Sam Vara wrote: ↑Wed May 05, 2021 6:11 pm
Does the figure of speech "Shattering the mass of darkness" appear elsewhere, or is it restricted to the Therīgāthā? I can't recall seeing it anywhere else. Perhaps it is the result of Sujato's collaboration?
Ven. Thanissaro renders
tamokhandhaṁ padālayā as “bursting the mass of darkness”. It appears in few verses of the Theragāthā as well, but more frequently here in the Thig. A very cool phrase.
EDIT: fascinating thing -
tama + khandha (mass of darkness) does appear in SN 6.1, MN 26, DN 14 and MN 85, but only in verse portions, not prose as far as I can find. If memory serves, BB notes verse tends to lean in the direction of “elevated” speech. Paging the Pali gurus!
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3