Re: Kc intro. verse 2

Dear Nina,

> Dear Jim,
> Thank you very much.
> op 03-07-2003 06:19 schreef Jim Anderson op jimanderson_on@...:
> >
> > [ 1) seyya.m (excellence): acc. neut. noun is related to the
> > comparative adj. 'seyya' (better). For the noun, PED gives: --
good,
> > happiness, well-being -- but here I think 'excellence' is better
than
> > 'good' given the context.
> N: could there be another reading for seyya.m: the highest good,
optimum
> bonum, the highest goal?

I did consider 'the highest good' (summum bonum) and it still looks
good. One problem is how do we define 'the wise ones' (budhaa). To say
that the wise ones obtain the highest goal or good, then we would have
to take them to be obtaining arahantship. I'm also thinking of the
ones on the lower paths (sotaapanna, etc.) maybe even lower than that
but then they're all aiming for the highest, aren't they? Another
problem is that, as you will see in a later posting, seyya is the
equivalent of pasatthatara (more or most praiseworthy or esteemed) and
I'm inclined to associate the good with 'hita.m'. In my search for
other definitions I came across sundaratara, pa.niitatara, uttama,
se.t.tha. At Ja II 402 for seyya.mso (seyya-a.mso transl. questionably
as the better part) the cty gives: anavajja-uttamadhammasa"nkhaata.m
seyyo a.mso ko.t.thaaso assaa ti. The highest dhamma is an interesting
interpretation for seyyo and I would consider replacing 'excellence'
with 'the highest state'.

> amohabhaavaa: would a possible reading be: by the development of
> amoha, pa~n~naa? bhaavo means nature but also development.

amohabhaava is extremely rare in the texts (not even in CPD) and I
could find no explanation of the -bhaava at the end. I take it in the
sense of state, condition, nature and never even considered it as
bhaavanaa although that sense is included in PED under 2 but without
proper refs. I didn't translate it as I think it is adequately
accounted for by the -ion of non-confusion.

> J: 4) padamato = padam ato. ato is 'therefore'.
> N: is ato almost the same as ito?

That would take some studying to determine exactly how similar or
different they are. I'm sure ato is derived from a pronominal base
just as ito is. The -to affix is the same in both. Instead of
'therefore', 'because of this' would be more literal. I've seen 'ito
para.m' (from here on) in the Saddaniiti in introductory verses to the
chapters.

> There is much stress here on studying the words. He says again,
padamato
> vividha.m. Is Kaccayana drawing attention to the words that will
follow and
> that he will explain?

I wonder if Kaccayana is really the author of the two introductory
verses as there is some debate as to whether he wrote the commentary
(vutti) on the grammatical suttas assuming that the author of the
verses is the commentator. I think that I can accept that the suttas
are those of Kaccayana. It seems possible that 'ato' could have some
other meaning here that might be able to draw more attention to the
words that immediately follow but I think 'ito' would better serve
this purpose. As it stands with 'therefore' there is left some doubt
as to which words one should listen to: those in any Pali text or
specifically to those of the grammar.

Best wishes,
Jim