Re: Another Sakuṇagghisuttaṃ question

Dear Steve,

Although -paṭṭhāna is normally neuter, per the dictionary, here it is being treated as a masculine, nominative plural apparently, as the ending is - -ānā, rather than -ānāni, as you might expect. Accordingly cattaro is in the nom. masc. plural form. A quick search with the DPR shows that the Tipiṭaka has both examples of cattāro satipaṭṭhānā and cattāri satipaṭṭhānāni.

Hope that helps,

Bryan





________________________________
  From: "scbeadle@..." <scbeadle@...>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 9:14:36 PM
Subject: [palistudy] Another Sakuṇagghisuttaṃ question


 
One more student question about SN 47.6 Sakuṇagghisuttaṃ (PTS S V p. 147):

Near the end of the sutta is the phrase (in the nominative case)  "cattāro satipaṭṭhānā", which has been translated as "the four frames of reference":

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn47/sn47.006.than.html

I can see how there might be differing translations of "satipaṭṭhānā". But I am more concerned with the preceding adjective "cattāro", which should be simpler, because it just means "four".

The noun "satipaṭṭhāna" is neuter. But the neuter nominative form of "catu" is "cattāri". So why is "cattāro" (the masculine form) used instead of "cattāri" (the neuter form) in this phrase ?

Would appreciate any suggestions here

- Steve




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