[Buddha-l] beauty--or art-- (?) and the restraint of the senses

[Zelders.YH]

Erik writes "The Buddha once made a remark about 
the beauty of a city (was it Kapilavastu?), so 
the enlightened gaze is sensitive to esthetics".

My guess is that Erik has a passage in the 
Mahaaparinibbaana Sutta in mind. It is about Vesali. It says there :
"rama.niiyaa aananda vesaalii", (excuse my ugly Velthuis-transliteration).
The question is what is meant here by 'rama.niiyaa'.

I'm just an amateur so I have to depend on translations.
Rhys Davids translated it as : "How delightful a 
spot, Aananda, is Vesaali". Warder also gives 'delightful' for 'rama.niiyaa'.
The online PTS Pali-English dictionary has no 
record (!) of the use of 'rama.niiyaa' in the 
passage in the Mahaaparinibbaana Sutta. and only 
gives the meaning 'lovely' for 'rama.niiyaa' in a 
poetic sentence "lovely is the moonlight night".
Sister Vajira & Francis Story translate : 
"Pleasant, Ananda, is Vesali" (Access To Insight -site).
Neumann translates : "Schön gelegen ist, Anando, 
Vesaalii", ("Beautifully situated, Ananda, is Vesali").
Dutch scholars De Breet & Janssen give : 
"Prachtig, Aananda, is Vesaali", ("Very beautiful, Aananda, is Vesali").

Was the Buddha referring to the beauty of the 
place or was he in a more general sense concerned 
with esthetics, (and that even in the very last 
days of his life) ?  As a matter of fact, I don't 
think so. It just doesn't fit well into the 
legend. My guess is that Francis Story and Sister 
Vajira come closest to what is actually meant in 
the text ; Vesali is a pleasant place to stay for renunciants. Just that.
Any Pali expert willing to give his view, please ?

Nice contribution by Erik though. His remark "I 
wonder if the esthetic view of the world isn't 
close to the enlightened view", is a nice one to 
ponder. It all depends of course on what is meant by 'esthetics'.

Stay well,
Herman Zelders