Re: lābhino bhavissāmāti

Dear Vojislav (I assume this is your first name),

Here are my answers to your questions:

(1)
Sikkhitabbaṃ is a future passive participle. Here it is used impersonally. According to Perniola's Pali Grammar (PTS 1997), "the future  participle passive of intransitive verbs is usually constructed impersonally" (p. 370).
 
Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, evaṃ sikkhitabbaṃ is such a construction. The subject (implicit here) would be the instrumental pronoun, tumhehi, or in the enclitic (internal) form, vo, "by you." So the meaning is: "Therefore, O monks, thus it should be trained [by you]."

We find the use of the enclitic subject in this statement, otherwise the same: evaṃ hi vo, bhikkhave, sikkhitabbaṃ (at the end of SN 12:22, II 29). "Thus indeed by you, O monks, it should be trained." This, of course, is bad English, so we would transpose it into a more active mode: "Thus, O monks, you should train yourselves."

Another example (MN II 247):

Tehi bhikkhūhi sabbehi eva samaggehi sannipatitabbaṃ.
"By those monks all harmonious it should be assembled" = "Those monks should all assemble in harmony."

(2)

attharasassa dhammarasassa vimuttirasassa lābhino bhavissāmāti.

Attha has various meanings. Here it can mean either "meaning," "good, benefit," or "goal." Attharasa is "taste of the meaning, taste of the good, taste of the goal."

Lābhin is formed by adding the suffix –in to the noun lābha = gain. This results in a personal noun; thus lābhin is “one who gains,” and here as lābhino it is nominative plural (masculine).

Bhavissāma means “[we] will be.” The ‘ti’ at the end merely signals an end of the direct statement. Adding ‘ti’ causes the concluding vowel to be elongated. Hence we find bhavissāmā ti. Thus the literal meaning is: “We will be gainers of the taste of the meaning, of the taste of the Dhamma, of the taste of liberation.”

To help you with problems like this it might be helpful for you to study Pali systematically and to consult a Pali grammar when you encounter questions. I recommend Lily de Silva’s "Pali Primer" (available online) for a start. In my view, you need only do the exercises translating from Pali into English (and can even do alternate sentences rather than all of them). Unless you plan to translate for Buddhist monks at the UN, you can skip the English to Pali sentences.

Then proceed to James Gair & W.S. Karunatillake, "A New Course in Reading Pali", which will introduce you to the style of Pali used in the Nikāyas. This book is a bit easier than A.K. Warder's "Introduction to Pali," which is really an introduction to the language of the Nikāyas via long and complex passages from the Dīgha Nikāya. Duroiselle’s excellent Pali grammar is available for a free download online and is useful for resolving questions both basic and more advanced.

With best wishes,

Bhikkhu Bodhi

 

Hello,

Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, evaṃ sikkhitabbaṃ:

Therefore, O'Bhikkhus, you should train

yourselves thus:

1) What person is sikkhitabbaṃ? Would literal translation of evaṃ sikkhitabbaṃ be something like "thus, to train" ?

attharasassa dhammarasassa

vimuttirasassa lābhino bhavissāmāti.

We will obtain the taste of the meaning, the

taste of the Dhamma, the taste of liberation.

2) Is attha in attharasassa meaning? attha(meaning) + rasa(taste) + of ? I cannot find the attha word translation.

3) What is labhino in this case, what person? Labhi should be aor. of labhati, yes?

4) What is bhavissāmāti ? DPR says "bhavati: becomes; to be; exists". It seems superfluous in the translation, if the root bhavati is correct.

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