The view that absolutives denotes an action prior to that of the finite verb
provided that the agent is the same was originally formulated by Panini. In
general his definition covers the usage of canonical Pali (but not, of
course, the Jataka prose), and I have not yet traced examples that clearly
deviates from it. It is, of course, possible to cite examples that
contradict the Paninian definition, and the grammarians love to cite
instances like vyaattvaa .sete "he sleeps with his mouth open," a
translation like "he sleeps having opened his mouth" would be hilarious:
first he opens his mouth and after having performed this action he starts
sleeping. Buddhaghosa and his commentator Dhammapala deals with this
question in the Visuddhimagga and the Visuddhmagga-.tikaa in their
discussion of pa.ticca-samuppaada. It is worth while reading this discussion
in order to get an idea of the Indian approach to the issue.

Ole Pind


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