Dear Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi,
My response comes two weeks after your initial posting due to my being away for a month at my cottage retreat.
I found a good explanation of the grammatical relation of ‘sambodhā’ to ‘pubbeva’ at Spk II 21,2-3 ad SN II 5 as follows:
Pubbeva sambodhāti sambodho vuccati catūsu maggesu ñāṇaṃ, tato pubbeva. (pasted from CST4).
I think the ‘tato’ refers to ‘sambodhato’ (= sambodhā). So the phrase (tato pubbeva) would have a meaning like ‘much earlier than this (the enlightenment)’. Your translation "Before the enlightenment. . ." seems to be in agreement.
Best wishes.
Jim
ps. Just received Lance's Yamaka book in the mail.
From: palistudy@yahoogroups.com <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: May 16, 2018 2:10 PM
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [palistudy] Pubbeva me, bhikkhave, sambodhā ...
Dear Friends,
Pubbeva me, bhikkhave, sambodhā anabhisambuddhassa bodhisattass’eva sato etadahosi…
The above line occurs several places in the Nikāyas (e.g. at SN II 10, SN III 27), but strangely, the commentaries do not explain the line grammatically. The Aṅguttara subcommentary, Mp-ṭ II 183 (VRI), resolves pubbeva thus: pubbeyeva, that is, “in the past” (with emphatic eva) rather than “before.” In such a case, how does the ablative sambodhā fit into this sentence?
For convenience, I would render the line “Before the enlightenment, monks, while I was just a bodhisatta, not fully enlightened, it occurred to me …” But if Mp-ṭ II 183 is correct, pubbeva is not related grammatically to sambodhā, and in that case, how does sambodhā function here? Is there any case where pubbe occurs with an ablative X, yielding the sense “before X”? Thank you in advance.
With metta,
--
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Chuang Yen Monastery
2020 Route 301
Carmel NY 10512
U.S.A.
Sabbe sattā averā hontu, abyāpajjā hontu, anighā hontu, sukhī hontu!
願眾生無怨，願眾生無害，願眾生無惱，願眾生快樂！
May all beings be free from enmity, free from affliction, free from distress. May they be happy!