his first utterance after his Enlightenment. The
> house is individualized existence in samsara, the house-builder craving, the
> rafters the passions and the ridge-pole ignorance.
> http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dpnotes.htm
>
> He would like to know which is the original pali word for "ridge-pole"
> and the original literal meaning. Do you think you are able to find it?

N: ridge pole or peak of a house: gahakuu.ta.m. Gaha is house. Kuu.ta.m:
horn, prominent point, top, pinnacle.
Rafter: phaasuka: rib, flank. Here translated as rafter.
sabbaa te phaasuka bhaggaa,
gahakuu.ta.m visa.nkhita.m

Nina.