From: Bhikkhu Bodhi
Message: 4350
Date: 2015-06-23
Hello,
I've read through MN 1 and would like some
explanations, if
anyone is willing.
1) sabbadhammamūlapariyāyaṃ - is the last word
of the
compound pariyāya ( order ) or another word? If it is pariyāya,
how does it fit
into the compound? It translates as "the root of all things", so
pariyāya ( or maybe something else ) seems superfluous?
A: The word pariyāya
literally means “revolving, turning around.” It takes on several
meanings. PED gives the relevant meaning
here under 4: “discussion, instruction, method (of teaching),
discourse
on, representation of.” There are several other discourses that
have pariyāya included in their title,
among them the famous Ādittapariyāya,
“The Exposition on
Blazing,” commonly known as the Fire Sermon.
The texts use the expression dhammapariyāya
as roughly equivalent to
a sutta. Thus when assigning a title to the Brahmajāla Sutta, the Buddha tells Ānanda, “You may remember this
dhammapariyāya as XYZ
[and then mentions several alternative
titles].” Dhammapariyāya
can also refer to a specific instruction within a larger sutta.
Thus in the Mahāparinibbāna
Sutta, when the Buddha uses
dhammapariyāya to
describe the “mirror of Dhamma” by which disciples can determine
whether or not
they are stream-enterers: “dhammādāsaṃ nāma dhammapariyāyaṃ
desessāmi, yena
samannāgato ariyasāvako ākaṅkhamāno attanāva attānaṃ byākareyya –
‘khīṇanirayomhi
khīṇatiracchānayoni khīṇapettivisayo
khīṇāpāyaduggativinipāto,
sotāpannohamasmi avinipātadhammo niyato sambodhiparāyaṇo’ti.”
So in relation to sabbadhammamūlapariyāyaṃ, the
last word can mean "the exposition (discourse) on the root of all
dhammas," or "instruction on the root of all dhammas."
2) ariyānaṃ adassāvī ( who has no regard for
noble ones ) -
what exactly does adassāvī mean ?
A: Literally it means “one who does not see,”
“not a seer.”
The exact implication of this is subject to interpretation.
Probably the
original sense was simply one who does not go for the darshan of
noble ones, to
visit and attend on nobles ones, and thereby get a chance to hear
their
teachings. The opposite, adassāvī, is one who goes to visit the
noble ones, serves them, and gets to hear their teachings. I
translated the Mūlapariyāya
Sutta along with the
commentary in a little volume called “The Discourse on the Root of
Existence.”
You will find the commentarial explanation of adassāvī
on pp. 40-41 (of the 2006 edition).
3) pathaviṃ pathavito ( earth as earth ) - I do
not
understand pathavito, what kind of ending is "to", I do not see
anything similar in my grammar notes or in pathavi declension in
the DPR ? Also
in another instance - pathavito maññati - it is translated
differently -
"he conceives [himself apart] from earth" - so in the first
instance
the "to" ending is translated as "as" and in the second one
as "from" ?
A: The suffix –to is an ablative suffix not
included in the
usual declension tables. It is used in two senses, either in the
normal
ablative sense of “from, through, because of, separate from”
something else, or
in the sense of “as X.” For an example of the latter, see MN 64 (I
435) where we
find: So … te dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaṇḍato sallato
aghato ābādhato
parato palokato suññato anattato samanupassati; “He contemplates
those things as
impermanent, as suffering, as an illness … as empty, as non-self.”
At SN 35:53
(IV 30) we read: Cakkhuṃ kho, bhikkhu, aniccato jānato passato
avijjā pahīyati,
vijjā uppajjati. Rūpe aniccato jānato passato avijjā pahīyati,
vijjā uppajjati;
“For one who knows and sees the eye as impermanent, ignorance is
abandoned and
knowledge arises. For one who knows and sees forms as impermanent,
ignorance is
abandoned and knowledge arises.”
In the Mūlapariyāya
Sutta we find paṭhavito used in both senses,
in one place meaning “as earth,” in another place meaning “from
earth, apart
from earth.” The commentary clearly distinguishes the two usages.
4) pathaviṃ mā maññi - he should not conceive
[himself as]
earth - would you say that "he should not" is the correct
translation
here? Because elsewhere in the sutta it is either maññati or na
maññati ( does
perceive / does not perceive ), and because of that I do not know
how mā maññi
should be translated?
