Re: Jim's Questions Addressed

Dear Suan,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Please read on for
my comments.

Jim asked:

"When you translate 'navame' as 'In the ninth statement' does
'statement' here stand for 'sutte' (understood)?"

Suan: As you might have noticed, Ekakanipaata, Anguttara Nikaayo,
comes with groups (vaggaa)containing unitary statements. So 'navame'
refers to the ninth statement in the fifth group. I am not sure if we
could call it a suttam in the normal sense, but we could certainly
treat it as a suttam statement because Anguttatra Nikaayo belongs to
the Suttam Pitaka.

Jim: My understanding is that each one of those short so-called
statements in the Ekakanipaata is a sutta. My reason for this is based
on the final line of the ekakanipaata found in both the PTS and Thai
Budsir edns. which read: Ekanipaatassa suttasahassa.m samatta.m.
The CSCD vers. doesn't have this but has the numbering 1-611 (=611
suttas) which falls well short of a 1000 suttas which leaves me
wondering if some have gone missing. It is not clear to me whether the
Buddha uttered these suttas one at a time on separate occasions or
would utter a group (vagga) of them on the same occasion.

Jim asked:

"Why do you choose 'brown' for 'niila'? I have not seen that colour
for niila in any of the dictionaries I've looked up so far. The
colours listed have been blue, dark blue, blue-black, blue-green."

Suan: I chose "brown" for "niila" as found in a Pali-Myanmar
dictionary I have. Yes, it gives three colors: brown, green-brown,
and blue. But, Myanmar Sayadaws including Mahasi Sayadaw consistently
translate "niila" as "brown". So I follows suit.

Jim: I find this quite surprising. I believe most of the English
translations would show a preference for "blue" especially in the
context of the colour kasinas and dhatus which makes sense because
blue, yellow, and red are well-known as primary colours.

Suan continues:

The Pali-Myanmar dictionary I refer to is called "Padatthamañjuusaa",
and compiled by U Hoat Sein, a great Chinese Pali scholar, who first
planned to compile a Pali-English dictionary, but later changed his
mind when Pali Text Society published their PTS dictionary.

Jim: Thanks for the information. Have you ever seen that gigantic
Pali-Myanmar dictionary Teng Kee has mentioned a few times? I forget
how many volumes he said it had, maybe 15 or so. I don't know the
Myanmar language but I can read its script for Pali. I have two Pali
grammars and the Abhidhaanappadiipikaa in that script.

Jim: "I'm interested in your translation of 'bhavanga' as 'life-
cause'. I know that 'anga' can have the meaning of hetu or kaara.na.
I've tried searching for a definition of bhavanga on the CSCD but
haven't found anything so far. Do you know where I could find such a
definition in the commentaries? Nyanatiloka in his Buddhist
Dictionary says:"...is explained in the Abhidhamma-commentaries as
the foundation or cause (kaara.na) of existence"

Suan: I merely gave one of the lateral meanings (live-component and
life-cause) of "bhavanga". I haven't come across the commentary
explanation. As soon as I found one, I will let you know.

Jim: I think you must've meant 'literal' not 'lateral'. I did some
searching and found a few interesting explanations in the Netti
commenataries and also in ~Naa.namoli's translation of the
Nettippakara.na (The Guide, p. 49 fn 165/1) where he translates
bhavanga as 'factor of being'. The Nettivibhaavinii has this helpful
bit: 'tattha bhava"ngaani kileso bhavassa anga.m kaara.na.m
kammava.t.tavipaakava.t.taani bhavasa"nkhaataani a"ngaani avayavaani.'
~Naa.namoli says that its meaning in the Netti differs from that in
the Abhidhamma. The Netti seems to be using it in a wider sense by
calling each of the 12 constituents of pa.ticcasamuppaada a bhavanga.
I thought that perhaps bhavangacitta could refer to the third
constituent 'vi~n~naa.na' which happens to include the 19
bhavangacittas according to my reading at Vism. XVII.120.

Best wishes,
Jim


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