Dear Ven. Kumara,
I wonder if this is an allusion to Sn 18 and 19, where Dhaniya brags about his well-thatched hut which will protect him against the rain god, while the Buddha says "My hut is uncovered, my fire is quenched, so rain sky-deva, if you wish (Norman, 3).
18.
“pakkodano duddhakhīrohamasmi, (iti dhaniyo gopo)
anutīre mahiyā samānavāso.
channā kuṭi āhito gini, atha ce patthayasī pavassa deva”.
19.
“akkodhano vigatakhilohamasmi (iti bhagavā)
anutīre mahiyekarattivāso.
vivaṭā kuṭi nibbuto gini, atha ce patthayasī pavassa deva”.
Note the similarity of language with channā used by the householder in a positive sense, while the Buddha basically inverts it to vivaṭā, also used in Th 448
In a similar passage in Th 1, where the monk's kuṭikā is also well-covered, the commentary equates the hut with the atta-bhāvo which contains the monkey mind.
attabhāvo hi kaṭṭhādīni paṭicca labbhamānā gehanāmikā kuṭikā viya aṭṭhiādisaññite pathavīdhātuādike phassādike ca paṭicca labbhamāno “kuṭikā”ti vutto, cittamakkaṭassa nivāsabhāvato ca. (Th-1, 29).
Best wishes,
Bryan
From: "Kumara Bhikkhu kumara.bhikkhu@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 10:53 PM
Subject: [palistudy] Puzzling...
This is puzzling to me:
Rain soddens what's covered
& doesn't sodden what's exposed.
So open up what's covered up,
so that it won't get soddened by the rain.
(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thag/thag.06.13.than.html)
"It rains only on the covered, it does not rain on the opened.
Therefore you should open the covered, then it will not rain on it."
(trans. KR Norman)
"It rains hard on a covered thing, it rains not hard on an open thing,
So open up the covered thing: thus it will not rain hard on that."
(trans. I.B. Horner)
I must be missing something here....
Anyone care to help me make sense of this?
Pali:
Channamativassati viva.ta.m naativassati,
Tasmaa channa.m vivaretha eva.m ta.m naativassati.
kb