Re: Mmd-p.t 3-4 on "vaasanaa" (impressions)

Jim,

I think we have to be careful here. What we have in Ud-a is a particular
type of vāsanā i.e. the one which caused the brahmin arahat
Pilindavaccha to address fellow monks in the manner in which brahmins
address outcastes. It does not give a definition of vāsanā in general.

Moreover, Dhammapāla is explicitly quoting (ti vadanti) probably from an
Abhayagiri/Mahāyāna source). So (as elsewhere in his writings) he is
giving at most provisional acceptance to a non-Theravāda teaching. It is
not clear whether Mmd understands this.

I think I would render the passage you cite from Mmd slightly differently:

"A particular potency established by the kilesas which is the cause of
behaviour even of the continuity of one without anusayas (i.e. arahats)
similar to behaviour at the time of possessing anusayas."

Or, less literally:
"[A vāsanā is] a specific causal power which kilesas create. It causes
an arahat to behave in a manner similar to the way in which that
individual did before he was an arahat."

Note that satti is often used to define paccaya.
> Back in early January, Bh. Nyaanatusita requested help on the list in
> the translation of "vaasanaabhaagiya.m sutta.m" (Nett 49). I recently
> came across a very remarkable explanation of the meaning of "vaasanaa"
> in the Thanbyin .tiikaa on the Nyaasa (Mmd) which I have transcribed
> from the Burmese text and have reproduced below. A similar explanation
> can be found at Ud-a 194 but the one below is much more detailed.
> Unlike the "vaasanaa-" in the Nett passage. this one is explained in
> the context of a deposit left behind by the kilesas in the
> continuities of arahants (niranusayasantaana). But this does not occur
> in the case of Sammaasambuddhas who are purified to the maximum. I
> will translate the question and the basic answer but not the detailed
> explanation of the answer.
>
> tattha katamā vāsanā nāma || niranusayasantānassapi
> sānusayasantānakāle samācārasadisasamācāranimittaṃ kilesehi
> āhitasattiviseso ||
>
> Therein, what is called "vaasanaa"? A special or peculiar power or
> ability placed or deposited by the defilements, which is the cause of
> the behaviour even of the continuity without the underlying tendencies
> to be similar to the behaviour (of the same) at the time of the
> continuity with the underlying tendecncies.
>  
Lance Cousins