Re: pa~n~naavuddhisutta.m, translation.

Dear Nina,

>> pa~n~naavuddhisutta.m.
>
>>  Sutta about the Growth of pa~n~naa.
>
>> cattaaro'me bhikkhave dhammaa pa~n~naavuddhiyaa sa.mvattanti.
>Four dhammas, bhikkhus, lead to the growth of wisdom.
>>katame cattaaro?
>Which four?
>
>sappurisasa.msevo, saddhammasavana.m, yoniso manasikaaro,
>> dhammaanudhammapa.tipatti.
>
>association with the noble person, hearing of the true dhamma, wise
>attention and practice in accordance with the dhamma.
>
>ime kho bhikkhave cattaaro dhammaa
>> pa~n~naavuddhiyaa sa.mvattantiiti. (A ii 245)
>
>These four dhammas, bhikkhus, lead to the growth of wisdom.

Your translation is okay but there are three words you left untranslated:
ime (in cattaaro'me), -dhamma- (in anudhamma), and kho. 'noble person' could
be in the plural. There is no commentary on this sutta so one has to look
elsewhere. I haven't found anything yet in the AN com. explaining each of
the 4 dhammas together but found a clear explanation in the commentary to
the Patisambhidamagga which I think serves our purpose. The following
explains two of these dhammas:

sappurisasa.mseve ti sobhanaana.m purisaaana.m sammaa sevane.

This shows the plural ie. noble persons. In the Skt. dict. virtuous is given
as one of the meanings of 'sobha.na'. 'sammaa' is the meaning of the 'sa.m'
prefixing 'seva' -- so 'right association with' is a possibility.

dhammaanudhammapa.tipattiyaa ti ettha navalokuttaradhamme anugato
dhammo dhammaanudhammo. siilasamaadhipa~n~naasa"nkhaatassa
dhammaanudhammassa pa.tipatti pa.tipajjana.m dhammaanudhammapa.tipatti.

I won't translate all of this but the general meaning is: the practice of
dhamma <called siila, samaadhi, & pa~n~naa> relating?? to the <nine
supramundane> dhammas. In the CPD the meanings of 'anugata' are given as:
"following, come into (acc,), conformable to, relating to". 'anugato' is the
meaning given for the prefix 'anu' before 'dhamma'. In an AN com. I also
came across anuruupa and anuloma as meanings for the anu before dhamma.

>Thank you very much, Jim. I did not translate dhammas. It could be factors,
>but that word is too weak.

'dhamma' is a word with many meanings. A while ago I had listed together all
the different meanings I could find and came up with 23 of them! Going over
them I think 'hetu or paccaya' (cause, condition) fits the best: 'these four
conditions (or conditioning things) lead to the growth/increase of wisdom'.
For 'sa.mvattanti' I'm not all that sure if 'lead to' is the right meaning
although it's commonly translated that way. I tried looking for a few
commentarial glosses on this verb and so far I have found only 'bhavati' &
'vattati, pavattati'. I seem to see only this verb used with a dative of
purpose suffix (often aaya) and the feminine 'iyaa' of vuddhiyaa is most
likely used in the same way.

>sappuriso: sap in this word must have a special
>meaning. Difficult word to translate, I followed my dictionary.
>Saddhamma:true dhamma: there is more to it. Many interpretations: sant can
>become sat (Warder): existing, what exists,true.Also: the good dhamma. In
>Thailand it is interpreted as dhamma of the peaceful, those who have
>attained enlightenment. Dhamma of the noble ones. A difficult word, I am
>interested in what you think.In the end it is not too different: good,
>noble, peaceful.

I started to investigate the meanings of 'sap-' and 'sad-'. In the same
location of the Pa.tis com. above I found for saddhamma: sata.m dhammo,
sobhano vaa dhammo (p. 542). Until you mentioned 'peaceful' I had never
come across this interpretation before. 'santa' has several homonyms and
'sata.m' can be a plural gen. I haven't found a clear present participle
entered for the root 'sam' (to be quiet) so I'm not sure if 'sata.m' is the
right form for its pl. gen. but it does seem a plausible one and 'sata.m
dhammo' could very well have the meaning of  'the dhamma of the peaceful
ones'. 'good' is likely a translation of 'sobhana' although I haven't yet
found the connection to 'santa' other than in dictionaries.

>Pa.tipatti: Jon and I discussed in Cambodia the Thai translation of this:
>pa.ti: in particular or one by one (in Thai: chepo) and patti: to reach (in
>Thai: thyng). Most interesting, what is Kom thinking?.

I think you might be reading 'patti' as the one derived from the root 'aap'
(reach): pa + aap + ti > patti. The 'patti' of pa.tipatti is derived from
the root 'pad' (go): pad + ti > patti. I'm keeping on the lookout for the
Pali meaning of 'pa.ti' used with 'patti' and also how pa.tipatti and
pa.tipadaa differ in meaning.

>Grammar: I would think dhamme, why is pl dhammaa? I must be wrong, no good
>at plurals.

dhamme could be for the loc. sing. or acc. pl. The nom. pl. is dhammaa.
However, in the case of pronouns like ima (mf sing. aya.m) and katama the
nom. and acc. pl. in the masc. is ime and katame with the -e ending.

This sutta might look simple on the surface yet on closer inspection it can
easily turn into something quite deep, complex, and that which can involve a
great deal of study. The four dhammas are similar to those of the 4 factors
of stream-entry (sotaapattiyangaani). In the Pa.tis com. p.641 it shows how
the four dhammas relate to each other. One thing that sure stands out is
just how limited translations are which may only be able at best to convey
just one aspect of an important Pali word having many meanings.

Best wishes,
Jim


_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com