ICSS 2013

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10231

Browse

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Inter-commentarial Discrepancies & Theravada Confraternity: A Critical Scrutiny on assāsa & passāsa Exegesis in Pali Commentaries
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
As the Pali commentators vehemently insist, at the very outset of the Atthakatha-s, the Theravada tradition is endowed pristine judgments and uncontroversial exegeses regarding the word of the Buddha. Even though those commentators claim in this manner, some topsy-turvy exegeses can be obviously seen in some Pali commentaries. So also, though the Theravada tradition itself claims about its uniformity and uncontroversial nature, Pali commentarial accounts reveal the fact that some subdivisions of this tradition held different opinions about some concepts and some of them have offered diverse interpretations for some terms existing in the Pali canon. According to the modern and common usage, assāsa means 'inhalation' and passāsa means 'exhalation.' assāsa and passāsa appear in Sanskrit, respectively as āshvāsa and prashvāsa. Monier Williams and V.S. Apte render āshvāsa as 'taking breath' and 'recovering breath' respectively. Interestingly, Monier Williams again renders prashvāsa as 'inhale.' Pali-English dictionary also translates the first term as 'exhale' whole the second term as 'inhale.' When we examine Pali exegetical literature, it is manifest that there was an identical connotation for these terms among Sutta-commentarial tradition and Vinaya-commentarial tradition. That is to say, these two Buddhist masters had totally opposite idea about the meaning of these two terms. As venerable Buddhaghosa records in the Visuddhimagga, assāsa is the wind issuing out; passāsa is the wind entering in” is said in the Vinaya Commentaries. But in the Suttanta Commentaries it is given in the opposite Sense. This shows that the early connotations of these two terms uses among the Vinaya commentarial tradition were quite different; debatable thus it is of worth exploring. This paper, critically discusses the more archaic and accurate meanings of assāsa and passāsa attempting to reach a reliable conclusion for the emergence of such a discrepancy scanning all available source materials related to the academic Buddhist studies such as Pali canonical accounts, Commentarial exegeses, Sub-commentarial (Tika) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts, Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources, Sanskrit/ Pali lexicons will also examined when necessary.
Topsy-turvy Exegeses & Theravada Confraternity: A Critical Examination of DA‟s Interpretation on appa-rajakkha
(University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, A.K.
The term apparajakkha that often occurs together with maharajakkha in the Pali canon is one of debatably interpreted terms in the commentaries i.e. Atthakathā-s). This term that uses as an adjective to specify the people who are under the garb of the ignorance, however has a wider usage in the Sutta collection of the Pali canon. As the Pali commentaries of which the critical editorship has been ascribed to venerable Buddhaghosa, typically interpret, the components or subunits this term has to be disjoined as appa+raja+ and akkha. The first term means 'less' or 'a little' and the raja basically stands for two meanings, namely, 'dust' and 'defilements.' And, the last term, i.e. akkha means 'eye.' Thus, in accordance with the understanding of the Theravada confraternity, this term literally means 'the people who has little dust in their eyes.' Interestingly, many western Buddhist scholars who translated Pali canon into English under the supervision of the Pali Text Society (PTS) have considered the aforesaid Theravada analysis as a trustworthy exegesis. For example, professor Rhys Davids translated this term as 'Beings whose eyes were nearly free from dust' while Miss Horner renders it as 'Beings with little dust in their eyes'. Nonetheless, it is manifest that this interpretation provided by the Theravada confraternity, is incorrect when we examine the gradual evolution and etymology of apparajakkha. As the Theravada tradition opines Sanskrit 'ksha' always appears in Pali as 'kkha.' That is to say, the Theravada tradition seems to have recognized akkha as a Pali representation of Sanskrit aksha (eye). However, in this context, 'akkha' has nothing to do with 'eye' and the accurate disjoining of this term should be known as appa+raja+kkha. The suffix 'ka' that abundantly occurs with the nouns to denote the 'possession of a quality' that belong to the Mano-group, appears in Pali as 'kkha.' Therefore, the term '[alpa+]rajas+ka' occurs in the Pali canon as '[appa]+raja+kkha' keeping the same amount of syllables protecting the law of morae. This paper, provides a substantial and more trustworthy rendering for '–rajakkha' scanning the inaccuracy of the Theravada exegesis provided for this term. In order to reach to a sophisticated conclusion, Pali canonical accounts, sub-commentarial (Tika) occurrences, Vedic and Upanishad texts and Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit sources will also examined when necessary.