Re: avagamana

Dear Bryan, Ven. Bodhi, and Jim

Avecca, Acala and Aveti

My comments are as follows:

1. To start with I must make a confession. I don’t know Sanskrit; I don’t know Pali (language) either.

2. I accept only the words attributed to Lord Buddha (Bhagavā Buddho, usually shortened Bhagavā in the Suttas.) as the vocabulary of the Teaching of the Buddha; not Buddhism.

3. For me everything else, that is the commentaries, the grammars, the dictionaries etc, are interpretations.

I shall first consider the word Aveccappasāda.

Aveccappasada

4. The word is a combination of Avecca and Pasāda.

5. Avecca comes from the root Vic (Dhammavicaya, vicāra etc.) It means scattering of thoughts. Avecca is that the thoughts are steady; thus the commonly accepted translation unshakeable for Avecca.

6. PED gives 10 meanings to the word Pasāda. Which meaning is correct?

7. PED gives faith (So does Childer’s) as one of the meanings of Pasāda. PTS (Rhys Davids) has used this word in the translation of number of very important Suttas. E.g. Sampasāsādanīya Sutta (DN). Use of this word has resulted in a completely non-contextual interpretation of the Sutta.

8. Pasāda means to be pleased. This is difficult to define; it is a mental state.

Acala

9 Acala means fixed, not moving, static. It is a + cala. This word helps in understanding the meaning of Avecca. (the phrase comes “acalā supatiṭṭita” comes to my mind).

Aveti

1. This is not a word used by the Lord Buddha. More accurately, I could not find the word in the Sutta Pitaka or Vinaya Pitaka.

2. However, I found the word in the Commentaries. For me commentaries are interpretations. So they have no value. But more importantly, we have no way of giving them a meaning. I give below three instances of aveti in the commentaries.

2.1 yo aveti jānātīti attho

2.2 yo aveti avagacchati

2.3 yo yathāvuttaṃ pubbenivāsaṃ aveti avagacchati

3. It is not possible to say, which one is correct; there is no reference. Actually all three are ‘correct’. That is the way the commentator felt.

According to my Lord, never waste time arguing about views (Kalama Sutta. Totally misunderstood, especially, since Jayatilleke--Early Buddhist theory of Knowledge)

D.C.

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 9:38 PM, Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Dear D. C., Ven. Bodhi, and Jim,

Yes there is another tradition equating avecca with acala referred to in the Sārattha-ppakāsinī 2, 74, line 4 (mentioned in the CPD)

avecca-ppasādenā ti, avigatena acala-ppasādena

where the commentator is deriving avecca from a + veti ("disappears"), meaning "not having disappeared", that is, faith that is permanent and unshakeable.

But the usual understanding is as Ven. Bodhi has said, past participle of aveti (< Skt. ave, "understand, know"). The word has indeed caused some perplexity over the years. The PED says, "the form is not sufficiently clear semantically" and Childers says "whose exact meaning I don't know". Sadd refers to Rūpasiddhi 627, but I see nothing there. There is no Sanskrit equivalent that I am aware of, with BHS avetya, being a back-translation from the Pāli.

Mettā,

Bryan
From: "Dc Wijeratna dcwijeratna@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2014 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] avagamana
"It is similar with the absolutive avecca (based on the verb aveti <-- ava + eti), used to describe the pasaada of a sotaapanna"

Avecca in aveccappasaada is usually translated unshakeable-pasaada.
It is one of the achievements required of a sotapanna.
Its meaning can only be guessed at. Any meaning given to it is a mere opinion (a belief).
No amount of discussion can resolve the issue.
Only things based on facts can be resolved.
On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Bhikkhu Bodhi venbodhi@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Dear Jim,

The verb avagacchati and noun avagamana are not related to the idea of the Buddha as an avatar. The verb means "to understand" and the noun means "understanding." See Cone's Dictionary of Paali, Part I.

It is similar with the absolutive avecca (based on the verb aveti <-- ava + eti), used to describe the pasaada of a sotaapanna. This also literally means "gone down," but signifies understanding via direct experience. In fact, the English word itself, "understanding," does not mean "to stand beneath," nor does "undergo" mean "to go down." Meanings arise from implicit metaphors but they acquire a life of their own.

With metta,
Bhikkhu Bodhi

On 12/4/2014 6:47 AM, 'Jim Anderson' jimanderson.on@... [palistudy] wrote:

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for quoting from the Namakkārapāḷi-ṭīkā. Despite it being a modern
work it is still useful. The four meanings given for the verbal root 'budh'
parallel those given in the Sadd with gamana being connected to avagamana
(to go down, descend) which seem to relate to the Indian idea of the Buddha
as Avatar.

An investigation of the word 'buddha' and all the other words derived from
'budh' is certainly enough to keep one busy for a very long time.

Thanks for all the contributions you and everyone else have been posting.
It/s been a lively discussion.

Best wishes,

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]"
<palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: December 3, 2014 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] budh and vikasana

Thanks Petra,
It's probably not much use then in terms of historical etymology, unless his
sources are very traditional,
Best wishes, Bryan

From: "Petra Kieffer-Pülz kiepue@... [palistudy]"
<palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] budh and vikasana

The Namakkārapāli-ṭīkā is by a Burmese Revata (1874-1954) and dates from
1945.
Best,Petra
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Sabbe sattā averā hontu, abyāpajjā hontu, anighā hontu, sukhī hontu!
願眾生無怨，願眾生無害，願眾生無惱，願眾生快樂！
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Metta is being friendly to everybody

Metta is being friendly to everybody