Distribution Of Absolutive In Una In Ittarajjhaya

Author(s): Herman Tieken
Publisher: Herman Tieken

Page 10

270
HERMAN TIEKEN
= 36a and c, 45abc = 37abc, 46cd = 38cd, 47-49 = 39-41 (with rāiyam for desiyam).
At this point I would like to turn to the meaning and choice of words of 42. In this connection we should first have a look at the first hemistich, pāriyakāusaggo vamdittāņa tao gurum. Following the definition in Avassaya, kāussagga denotes a brief period of silent meditation performed while standing. The silent standing posture is maintained for as long as it takes to pronounce the pamcanamokkāra formula, with which the monk praises the "arahamtas, siddhas, āyariyas, uvajjhāyas and all sāhus”. 17 In any case, its end is marked by the recitation of this formula. It would thus appear that the phrases pāriyakāussaggo and vamdittāna tao gurum are virtually synonymous. The praising of the guru, the "elder teacher”, marks the end or the completion of the kāussagga meditation. thuimamgalam ca kāūņam would then be saying practically the same as what has already been said in vamdittāṇa tao gurum.
However, thuimamgala clearly refers to the pamcanamokkāra formula as a whole. thuimamgalam ca kāūņam reduces the meaning of vamdittāna tao gurum, as if the latter referred to the recitation of only a part of the formula. However, it is almost certain that vamdittāṇa tao gurum, as a pars pro toto, covers the whole formula, or at least, the activity. In this connection I may refer to 51/1046:
pāriyakāussaggo vamdittāņa tao gurum tavam sampadivajjittā karejja siddhāna samthavam.
The second line may be translated as follows:
Having completed the (meditative) tapas, i.e., the kāussagga meditation, one should praise the siddhas.
It seems doubtful if in lines 1 and 2 we have to do with successive stages in the recitation of the pamcanamokkāra formula, if only because in this formula the siddhas come before the guru (either the āyariya or the uvajjhāya). Rather, it seems that the second line merely repeats what is said in the first line, but in different words.
17 Āvassaya 5.4/37: ... jāva arahamtānam bhagavamtānam namokkārenam na pāremi
tāva kāyam thāņeņam monenam jhānenam appāņam vosirāmi. See also WILLIAMS (1963: 213 ff.).