salistambhasutra

Dear Friends,



Is it permissible in this Yahoo Group to pose questions about a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit text that, in many ways, uses the terminology and doctrines of the Pali suttas? The text I have in mind is a Mahayana sūtra on dependent origination called Sālistambha Sūtra. Here is an excerpt of the passage where I have met problems. The style seems similar to what we find in the Pali vibhanga suttas:



Tatra … vastuprativijñaptirvijñānam | vijñānasahabhuvaścatvāraḥ skandhā arūpiṇaḥ *upādānākhyāḥ, tannāmarūpaṁ* catvāri mahābhūtāni , tāni copādāya rūpam | tacca nāma rūpam | aikadhyamabhisaṁkṣipya tannāmarūpam …  jātasya skandhasya paripāko jarā | jīrṇasya skandhasya vināśo maraṇamm |*mriyamāṇasya saṁmūḍhasya sābhiṣvaṅgasyāntardāhaḥ śokaḥ* |



I have blocked off with asterisks the phrases that I find puzzling. The first raises two questions. `



1a. “The four aggregates that are non-material, occurring along with consciousness, called upādāna, that is nāma.”  In the Pali tradition, in the context of dependent origination viññāṇa is not included in nāma, but that is not the issue here. One problem is the compound upādānākhyāḥ used to describe the four mental aggregates. Surely the mental aggregates as such could not be considered aspects of upādāna, only components in the saṅkhārakkhandha.



1b. What about tannāmarūpaṁ? Since this appears to be concluding a definition of nāma, could there be a copyist’s or editor’s error that should be corrected to read: tan nāmaṁ? This seems to me a feasible solution to the problem.



2. In the definition of śoka, what should we make of sābhiṣvaṅgasya? The rest of the definition is clear enough and might be rendered: “Sorrow is the inner burning of one who is dying, of one bewildered, of one sābhiṣvaṅga.” I’ve searched Monier-Williams and Edgerton for a solution, but I come away empty-handed.



If I am transgressing a boundary by raising these questions, is there a Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit discussion group to which I could refer them?



With metta,



Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Chuang Yen Monastery
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Carmel NY 10512
U.S.A.



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