Dear Nina

You wrote:

>Venerable Bhante,
>I just have a question about locativus. I was busy with A.N. 6.13, and remarked: I refer to Gunnar: Aniccasa~n~naa, anicce dukkhasa~n~naa, dukkhe
>
>>anattasa~n~naa,
>>
>"Perception of impermanence, perception of suffering in impermanence, perception of non-self in suffering,
>
>The phrase: perception as impermanent could be misunderstood: to see
>perception as impermanent. Here saññaa accompanies insight. It actually
>refers to insight. We can translate it as perception of impermanence. and
>then the locativus: of suffering in impermanence.
>Crossreference to Kindred S. IV, the very beginning shows the connection
>between the three characteristics. What is impermanent is dukkha. etc.
>I'll ask Bhante Pandita what kind of locativus: whole part relation?
>

It is LOV (Locus-Verb) relation. LOV can be classified into four types,
and I would present them with examples without using technical terms.

1. khiire jala.m atthi (There is water in the milk)
khiire ---> atthi (LOV)

2. puriso bhuumiya.m sayati (The man sleeps on the ground)
bhuumiya.m ---> sayati (LOV)

3. ga`ngaaya.m gaamo atthi (There is a village on the river Ganges,
i.e., near Ganges)
ga`ngaaya.m ---> atthi (LOV)

4. so vii.naasippe kusalo hoti (He is an expert in the art of harps)
vii.naasippe ---> hoti (LOV)

Here it is the last type: anicce ---> dukkhasa~n~naa (LOV)

You may tend to object saying that "dukkhasa~n~naa" is not a verb. But
it is a verb in a way. Compare with the following English example below:

"Running fast is good for lungs"

In the sentence above, the word "running" is a noun as the subject of
"is", but a verb to be modified by the adverb "fast". (I have analysed
this sentence in the Pali way: I don't know how typical English grammars
explain such a usage)

In our case, "sa~n~naa", the last member of the compound, and meaning
"perception" is also a verbal noun like "running"; so
"anicce" can be related to "dukkhasa~n~naa" in LOV. The whole phrase can
be literally translated as:

"perception of suffering in the impermanent"

Note that, in this phrase, "anicce" refers to all things impermanent
while "dukkha" refers to the attribute of suffering inherent in them.

with metta

Ven. Pandita


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