Re: Patis-ganthipada and Linatthadipani

 

In the CPD bibliography we find the following text listed under the
Paṭisambhidāmaggaṭṭhakathā:

2.5.12,13 Paṭis-gaṇṭhipada or -līnatthadīpana, Piṭ-sm 225 (Thūp 105,1-3).

It seems to me that the Gaṇṭhipada and the Līnatthadīpanī are two separate
works by different authors. The latter work by Vācissaratthera (12th or
early 13th cent., also author of the Thūpavaṃsa) appears to have been lost.

I have the 2 volume Thai script edition of the
Paṭisambhidāmaggaṭṭhakathāgaṇṭhipadatthanicchaya (Paṭis-gp) published by BBF
(Bhumibalo Bhikkhu Foundation, Bangkok). The colophon at the end of the
Thūpavaṃsa mentions Vācissaratthera as the author of a ṭīkā on the
Paṭisambhidāmagga called Līnatthadīpanī (Jayawickrama 1971, p. 255). The
Paṭis-gp makes no mention of Vācissara or Līnatthadīpanī in the introductory
or colophon verses. In Bh. Nyanatusita's Concise Reference Table of Pali
Literature, Mahābhidhāna Thera is given as the author of Paṭis-gp and notes
that the Līnatthadīpanī is either extinct or identical to Paṭis-gp.

A Mahābhidhāno is named in the 3rd introductory verse but it doesn't seem
clear that is the name of the author. I will quote two most relevant verses
of the six here:

2.
katābhiyogo*2 piṭakattayamhi
vaṃsābhidhāno subuddhimā yo
upāsako cakkhumato*3 dvicakkhu
āyācito tena satīmatāpi

Variants: *2. Sī. katātiyogo. *3. Sī. cakkhumatā.

3.
yo laṅkadīpamhi mahāvihāre
mahāsamaññā pariveṇavāsī
vuttassa so sāvakamuttamena
mahābhidhānoti gahitanāmo
.
There seems to be several proper names given in the above verses. I wonder
if the author is the upāsako, the one who was requested. Can anyone shed
further light on the verses, the author, and date of this work? Does it come
before or after Vācissara?

Jim