Hi,

I am helping a friend to ask this question:

I am interested in the duplication frequent in Buddhist texts in
Pali and Sanskrit, and wonder whether such duplication is unique to
Buddhism. One example is: "What and what (yena yena) they think it
(maññanti tato), it is otherwise (ta m hoti aññath 1 ti )." MN ,
III, 44-45 (113).


Thanks,
Rahula

P.S. He provide a few more examples, but the Pali font he used is
unreadable. Anyway, here they are:

At MN, I, 501 (74) S 1 riputta stands behind the Buddha to fan him,
and thinks: "The Blessed One speaks to us of cutting this and this
thing by means of super-knowledge, the Well-Gone One speaks to us of
letting go of this and this thing by means of super-knowledge (tesa
m tesa m kira no Bhagav 1 dhamm 1 na m abhiññ 1 pah 1 nam 1 ha ,
tesa m tesa m kira no Sugato dhamm 1 na m abhiññ 1 pa t inissaggam 1
h 1 ti ) ." Avad 1 na s ataka , II, 194 S1 riputra says: "The
Blessed One speaks to us with regard to those and those things (te
x1m te x1m dharm 1n1m ) of dwelling in the contemplation of abandon
(prah 1n1 nudar s3 vihareyam ), dwelling in the contemplation of
dispassion (vir 1 ga ), in the contemplation of cessation (nirodha),
dwelling in the contemplation of letting-go (pratini h sarga )
(yannvaha m te x1m te x1m dharm 1n1m prah 1n1 nudar s3 vihareyam ,
vir 1 g 1 nudar s3 nirodh 1 nudar s3 vihareyam , pratini h sarg 1
nudar s3 vihareyam iti) ."

MN , III, 273-274 (146): tajjam tajja m [should be tassa tassa]
paccaya m [should be phassassa] pa t icca [should be upp 1 d 1 , by
symmetry with the nirodh 1 to follow] tajj 1 tajj 1 [should be t 1 t
1 ] vedan 1 uppajjanti , tajjassa tajjassa [should be tassa tassa]
paccayassa [should be phassassa] nirodh 1 tajj 1 tajj 1 [should be t
1 t 1 ] vedan 1 nirujjanti , "On the arisal of these and these
contacts, those and those feelings arise; on the cessation of these
and these contacts, those and those feelings cease."

Nid 1 na-sa m yukta , 119, Avad 1 na s ataka , II, 192: "On the
arisal of these and these contacts, those and those feelings arise;
on the cessation of these and these contacts, those and those
feelings cease. tasya tasya spar s asya samuday 1 t t 1 s t 1 vedan
1h samudayanti , tasya tasya spar s asya nirodh 1 t t 1 s t 1 vedan
1 nirudhyante vyupa s amanti s3 t 3 bhavanty asta m gacchanti . )."


"You, monks, have been trained by me in the method of counter-
question, now here now there, in these and these teachings (Pa t
ipucca [so read] vin 3 t 1 kho me tumhe , bhikkhave, tatra tatra
tesu tesu dhammesu)." MN, III, 19 (109), SN, III, 104 (22, 82).