Re: catusu ṭhānesu

Dear Aleix,

In the Jataka, the king pays obeisance to the body from (or at, hence locative) the four directional points:

After an outburst of weeping he conquered his sorrow, and thinking that Sāma was indeed dead, he paid homage to his body with all kinds of flowers and sprinkled it with water, and thrice went round it, turning his right side towards it, and made his obeisance at the four several points. Then he took the jar which had been consecrated by him, he turned his face to the south and went on his way with a heavy heart.

https://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j6/j6006.htm

See also:

Pañcātapena tappentīti catūsu ṭhānesu aggiṃ jāletvā majjhe ṭhatvā sūriyamaṇḍalaṃ ullokentā sūriyātapena tappenti.

Vin-t 10, Paṭhamo Bhāgo, Bāhiranidānakathā, Tatiyasaṅgītikathāvaṇṇanā, para. 10

Best wishes,

Dmytro

вт, 11 вер. 2018 о 08:17 Aleix Ruiz Falqués ruydaleixo@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> пише:

Dear friends,

I have a doubt regarding a passage in Sv II 551: thero tikkhattuṃ padakkhiṇaṃ katvā catusu ṭhānesu vanditvā

It refers to Sāriputta Thera paying homage to the Buddha for the last time. The ṭīkā does not comment on this passage. There are a few parallels, for instance Ja VI 84 udakena siñcitvā tikkhattuṃ padakkhiṇaṃ katvā catusu ṭhānesu vanditvā which in Cowell's translation is rendered: "and made his obeisance at the four several points" (could any English native speaker clarify me this usage of 'several'?). I was also translating catusu ṭhānesu as the four directions, because that is what the context seems to require (well, sort of...). However, the locative makes me doubt. vandati requires an accusative of object. Interestingly over 90% of the usages of vanditvā in the canon are with the accusative pāde "the feet". We could assume, perhaps, that the accusative is Bhagavantaṃ (bhagavantaṃ catusu ṭhānesu vanditvā), what would that mean? Theoretically it cannot refer to the four places in the career of a Buddha, because at that time the Buddha is still alive. I would like to know what you think of it and if you also see a problem, or there is no problem at all and the locative with vandati is perfectly normal in certain contexts. In that case, I would like to know exactly why Sāriputta bows down to the four directions. In the Jataka example that I have cited, the king pays obeisance to the four corners thinking that he has killed Sama, so it seems to be part of a death ritual. Do you think that could have any connection with our Pali passage?

Thank you very much in advance.

Best wishes and mettā,
Aleix
SSBU, Taunggyi