Re: update

My inclination was to take mukha in the sense of 'principal, best,
foremost part of anything'. So I would understand it as 'explaining
just the most important part'. More idiomatically, 'Explaining the
main part'.

But looking at the texts on my hard disk, it seems usually to be
taken in the sense of 'entrance' by the later subcommentaries.

Kkh-.t: mukhamattanidassanan ti pavesopaayamattanidassana.m.

Sp-.t I 196 (Be): tatrida.m mukhamattanidassanan ti tassaa
yathaavuttayuttiyaa paridiipane ida.mmukhamattanidassana.m;
upaayamattanidassanan ti attho. mukha.m dvaaraµ upaayo ti hi atthato
eka.m.

Vin-vn-p.t: mukhamattan ti pavesadvaaramatta.m; niravasesato dassane
papañcabhiirukaanaµ pubbe bhaya.m hotii ti sa'nkhepato khaadaniiyaani
dassissan ti vutta.m hoti.

But:
Spk-p.t: vaggapeyyaalato pana imasmi.m satipa.t.thaanasa.myutte
katipayavaggaa sa'ngaha.m aaruu.lhaa, tathaapi tesa.m
atthavisesaabhaavato ekaccesu potthakesu mukhamatta.m dassetvaa
sa.mkhittaa, ekaccesu atisa.mkhittaa va . . .

The expression mukhamatta occurs a number of times in the commentaries:

Yam-a 102: mukhamatta.m dassetvaa sa'nkhittaa. vitthaaro pana . . .

Nidd-a II 111: ayam ettha mukhamattanidassana.m; vitthaara.m pana
icchantena Visuddhimagga.m oloketvaa gahetabba.m.

and a number of others.

The idea here seems to be that of setting out the main points of a
topic in brief. Of course, that will necessarily function as an
introduction. So the later explanation in terms of a gateway or means
of entry also makes sense. Since Mmd is presumably a later work, we
should probably follow the interpretation of the later
subcommentaries. Perhaps also we should bear in mind that the title
of a work is a literary conceit and might have been intended to be
interpreted in more than one way.

Lance Cousins

>  > >Another name for the Nyaasa text is Mukhamattadiipanii. Does anyone
>>  >know off-hand what the meaning of 'mukhamatta-' might be here?
>>
>>  Just guessing, but I wonder if it might mean 'introductory' i.e.
>>  merely the front, beginning? Otherwise, my first guess was like the
>>  Tina Turner song 'Simply the Best'.
>
>Thank-you, that helps. I was thinking along the lines of
>'introductory' too with 'entrance' or 'opening'. Peter Masefield
>translates 'mukhamattaka.m' as 'merely as an introduction' (Udaana
>Commentary, Vol. I, p. 338). At Vism XVII.182, there is the expression
>'mukhamattappakaasana.m' which ~Naa.namoli translates as 'a statement
>of the bare headings'. Perhaps in the context of Kaccayana's grammar
>the bare headings might refer to the terse grammatical suttas or rules
>only. If that's the case then a translation of Mukhamattadiipanii
>could be 'An Elucidation of the Bare Headings'.
>
>Best wishes,
>Jim