Re: the last part of Sd 880

Hi Rett,

I have a few comments.

>  From the vutti to sutta 880 of Saddaniiti:
>
> patthanaa naama sundarassa vaa asundarassa vaa aayati.m
> upalabhitabbassa atthassa pihanaa, tissa.m patthanaaya.m:
> "bhaavaabhavaabhinibbattiya.m me sati paritassanaajiivita.m naama
> maa hotu, aya.m sumanamaalaa viya nibbatta.t.thaane piyaa va
> homii" ti vaa "ima.m jiivitaa voropetu.m samattho homii" ti vaa icc
> aadi.

The references for the first quote are: Sv II 477; Mp III 239.
However, in the PTS edns. the reading for
"bhavaabhavaabhinibbattiya.m" is "bhagavaa bhavaabhinibbattiya.m".
Smith has a footnote for this reading. Also, the Thai BBF edn. of the
Suttamaalaa has "bhagavaa". On the face of it I can only read the
'bhagavaa' as a vocative but there are two problems with this: 1) I
doubt that such a vocative would stand at the beginning of a sentence
containing 2 or more words. 2) it seems unusual to address the Buddha
as 'bhagavaa'. The problem with 'bhavaabhava-' is that it separates
into 'bhava-abhava-'. It would seem better if it were 'bhavabhava-' or
'bhavaa bhava-' in the sense of 'from existence to existence' or in
'whatever existence'. Interestingly, Mp has
'nibbattanibbatta.t.thaane' instead of 'nibbatta.t.thaane' which could
lend support to my suggestion of 'bhavabhava-' in the other compound.

I couldn't find any reference for the second quote and the BBF edn.
has only 'gavesitabba.m' (to be traced) in its footnote.

> Wishing for a lovely or a wicked purpose to be obtained in the
> future is 'aspiration' (patthanaa) by name. In this (sense of)
> aspiration: "In whatever form of existence I am reborn let there
> not be a life of fear; like this jasmine-garland may I be loved in
> my place of rebirth," or "may I be capable of depriving him of
> life," etc.

I have two problems with your "Wishing for a lovely or a wicked
purpose". I don't think 'purpose' is the right word. I'm thinking of
'goal' (wishing for a future goal). I also wonder if 'wicked' is the
opposite of 'lovely'. Perhaps, 'good or bad' might be better: wishing
for a future goal, good or bad, is called 'aspiration'.

Best wishes,
Jim