[Buddha-l] Eternalism

[Jayarava]

Hi Joanna,

Sorry for not replying earlier - I'm a bit scattered at the mo.

I was assuming that -vat was a possessive, and śaś a verbal root rather than treating the word as another kind of compound.

I don't see any derivatives of sah > śaś or sas > śaś. So you would have to explain to me how that works. Although MW Dict does suggest that some (whoever they are) believe it to be sasvat originally and related to greek "apas".

There is a root śaś (bottom of p.171 of Whitney) that means leap, but I'm not sure that "possessing a leap" or "leaper" is close enough to constitute a valid etymology - what would the metaphor be I wonder. Leaping from one life to the next? Śaśaka is a rabbit/hare (one who leaps), and śaśin is a name for the moon where the Indians thought a hare resided.

Perhaps it is simply a single word?

It's funny that it hasn't received more attention as it is that kind of eternalism that forms one of the extremes against which the Buddha preaches the middle-way. Not at all what we think of as eternalism I think.

Thanks for having a go anyway.

Jayarava