[Buddha-l] Prapanca

[Jim Anderson]

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:21:27 -0500 Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> If Richard (and others) are interested in searching for the answer to the
> meaning of prapanca in actual Buddhist texts and seeing how it is defined
> and/or used there, rather than making up fantasies, then the following
> passage might be helpful. This comes from the Bodhisattvabhumi of Asanga's
> Yogacarabhumi. It is a long passage. Perhaps Richard, or one of the other
> residents of buddha-l would care to translate or summarize it for us
> (since my translation would just be the steroids speaking).

Besides searching for the meaning of "prapa~nca" in Buddhist Sanskrit texts,
it is also worth looking for the meaning of P. papa~nca in Pali texts. The
simplest and easiest-to-understand definition of the term seems to be:

ta.nhaapapa~nco di.t.thipapa~nco maanapapa~ncoti ime tividhapapa~ncaa.
va.t.tasmi.m satte papa~ncentiiti ta.nhaadayo 'papa~ncaa'ti vuccanti. ---
Saaratthadiipanii-.tiikaa, I 305 (Be)

Roughly translated as:
These papa~nca-s (proliferators) are of three kinds: the papa~nca of
craving, the papa~nca of conceit, and the papa~nca of (wrong) view. Craving
and so on are called "proliferators" because they proliferate (or spread
out) beings in the cycle of existence.

Instead of "they proliferate (or spread out) beings in the cycle of
existence", "they multiply beings in the cycle of existence" might be
an alternative. I read the compounds "ta.nhaapapa~nco" etc. as
kammadhaaraya-s, i.e., the proliferator, craving, etc.

Best wishes,
Jim Anderson

---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]