Asati in Alagadduopamasutta

Author(s): Ernst Steinkellner
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2

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'Asati' in the Alagaddüpamasutta
la (136, 1823): ... bahiddhā asati paritassanā ti (136, 18) 1b (136, 23-29): ... bahiddhā asati aparitassanā ti (136, 23 f.) 2a (136, 29 - 137, 4) : ... ajjhattaṁ asati paritassanā ti (136, 29 f.) 2b (137, 416): ... ajjhattam asati aparitassana ti (137, 4 f.)
In the first case, one grieves etc. (la), or one does not grieve etc. (1b) for something objective, something external (bahiddhā)9 which does not exist (asati), because it is either no longer existent now1o, or because now there is no chance of obtaining it11.
In the second case, one grieves etc. (2a), or one does not grieve etc. (2b) for something subjective, something internal (ajjhattam), namely the self (attā) as one might wrongly imagine it (ekaccassa evaṁ diṭṭhi hoti 136, 31), which does not exist asati), because the wrongly imagined self will be no longer existent in the future12, after hearing the Tathāgata's dhamma for uprooting all resolve for, etc., the wrong views (ditthiṭṭhānādhiṭṭhāna... 136, 33 - 37).
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Thus, it is indeed the self which, as something internal, is said to be non-existent (asat), here. But it is the wrongly imagined future nonexistence of the self only that this paragraph deals with, and, it neither explicitly nor implicitly denies the existence of the self as such.
That I dare to offer what is essentially a footnote to a previous footnote as a contribution to this volume in celebration of the Muni Jambuvijaya demands an apology. But the subject's import is considerable. For what it means is no less than the dispelling of the last vestiges of doubt that could possibly creep in upon the point then made, that the Buddha did not expressly state a negation of the existence of a self.
Annotations:
1. E. Steinkellner, "Lamotte and the Concept of anupalabdhi", Études asiatiques, 46, 1, Bern etc. 1992, pp. 398-410.
2. K. R. Norman, “A Note on attā in the Alagaddupama-Sutta", in Studies in Indian Philosophy. A Memorial Volume in Honour of Pandit Sukhlalji Sanghavi, Ahmedabad 1981, pp. 19-29.
3. Ibid., p. 28.