Nirgrantha-3

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 24

The Word 'OE' in....
Vol. III, 1997-2002
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In the Ayara 1.8.6/224 and 1.8.7/228 oe is found in the following enumeration: tam saccam saccavādi oe tinne chinnakahamkahe ätitaṭthe anatite, in which oe tinne, taken together, would mean "having overcome worldliness".
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The next instance to be discussed is the Ayara 1.5.6/176. The passage consists of several loosely integrated pieces of text, which, for easy reference, have been. individually numbered below:
(1) iha ágatim gatim parinndya acceti jätimaranassa vadumagarh vakkhatarate
(2) savve sarā niyaṭṭamti
(3) takkā jattha na vijjati mati tattha na gahiyā
(4) oe appatitthänassa khettanne
(5) se na dihe, na hrasse etc.
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(1) may be translated as follows: "Having fully understood [the causes of] death and rebirth on this earth he leaves the path (? vaḍumagam) of birth and death, delighting in the teaching"
(2) and (3) seem to describe a particular stage in the meditative practice attained by the monk mentioned just now, in which he has completely subjugated the sense organs (the text mentions, by way of example, the organ of hearing) (2) "All sounds are retreating"; and in which speculation (takka) has come to a complete standstill (3): "Where no speculation is found no (false) notions are formed (are caused to be made)".
This idea is, it seems, further elaborated in (5). The same enumeration, without ṇa, is found in the Süyagada II.1/649. There, a false doctrine is challenged, which maintains that the soul (ata) has a form (long, short, etc.) and qualities (colour, taste, etc.) of its own, independently of the body. In his discussion of that passage Bollée notes that, in the Süyagada 1.5.6/176, in its negated form (na dihe, na hrasse), it would describe a liberated soul15. As far as I see, it would rather continue the argument set in in (3), and provide an example of a correct notion, namely: "[For such a monk] it (the soul) is not long, is not short ...".
Syntactically, the phrase oe appatiṭṭhānassa khettanne (4) is to be linked with (1). It stands on the same level as vakkhatarate and qualifies the subject of acceti. Instead of first discussing the merits of the various available interpretations and translations of this phrase, I boldly present my own, in which oe "house" is taken as an apposition to khetta in khettanne. "He knows (-nne) the house (oe) as the place (khetta) of one who is without ground [for salvation] (appatiṭṭhāṇassa)"," i.e. "He knows that one. who remains attached to the house is without ground [for salvation]". In §7 I will return to this particular interpretation of the phrase oe appatiṭṭhāṇassa khettaṇne.