A: Mā maññi is a prohibitive or negative
imperative. Mā is the prohibitive
particle (“do not,” “one must not”). The prohibitive verb usually
occurs as an
aorist, but in prohibitive constructions the aorist does not refer
to the past
but takes on the meaning “must not, should not”. Thus mā maññi
means “let him
not conceive, he must not conceive.” The passages on the
puthujjana and the
arahant simply describe their thought processes, which are already
fixed. The
passage on the sekha imparts advice to him, telling him what he
must avoid.
Thus the prohibitive form is used.
5) vītarāgattā - what is the meaning of ttā at
the end? DPR
says vītarāga is passionless, but what is the ending ttā for? Is
it atta as in
self, soul ?
A: -ttā
is the ablative of the abstract suffix –tta (= Skt –tva), which is
similar to the
English suffix –ness. This has no relation whatever with attā
meaning “self.” Vītarāgattā
means “Because of being devoid of lust” or “Because of the absence
of lust.”
6) sammāsambuddha - what does "sam" mean?
Perfect?
I know sammā is rightly and buddha is enlightened. What would be
the literal
translation?
A: The prefix sam- in theory adds a sense of
fullness to the
word to which it is attached, but often this does not make a
substantial
difference to the meaning. Thus puṇṇa,
sampuṇṇa,
and paripuṇṇa all mean “full” or “complete.”
Phassa and samphassa both mean “contact.” Cetanā and sañcetanā
both mean “volition.” And the enlightenment factors can be
called either bojjhaṅga
or sambojjhaṅga. In these examples, the amplified form occurs in
compounds, the
unamplified when the word occurs alone (thus cakkhu-samphassa is
the first of
the six kinds of phassa, rūpa-sañcetanā is the first kind of
cetanā, sati-sambojjhaṅga
is the first bojjhaṅga).
In the
case of sambuddha, some commentators read a special meaning into
the ‘sam’, as
indicating that the Buddha’s enlightenment is fuller than that
of others, the
paccekabuddhas and arahants. But there are passages that speak
of arahants as
sambuddha and the arahant’s attainment as sambodhi, so I would
be hesitant to
ascribe too much significance to the prefix.
7) What is the difference between pariññātaṃ
and
pariññātantaṃ ? In the sutta it is "pariññātaṃ tassā" and
"pariññātantaṃ tathāgatassā".
A: The commentary accepts the received reading
and explains
that the Tathāgata, in
contrast to an enlightened arahant, has “fully understood to the
end” the objects
of conceiving. See “Discourse on the Root” p. 78. I suspect,
however, that the
taṃ
was repeated by a
copyist’s or reciter’s error. By the rules of sandhi, -aṃ + taṃ
can be represented as –antaṃ,
which coincidentally means “end.” Thus the commentator picked up
on this and interpreted
it as indicating the completeness of a Buddha’s comprehension. If,
however, the
form arose simply because a copyist (or reciter) mistakenly
duplicated the
final –taṃ, then no special
significance should be ascribed to it.
Hello,
I've read through MN 1 and would like some explanations, if anyone is willing.
1) sabbadhammamūlapariyāyaṃ - is the last word of the compound pariyāya ( order ) or another word? If it is pariyāya, how does it fit into the compound? It translates as "the root of all things", so pariyāya ( or maybe something else ) seems superfluous?
2) ariyānaṃ adassāvī ( who has no regard for noble ones ) - what exactly does adassāvī mean ?
3) pathaviṃ pathavito ( earth as earth ) - I do not understand pathavito, what kind of ending is "to", I do not see anything similar in my grammar notes or in pathavi declension in the DPR ? Also in another instance - pathavito maññati - it is translated differently - "he conceives [himself apart] from earth" - so in the first instance the "to" ending is translated as "as" and in the second one as "from" ?
4) pathaviṃ mā maññi - he should not conceive [himself as] earth - would you say that "he should not" is the correct translation here? Because elsewhere in the sutta it is either maññati or na maññati ( does perceive / does not perceive ), and because of that I do not know how mā maññi should be translated?
5) vītarāgattā - what is the meaning of ttā at the end? DPR says vītarāga is passionless, but what is the ending ttā for? Is it atta as in self, soul ?
6) sammāsambuddha - what does "sam" mean? Perfect? I know sammā is rightly and buddha is enlightened. What would be the literal translation?
7) What is the difference between pariññātaṃ and pariññātantaṃ ? In the sutta it is "pariññātaṃ tassā" and "pariññātantaṃ tathāgatassā"
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