Hi,
Why in Pāli it is said "rūpaṃ anattā, [...] viññāṇaṃ anattā". And not "rūpaṃ anattaṃ, [...] viññāṇaṃ anattaṃ"?
Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā...
Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā...
Bhagavaṃmūlakā no, bhante, dhammā...
- Dhammanando
- Posts: 6512
- Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
- Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun
Re: Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā...
Hi Piotr,
When 'na' is made into the first element of a compound it becomes 'a-'. As the following component in the compound begins with a vowel, for the sake of euphony 'a' changes to 'an-'.
And so unlike 'anicca' and 'dukkha', 'anattā' in the above passage is not modified to agree with the neuter 'viññāṇaṃ' because structurally 'anattā' is not an adjective. Rather it is a noun employed predicatively. This is how anattā is most commonly used in the Suttas.
On the other hand, there are a few instances where anatta is used in an attributive rather than predicative fashion, and here it will be inflected as an adjective. For example in the Udāna Sutta (SN. iii. 56) we meet with the following:
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
In this passage 'anattā' = 'na' + the substantive 'attā' + an assumed copula (atthi): "is not self".piotr wrote:Why in Pāli it is said "rūpaṃ anattā, [...] viññāṇaṃ anattā". And not "rūpaṃ anattaṃ, [...] viññāṇaṃ anattaṃ"?
When 'na' is made into the first element of a compound it becomes 'a-'. As the following component in the compound begins with a vowel, for the sake of euphony 'a' changes to 'an-'.
And so unlike 'anicca' and 'dukkha', 'anattā' in the above passage is not modified to agree with the neuter 'viññāṇaṃ' because structurally 'anattā' is not an adjective. Rather it is a noun employed predicatively. This is how anattā is most commonly used in the Suttas.
On the other hand, there are a few instances where anatta is used in an attributive rather than predicative fashion, and here it will be inflected as an adjective. For example in the Udāna Sutta (SN. iii. 56) we meet with the following:
- anattaṃ rūpaṃ 'anattā rūpan' ti yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti, anattaṃ vedanaṃ 'anattā vedanā' ti yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti, anattaṃ saññaṃ 'anattā saññā' ti yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti, anatte saṅkhāre 'anattā saṅkhārā' ti yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti, anattaṃ viññāṇaṃ 'anattā viññāṇan' ti yathābhūtaṃ nappajānāti.
"He does not understand selfless [or insubstantial] matter as it really is, as 'matter that is not self'. He does not understand selfless feeling... etc.
Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.
In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.
In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Re: Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā...
Hi bhante,
Thank you. I thought that anattā was an adjective here — since most of translators renders it as "not-self", or "nonself".Dhammanando wrote:And so unlike 'anicca' and 'dukkha', 'anattā' in the above passage is not modified to agree with the neuter 'viññāṇaṃ' because structurally 'anattā' is not an adjective. Rather it is a noun employed predicatively.
Bhagavaṃmūlakā no, bhante, dhammā...