Dear Khristos and all,
Thank you for your interesting observations.
Khristos, I admire your keen observance, before I never gave this
matter a thought. In fact your question makes me penetrate more
deeply into the meaning of the text.
For the sake of analysing I find it easier not to use the negation.
The neuter eta.m as object of tanhaa can comprise so many things,
even pa~n~nattis, which are not realities. Is it a solution to think
of sabba.m? I cling to this or that, whatever appears. So, perhaps we
can say that the neutre gender is sufficient, no need for another
gender.
'This is of me'.

I consulted 'The Root of Existence', Bikkhu Bodhi's translation of
the Muulapariyaaya Sutta , and in his intro he says: <The construct
'this is mine' is a projection born of craving, for it is craving's
function to appropriate things as the property of the self. >
<Under the influence of conceit it becomes manifest in judgements and
comparisons whereby we rank ourselves in relation to others as
superior, equal of inferior. and under the influence of views, i.e.
the theoretical bent of thought, the ego-bias issues in dogmas,
tenets, and speculations concerning reality and nature of the
personal self and its locus, the world.>

N: As to conceit, esoham asmi, here the eso is correct, because one
thinks of oneself to be thus or thus. I think of the 'I am conceit",
asmi maana.
As to the wrong view of self, one sees the self as controller (as
Lennart mentioned), as possessor. For instance, one believes that
there is a self who can at will induce the arising of Pa~n~naa.
Whereas pa~n~naa is a cetasika that can only arise because of the
appropriate conditions.
Nina.

Op 30-jun-2010, om 5:57 heeft k_nizamis het volgende geschreven:

> Yet, please be patient with me a moment more, because I'm not yet
> completely satisfied with the explanation at an intuitive
> linguistic level. I'm still trying to understand the `sense' of the
> one nt. nom. sg. and the two masc. nom. sg. demonstrative pronouns
> in this formula.

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