Hi Kare,

That's interesting, thanks for the detail. I have not got into great
detail in studying the similes (which are reletively consistent in
the versions). There's such a large quantity of 'satipatthana-sutta'
material that i have to make editorial choices about what's
important. As you say, the store-room makes sense; even though such
details seem unimportant, they are useful for tracking down textual
affiliations for that very reason.

Of the translations from the Chinese that i have to hand,
Prajnaparamita has 'bag', the MA version has 'container', and the EA
version seems to omit this simile. Anyway, so far as that goes, they
seem to support the Pali attakatha's reading.

It seems, from the fact that the 32 parts + simile are mentioned,
that this is in fact a version of 'the' satipatthana sutta, ie, a
detailed exposition of the 4 satipatthanas, based on a recension of
the early sutta from one school. For that reason it would be very
interesting for me to see some more details. I wonder whether you or
Stephen might be able to do, if not a transcription into romanized
Skt, at least a brief summary outlining the specific meditation
exercises mentioned? Of the 7 versions i have so far consulted, the
32 parts are the only consistent feature in all the sections on
kayanupassana. It seems as if the Arthaviniscaya, too, supports this.

in Dhamma

Bhante Sujato

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Kåre A. Lie" <alberlie@...> wrote:




> Unless I have lost my way in the threads, you are speaking about
the
> Arthavinishcayasutra?
>
> This is a very interesting text, since most of it closely
parallells the
> teachings in the Pali suttas, and you might find it worthwhile to
learn
> Devanagari just to read this sutra with commentary. In some cases
it throws
> unexpected light upon difficult passages in the Pali text. Here is
one example:
>
> You know the passage in the Mahasatipatthanasutta that describes
the
> impurities of the body. There is a list of the parts of the body:
kesaa,
> lomaa, nakhaa, etc., and to illustrate these there is the simile
of the
> "ubhatomukhaa muto.lii (vl. puto.lii)", where different sorts of
rice,
> beans etc. are lying, each in its place. Now, this word, muto.lii,
only
> exists in this expression, and the Pali commentary describes it as
a
> provision bag. This is rather strange. Do provision bags usually
have two
> openings? And if you carry this bag while travelling, would not
the rice,
> beans etc. be shaken around? Would you find them in well ordered
heaps,
> each in its place, when opening the bag? And would you really be
able to
> see much inside a bag, even one with two openings? The
interpretation is
> not quite convincing.
>
> Here, however, the Arth.sutra in stead of "ubhatomukhaa muto.lii"
says
> "ubhayato dvaaravinirmukta.m koshtaagaara.m" - "a store house with
both
> doors open". This is probably a paraphrase, for the commentary,
seens to be
> based on a slightly different version that had "ubhayato
muto.dii", so that
> it was more similar to the Pali text. The commentary
explains: "ubhayato
> muto.diiti vriihiinaa.m sthaapanaaya m.rdbhaajana.m kosthiketi
pratiitaa
> madhyadeshe" - "ubhayato muto.diiti: an earthen store house to
keep rice
> in, as formerly called in the Madhyadesha (Northern India)".
>
> Thus, it might be an earthen cellar with two doors. Here the
different
> sorts of rice, beans etc. would be lying in well ordered heaps,
each in its
> place, and once you open both doors, light would flow in and you
could
> observe the contents clearly as it is.
>
> I can not assert that this is more authoritative than the Pali
commentary
> explanation, but it certainly works much better as an illustration
of the
> parts of the body. Therefore, in my Norwegian translation of the
> Mahasatipatthanasutta, I have taken the liberty of leaning on this
> explanation from the Arth.sutta commentary, and translated
ubhatomukhaa
> muto.lii as "en matkjeller med dør i begge ender" - "a food cellar
with a
> door in each end of it", instead of using the provision bag
explanation.
>
> This is of course a small detail, and not a very important detail
for the
> Dhamma practice. But it shows how a comparison with different
versions may
> throw interesting light upon unclear and difficult passages, and
my hope is
> that the Chinese Agamas perhaps may be useful in the same manner.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Kåre A. Lie
> http://www.lienet.no/