Dear Ong Yong Peng,

I have to admit that the verse puzzles me. There is not a single passage in
the canon in which guhaa is used metaphorically of the body. The few
occurrences are invariably to caves. In addition, abhi(c)channo can only
mean covered, and it is constructed with instr. of the thing
something/someone is covered with. However, what does covered with many
refer to? The idea of someone covered with all the kilesas seems to me very
unlikely. It probably refers to his clothing and jewelry or the like, all of
them objects of sensuous desire (kaamaa) that should be transcended.

Regards,
Ole Holten Pind

_____

Fra: Pali@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Pali@yahoogroups.com] På vegne af Ong Yong
Peng
Sendt: 10. februar 2007 02:07
Til: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Emne: Re: SV: SV: SV: [Pali] Guhat.t.haka from the Mahaaniddesa



Dear Ole,

I think the key is probably 'satta', which have several meanings,
another of which is also suitable for this verse: creature, sentient
being.

For example, the first two lines according to the commentary are:

satto guhaaya.m bahunaabhichanno,
ti.t.tha.m naro mohanasmi.m pagaa.lho;

Attached, tainted by many in the cave,
the man, remaining engrossed in temptation;

Here, the commentary suggests that 'cave' is a metaphor for 'body'. It
further comments that just like the cave is a dwelling space for wild
beasts, the body is a dwelling space for lust and so on.

All in all, the commentary explains the first two line as "the man,
remaining immersed in allurement, is attached to and tainted by
defilements in himself (the body)".

However, if we take satta as 'sentient being', we get:

The being, tainted by many in the cave,
the man, remaining engrossed in temptation;

Here, we see a simile of a man remaining engrossed in temptation to be
like a being covered by weeds and vermin in the cave.

It is very unlikely the verse literally refers to a person remaining
stuck in a cave. The reason the commentator picked the first
explanation is probably that it suits meditation as an inward-looking
practice.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@... <mailto:Pali%40yahoogroups.com> com, Ole Holten
Pind wrote:

The text addresses the fate of someone who remains stuck in the cave
immersed in delusion. It seems to me that guhaa is used as metaphor
for mohana. I am not aware of any passage describing the being
attached (satta) to the body (as a cave). I may be wrong, though.
However, this remains the only example in the canon of the use of
guhaa to denote the body, metaphorically or otherwise. Mahaaniddesa
and PJ I, of course, takes it to stand for the body. I wonder if this
is an example of commentarial ingenuity.






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