Dear Bryan,
I didn't put this very clearly before, but I remember that I have found
it confusing in the past. So I will spell it out in detail:
The uposatha days are when laypeople go to the monastery and some take
eight precepts. They replace the earlier Indian tradition of fasting.
They are normally four (sometimes eight).
The length of time between one full moon and the next is more than 29
days but less than 30; so (in the lunar calendars in use) the year is
made up of some 29 day months and some 30 day months. The days of the
week were either unknown or not in use in India at the time the calendar
was adopted.
The months are divided into two fortnights: the dark and the bright and
the days are named by numbering. So in the first fortnight the last day
is either the fourteenth or the fifteenth = new moon. In the second
fortnight the last day is the fifteenth = full moon. The uposatha (poya)
days in the first fortnight are then the eighth and either the
fourteenth or the fifteenth. In the second they are the eighth and the
fifteenth. [There are slight variations in other Indic calendars.]
So if we list the uposatha days they occur on the eighth day of each
fortnight and on the fifteenth day; if there is no fifteenth day they
occur on the fourteenth.
In the passage you cited it simply means that the 15th day is mentioned
in the sutta being commented on in order to make it clear that when
uposatha is mentioned in the sutta, it does not refer to the eighth or
fourteenth day uposatha.
I expect some of this was already known to you, but I have spelt it out
for clarity.
Lance Cousins
> Dear Petra and Lance,
>
> Thanks very much; I don't quite understand how the fifteenth Uposatha
> day prevents the eighth and the fourteenth? because if one observes
> the fifteenth, it is then not necessary to observe the eighth and
> fourteenth?
>
> Best wishes,
> Bryan
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* "'KiePue@...' kiepue@... [palistudy]"
> <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
> *To:* "palistudy@yahoogroups.com" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, January 31, 2015 8:42 PM
> *Subject:* AW: [palistudy] sesa-dvaya
>
> Dear Bryan,
> yes, it does.
> Best,
> Petra
>
> -----Original-Nachricht-----
> Betreff: [palistudy] sesa-dvaya
> Datum: Sat, 31 Jan 2015 20:34:48 +0100
>
>
> Von: "Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]"
> <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
> An: "palistudy@yahoogroups.com" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
>
>
>
> Hi Pali friends,
> Does anyone know the meaning of the compound /sesa-dvaya
> /("remaining/remainder-pair") in the passage below from Sv 1, 139, 24-25:
> /so pan' esa aṭṭhamī-cātuddasī-pannarasī-bhedena tividho. Tasmā
> sesa-dvaya-nivāraṇatthaṃ pannarase ti vuttaṃ./
> The context is a discussion on the Uposatho:
> "The Uposatha is three-fold, consisting of the eighth day, fourteenth
> day and fifteenth day. It is called "on the fifteenth" on account of
> preventing the remaining two" ? Does the "remaining two" refer to the
> eighth and fourteenth?
> Best wishes,
> Bryan