re: Yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ (yatvādhikaraṇametaṃ)

Dear Bhante,

Thank you very much, your reply is illuminative.

The Visuddhimagga gives a careful and accurate explanation of this passage, with explanation of the grammatical forms. However, it does not resolve the unusual formation yatvādhikaraṇam, which I don't recall seeing elsewhere than in this formula. But I would take yatvādhikaraṇam jointly as stating a reason, which it seems Vism is glossing with the word hetu.

I also take that it is about reason, however the fact that this compound consists of two words, yato and adhikaraṇaṃ, deserves careful attention. It implies that the meaning of this compound isn't just one word. "Because" could have been rendered by something much simpler.

As explained in Critical Pali Dictionary, adhikaraṇaṃ means:

acc. ~aṁ, ifc. (adv.) — on account of, in consequence of; for the sake of, concerning (= °hetu); MN III 158,5 foll. (vicikicchâ°, etc.); dhammâ°, MN II 146,15;

As explained in PED, yato means:

from which, out of what cause, ... yatvādhikaraṇam (yato+adhikaraṇam) because (lit. by reason of which) ...

You wrote:

In the suttas we also find another compound, similar in structure, used to introduce a reason, yatonidānaṃ, and its correlate, tatonidānaṃ .

Thank you very much, there's a definitive passage in Vappa sutta containing these words:

“idhassa, vappa, kāyena saṃvuto vācāya saṃvuto manasā saṃvuto avijjāvirāgā vijjuppādā. passasi no tvaṃ, vappa, taṃ ṭhānaṃ yatonidānaṃ purisaṃ dukkhavedaniyā āsavā assaveyyuṃ abhisamparāyan”ti?

“passāmahaṃ, bhante, taṃ ṭhānaṃ. idhassa, bhante, pubbe pāpakammaṃ kataṃ avipakkavipākaṃ. tatonidānaṃ purisaṃ dukkhavedaniyā āsavā assaveyyuṃ abhisamparāyan”ti.

which you translated as:

"Here, Vappa, if one is restrained by body, speech, and mind, then, with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of true knowledge, do you see anything on account of which taints productive of painful feeling might flow in upon such a person in future lives?"

"I do see such a possibility, Bhante. In the past one did an evil deed whose result has not yet ripened. On that account taints productive of painful feeling might flow in upon a person in some future life."

You wrote:

You can find the passage in the VRI electronic edition of Vism at I 21, and the English translation by Ven. Nanamoli at Path of Purification I,56. Here is the Pali:

Yatvādhikaraṇamenantiādimhi yaṃkāraṇā yassa cakkhundriyāsaṃvarassa hetu etaṃ puggalaṃ satikavāṭena cakkhundriyaṃ asaṃvutaṃ apihitacakkhudvāraṃ hutvā viharantaṃ ete abhijjhādayo dhammā anvāssaveyyuṃ anubandheyyuṃ. Tassa saṃvarāya paṭipajjatīti tassa cakkhundriyassa satikavāṭena pidahanatthāya paṭipajjati. Evaṃ paṭipajjantoyeva ca rakkhati cakkhundriyaṃ, cakkhundriye saṃvaraṃ āpajjatītipi vuccati.

The point is that, because (yatvādhikaraṇam), if the monk were to leave the eye faculty unrestrained, such unwholesome states as craving and dejection would invade his mind, he practices for the purpose of exercising restraint over it. In the phrase tassa saṃvarāya paṭipajjati, tassa refers back to cakkhundriyassa, as the gloss in Vism makes clear.

IMHO, the meaning here is more nuanced:

"On account of which, etc." - on account of which (i.e. on account of attending to certain representations (nimitta)), if the monk were to leave the eye faculty unrestrained, such unwholesome states as craving and dejection would invade his mind.

Such understanding fits very well the Āhāra sutta (SN 46.51), which describes how paying attention to certain kinds of representations feeds hindrances, and to other ones - feeds Factors of Comprehension. It would be illogical not to pay attention to any representations (nimitta), regardlless of states this leads to.

Please correct me if necessary.

With best wishes,

Dmytro

On 10/24/2017 6:57 AM, Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy] wrote:

Dear Pāli friends,

I would like to make sense of the passage on guarding sense doors:

Idha bhikkhave, bhikkhu cakkhunā rūpaṃ disvā na nimitataggāhī hoti nānubyañjanaggāhī, yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ cakkhundriyaṃ asaṃvutaṃ viharantaṃ abhijjhā domanassā pāpakā akusalā dhammā anvāssaveyyuṃ, tassa saṃvarāya paṭipajjati, rakkhati cakkhundriyaṃ, cakkhundriye saṃvaraṃ āpajjati.

Would you please explain whether yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ (in some editions, yatvādhikaraṇametaṃ) applies to the following text, as in translation:

"And how, friend, does one guard the sense-doors? In this a monk seeing an object with the eye, does not seize hold of either its general appearance or its details. Because anyone dwelling with the eye-faculty uncontrolled could be overwhelmed by cupidity and dejection, evil and unwholesome states of mind, therefore he practices to control the eye-faculty, guards it and gains control over it. So one guards the sense-doors.

or to the preceding text, as in translation:

"And how does a monk guard the doors to his sense faculties? There is the case where a monk, on seeing a form with the eye, does not grasp at any theme or variations by which — if he were to dwell without restraint over the faculty of the eye — evil, unskillful qualities such as greed or distress might assail him. He practices with restraint. He guards the faculty of the eye. He achieves restraint with regard to the faculty of the eye.

In the Kaccayana's grammar it is written:

Caggahaṇena aññatthāpi pañcamīvibhatti hoti. Yatohaṃ bhagini ariyāya jātiyā jāto (M. ii, 306). Yato sarāmi attānaṃ (Khu. vi, 175), yato pattosmi viññutaṃ (Khu. vi, 175), yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ cakkhundriyaṃ asaṃvutaṃ viharantaṃ abhijjhādomanassā pāpakā akusalā dhammā anvāsaveyyuṃ (D. i, 66; S. ii, 384).

By taking "ca", there is also the fifth inflection in other meanings. Sister, from the time I was born by a Noble birth. From the time I remember myself; from time I became knowledgeable; for that reason, evil unwholesome dhammas, covetousness and grief, torment (the bhikkhu) who dwells unrestrained in the eye faculty.

https://ariyajoti.files.wordpress.com/2 ... f#page=151

In the Niruttidīpanī there's a passage:

Imaṃ bhikkhuṃ vinayaṃ ajjhāpehi, atho enaṃ bhikkhuṃ dhammaṃ ajjhāpehi, ime bhikkhū vinayaṃ ajjhāpehi, atho ene bhikkhū dhammaṃ ajjhāpehi, etaṃ bhikkhuṃ vinayaṃ ajjhāpehiiccādinā vattabbaṃ. Tamenaṃ bhikkhave nirayapālā, yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ bhikkhuṃ iccādīsupi anukathanameva.

which seems to indicate that yatvādhikaraṇamenaṃ applies to the preceding text?

Also, 'yato' is a clause with a shade of question, akin to 'which'. The same clause with a shade of answer, akin to 'because', would be 'tato'?

Metta, Dmytro

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