Hi Alan,

>
>
>I think that I may have confused the issue when my preliminary gloss had
>"upanisaa" translated as "caused." I did this while trying to make
>sense out of things, but actually it should be "cause" and not
>"caused." This being the case, it then makes sense to say 'sa'nkhaaraa'
>which has 'avijjuupanisaa.' 'Avijuupanisaa' would be a
>substantive+substantive kammadhaaraya meaning 'cause which is
>ignorance.' As such, we can say "kammic formations which have a cause
>which is ignorance" or more fluently " kammic formations which have
>ignorance as cause."

The above is exactly right.

The nice thing about Pali is that, while you need to pass some hurdles like the above, once you've done it you'll find this construction being used over and over until it's completely natural. Every time you solve one of these extra tricky problems, the advance is more than just the paragraph you now can translate. It will continue to serve you in everything you read.

best regards,

/Rett