Re: Kc 1

Hi Bryan,

You wrote:
<< I am reading the Paali correctly, the story is illustrating the perils
of misunderstanding one's letter-sounds. They are both given the meditation
subject "khavavaya", but in putting it into practice, they (presumably)
translate it into their own dialect -  one monk understands it as
"udakabaka"  (prompted by the fact that he saw a heron catch a fish in the
water?) and the other understands it as "gha.tapa.ta" (because he saw a heap
of clothes?). In both cases, they lose concentration because of this
misunderstanding. Is that how you read it? >>

Yes, but I find the second story about the old monk (vuḍḍhapabbajito)
shifting away from 'udayabbaya' more credible than the first one about the
two brahmins. This is mainly due to the wide discrepancies between
'khayavayaṃ' and 'udakabayaṃ' or 'ghaṭapaṭo'. Neither the Nyāsa nor its
Saṃpyaṅṭīkā mention any such story --- at least in the comments on Kc 1.
The stories strike me as late additions in the Kaccāyana commentaries (after
the 12th century). "ghaṭapaṭa", however, is in the
following Nyāsa's comment on the meaning of the sutta:

|| ayaṃ h' etth' attho | yo koci ghaṭapaṭādivacanattho || so sabbo
akkhareheva saññāto | saññāyati saññāyittha saññāyissatīti || --- Mmd, p. 7

For this here is the meaning: whatever is the meaning of the expressions
beginning with 'ghaṭa', 'paṭa'; the whole (meaning) is recognized by the
letter-sounds alone; is recognized, was recognized, will be recognized.

"ghaṭapaṭādi-" also occurs several times in the 27th pariccheda of the
Saddanīti in the classification of nouns.

I'm tentatively using 'recognized' instead of 'known' as I'm thinking of a
connection to saññā (perception).  'is perceived through the letter-sounds'
could be another possibility.

Best,
Jim