[Buddha-l] A vocabulary question for Stephen and Lance (or anyoneelse)

[Dan Lusthaus]

Thanks to Richard Nance for pointing out that interesting section of the Abhidharmakosa.

A few quick comments:

Richard raises some question about Vallee Poussin's rendering, and wonders whether the difference between what he sees in the Sanskrit and what VP states derives from the Chinese version. That's a more complicated question than it might seem since VP's rendering is not a straight-forward rendering of the Chinese either. For instance, Xuanzang does not break up the karika into parts, as do the Skt and VP; in the Chinese each verse is given in full when it appears, surrounded by the bhasya. Moreover, Xuanzang seems to read this section in a more complicated manner than a simple reading of the Skt (or VP) would suggest.

I won't go into all the complexities and differences, but just indicate the one most significant for a reading/interpretation of the passage that differs from both Richard's take on the Skt (and Tibetan) and VP's.

This stems from Xuanzang's treating the verse (6:5c-d) as suggesting three, rather than two contributors to the alambana. The verse, in Skt, states:

nāmobhayārthaviṣayā śrutamayyādikā dhiyaḥ

Thus, instead of just differentiating nāma from artha, as Richard is doing, Xuanzang sees three factors: nāma (name, language, words), artha (referent) and viṣaya (cognitive-object). The three prajnas are formed out varying composites of these three (I'll only translate that if there is a request for it).

As for whether niścaya is applied to all or only one of the three prajnas in the Chinese, the problem would be that Xuanzang does not seem to specifically mark niścaya. For niścaya in the passage

Āpta-vacana-prāmāṇya-jāta-niścayaḥ śrutamayī /

Xuanzang offers

謂修行者依聞至教所生勝慧名聞所成。

"That is, bhāvanā based on the higher wisdom that has arisen from hearing the teaching is called 'what is accomplished by Hearing'."



i.e., he uses the phrase suo cheng ("is accomplished, is established") for niścaya. And throughout the full passage he uses suo cheng repeatedly for a number of ways of expressing "has established, has accomplished," etc. And, indeed, he concludes the next two sentences (on cintāmayī and bhāvanāmayī, respectively) with suo cheng as well. So if VP was reading this here at "certainty," then he could base himself on the Chinese. However, as I mentioned, suo cheng appears throughout the passage with no connection to "certainty"



E.g.,



samādhau tasya śrutamayīṃ prajñāṃ niśritya cintāmayī jāyate /



is rendered by Xuanzang as:



依聞所成慧起思所成慧。



(On the basis of the wisdom that arises from what is accomplished [suo cheng] from Hearing, the Wisdom of cintāmayī is accomplished [suo cheng])



I won't proliferate examples.


As for what niścaya means, like viniścaya, I take it to usually indicate some sort of determination or judgement that one reaches after investigating or examining something. Secondarily, it implies confidence or certitude, since the determination that one has made is now knowledge in which one has trust as to its veracity. The only problem with "determination" as an adequate equivalent is that "determination" implies an endpoint, a "conclusion," whereas niścaya often implies a step in an ongoing process, a determinative step on the way to further implications that still need to be sought and determined. It is an invitation to further seeking, rather than announcing the endpoint of investigation.

Dan Lusthaus
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