Friends in Dharma,

There is an interesting puzzling passage in the
Saaman~n~aphala Sutta (D 2) that refers to the
"knowledge and vision" or insight into the true
nature of the body and mind. This is the passage:

"Maharajah, just as if there were a beautiful
beryl gem of the purest water­eight faceted, well
polished, clear, limpid, consummate in all its
aspects, and going through the middle of it was a
blue, yellow, red, white, or brown thread..."
(D 2.84/1:76)

"Going through...etc" = tatra vutam. niilam. vaa
piitam. vaa lohitam. vaa odaatam. vaa
pan.d.u,suttam. vaa. Rhys Davids tr piitam. here
as “orange-coloured,” and pan.d.u as “yellow”
(D:RD 1:87), while Bodhi has as “yellow” and
“brown” respectively (1989:44). Both piita and
pan.d.u sometimes refer to “yellow.” SED
(Monier-Williams) def pan.d.u as “yellowish
white, white, pale.” Comys offer no explanation.
The first 4 colours are those of the colour
kasin.a meditations: see Mahaa Parinibbaana Sutta (D 16.3.29-32/2:110 f)

DA explains that "the beryl gem is like the
material body, and the thread running through it
is like insight knowledge" (which DAT corrects to
"insight consciousness," vipassanaa vin~n~aan.a).

I have two problems:
(1) The translation of piita and pan.d.u in this
context: both seem to mean "yellow."
(2) What do these colours mean or refer to? If we
follow DA, the coloured thread probably refers to
the other senses, or more likely the other four
(ie the formless) aggregates. In that case, I
think we have to translate pan.d.u as meaning
"pale" so that we have "pale white," but there is
neither canonical nor traditional support for this.

Can anyone help?

Piya Tan


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