Re: AN I.51-52, translation

Dear Nina,

>> 1. 6. 1.
>> pabhassaramida.m bhikkhave citta.m ta~nca kho aagantukehi upakkilesehi
>> upakkili.t.tha.m.
>N: This consciousness, monks, is luminous, and it is indeed corrupted by
>oncoming defilements.
>
>>ta.m assutavaa puthujjano yathaabhuuta.m nappajaanaati.
>N:The ordinary person who has not learned (the Dhamma, not listened to it)
>does not understand it as it really is.
>> tasmaa assutavato puthujjanassa cittabhaavanaa natthiiti vadaamiiti.
>N:Therefore I say that for the ordinary person who has not listened there
>is no mental development (literally. free: the ordinary person who has
>not listened to the Dhamma has not developed the mind.)
>
>> 1. 6. 2.
>> pabhassaramida.m bhikkhave citta.m ta~nca kho aagantukehi upakkilesehi
>> vippamutta.m.
>N: This consciousness, monks, is luminous, and it is indeed released from
>oncoming defilements.
>>ta.m sutavaa ariyasaavako yathaabhuuta.m pajaanaati.
>N: The learned noble disciple understand it as it really is.
>>tasma sutavato ariyasaavakassa cittabhaavanaa atthiiti vadaamiiti.
>N: Therefore I say that the learned, noble disciple has developed the mind.

As far as the grammar goes I couldn't find much wrong in your translation. I
would encourage more consistency in sentence structure. Compare:
"Therefore I say that for the ordinary person who has not listened there
is no mental development." with the last line of the second sutta. The com.
interprets "cittabhaavanaa" as "citta.t.t.hiti cittapariggaho".

>Remarks: sutavaa seems to be from sutavant, just like mahaa from mahavant.
>Ta~nca: a niggahita before the c. Aagantuka: who has arrived, a visitor.

sutavaa is indeed from the stem 'sutavant'. sutavaa is the form for the
masc. sing. nom. and sutavato is the gen. (or dat.) form. It is declined
like 'bhagavaa'. 'mahaa' is somewhat similarly declined but belongs to a
different group which has the nom. sing. form 'maha.m' unlike 'sutavaa'. I
don't think there is a stem 'mahavant'. You probably mean 'mahant'.

'aagantuka' is used in the sutta as an adj according to the CPD which gives
the following meanings: 3) external, accessory, adventitious, accidental,
incidental. I think oncoming or incoming is better.

The
>upakilesas, defilements arising with the citta (different from the
anusayas,
>latent tendencies who do not arise with the akusala citta but can condition
>akusala), are like visitors from outside. It seems disturbing, but we have
>to note: the ariyan knows the citta as it really is: yathaabutta. One has
to
>know also akusala citta as it is, otherwise one cannot become an ariyan,
>this is stressed in this short sutta.
>Yathaabhuuta: bhuuta: that which has grown, is, exists, the truth.
>yathaabhuuta: in its real essence, according to the truth.
>vippamutta: pamu~ncati: to release. The prefix vip is usually a negation,
>but what is it here?

I'm not quite sure and the meaning of 'pa' has to be considered with 'vi' as
well. Although there are only 20 prefixes (upasaggas) in Pali it can be
difficult to know which of many meanings is applicable. In the
Abhidhanapadipika 19 meanings are given for 'vi' alone while the Saddaniti
gives 7 and PED gives 4. eg.

vi (19)
1171. vividhaatisayaabhaavabhusattissariyaaccaye;
           viyoge kalahe paatubhaave bhaase ca kucchane.
1172. duuraanabhimukhatthesu mohaanava.t.thitiisu ca;
           padhaanadakkhataakhedasahatthaado vi dissati.

I have separated the meanings in the verses as follows:
vividhe atisaye abhaave bhusatte issariye accaye viyoge kalahe paatubhaave
bhaase kucchane duure anabhimukhe mohe anava.t.thitiya.m padhaane
dakkhataaya.m khede sahatthe (all ending in loc. sing.)

The commentaries for the Tipitaka occasionally give the meaning of a prefix
found in a specific word but can be hard to locate. Fortunately, after a
quick search I found in the Mahatika of the
Visuddhimagga: "visesato pamutta.m" for vippamutta.m. The Saddaniti gives
'visese' (distinction) as one of the 7 meanings of 'vi' with 2 examples:
vimutti & visi.t.tho. We would then have to try and locate the meaning of
'pa' with the root 'muc'. It seems that there must be some difference in
meaning between vippamutta and vimutta despite the dictionary treating both
as having the same meaning. For all we know 'vippamutta' might mean
'distinctly separate' instead of 'released'.

Thank you for your comments and quotes about the bhavangacitta. After
reading them and studying the two suttas above I think I can understand the
bhavangacitta a little better now. I take it that the luminous mind is also
found in beings of the peta, animal, and hell realms.

I have copied and pasted the Pali com. and subcom. for these two suttas and
the two previous ones (AN I.49-52). If you or anyone else would like to
receive a copy for further study please let me know. It's already converted
to the email format. I thought it too lengthy to post directly to psg.

Best wishes,
Jim


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