Dear Yong Peng,
It is interesting to go more deeply into the grammar.
Op 30-mei-2011, om 3:18 heeft Ong Yong Peng het volgende geschreven:

> Please correct me if I am wrong. I run through the commentary, and
> there is no indication that buddhaviithi = buddhaana.m viithi. I
> reckon Burlingame took reference from "Buddhaana.m
> sammukha.t.thaane...", or from another classical source. I also
> have a read on Burlingame online*, and I propose that buddhaviithi
> = buddhaaya viithi (road to the Buddha), which is more contextually
> correct, since we have Citta coming on the road to pay respect to
> the Buddha.

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N: buddhaviithi: when there is a composite word, the first part only
uses the stem, and thus this can stand for buddhaanam viithi.
--------

>
> I also see that '.thitaa' and 'nisinnaa' form the subject of the
> sentence, and that is the elegance of the Pali language.
>
> Buddhaana.m** sammukha.t.thaane pana .thitaa vaa nisinnaa vaa ito
> vaa etto vaa na honti, buddhaviithiyaa dviisu passesu niccalaava
> ti.t.thanti.
> [The people] standing or sitting at a place in the presence of the
> Buddhas are not here nor there [i.e. moving about], but remain
> motionless on two sides of the road [leading] to the Buddha.
>
> ** The use of plural 'buddhaana.m' here is not well-understood, if
> anyone can kindly explain.

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N: In a general sense the plural can be used, since there are in the
course of aeons several Buddhas who preached the Dhamma. We often
read: Knowledge of kamma is the field of the Buddhas, the plural is
used frequently. This is what the Buddhas say. Namely, all Buddhas.
There were different Buddhas but they all teach aniccaa, dukkha,
anattaa.
--------

>
> Citto gahapati mahanta.m buddhaviithi.m okkami.
> Citta the householder entered the great road [leading] to the Buddha.

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N: the great road of the Buddhas, namely the road the Buddhas would
take. He went through the Buddha's aura to pay respect.
Mahinda explained that okkami means he went. I would add that this
is an aorist. He did this once.
Someone asked whether Latin helps with the study of Pali and the use
of the aorist is an example.
-----
Nina.




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