Anicca means not what we commonly think?

[Alex123]

Hello all,

I was playing around with ChatGPT and seeing what anicca & nicca in sanskrit means to try to see if I can squeeze any more meaning out of pali anicca.

ChatGPT gave an interesting analysis, which seems to fit the standard formula (anicca -> dukkha -> anatta) really well. It is interesting how no Buddha's opponents in the suttas ever argued that anicca is sukha (even though today ignorant people can claim that "variety is the spice of life" and that change is good). For some reasons, anicca always was interpreted in negative way without any objection (as far as I remember).

The term is composed of two parts: "an" meaning "not" or "without," and "icca" meaning "desirable" or "pleasing." Therefore, अनिच्चा (anicca) can be translated as "not desirable" or "not pleasing," emphasizing the idea that attachment to impermanent things will ultimately lead to suffering.

Is the above correct?

Thanks.

[ssasny]

No, it is not correct. Or, at least, it is not how the word is typically defined.

(as a negation of the Sanskrit nitya)

[Ceisiwr]

ChatGPT can get things wrong.

[Sam Vara]

Hello all,

I was playing around with ChatGPT and seeing what anicca & nicca in sanskrit means to try to see if I can squeeze any more meaning out of pali anicca.

ChatGPT gave an interesting analysis, which seems to fit the standard formula (anicca -> dukkha -> anatta) really well. It is interesting how no Buddha's opponents in the suttas ever argued that anicca is sukha (even though today ignorant people can claim that "variety is the spice of life" and that change is good). For some reasons, anicca always was interpreted in negative way without any objection (as far as I remember).

The term is composed of two parts: "an" meaning "not" or "without," and "icca" meaning "desirable" or "pleasing." Therefore, अनिच्चा (anicca) can be translated as "not desirable" or "not pleasing," emphasizing the idea that attachment to impermanent things will ultimately lead to suffering.

Is the above correct?

Thanks.

It seems ChatGPT has been sniffing around the Pure Dhamma website:

https://puredhamma.net/key-dhamma-conce ... t-we-like/.

Here is an earlier discussion of "new interpretations" on DW:

viewtopic.php?t=3575.

[Alex123]

I think it is on to something.

What if anicca is not a+nicca but,
an + icca(or iccha) ?

[Pondera]

ChatGPT has something like 79,000 parameters and yet when it is being “trained” to deliver “good” answers you have people subjectively deciding which answers are better than others.

[Sam Vara]

I think it is on to something.

What if anicca is not a+nicca but,
an + icca(or iccha) ?

That is in fact a separate word. From the PED:

:: Anicchā (feminine) [an + icchā] dispassion S V 6; adjective °a without desires, not desiring Snp 707.

[ssasny]

This has been thoroughly debunked already.
No need to rehearse it all again.

[cappuccino]

Inconstancy is the practice

[Alex123]

I think it is on to something.

What if anicca is not a+nicca but,
an + icca(or iccha) ?

That is in fact a separate word. From the PED:

:: Anicchā (feminine) [an + icchā] dispassion S V 6; adjective °a without desires, not desiring Snp 707.

Oh, I see. So did ChatGPT used a different word to translate anicca?

Is it possible that since Anicca and Anicchā sound almost identical, when the pali canon was written down, the two words got confused?

[Sam Vara]

I think it is on to something.

What if anicca is not a+nicca but,
an + icca(or iccha) ?

That is in fact a separate word. From the PED:

:: Anicchā (feminine) [an + icchā] dispassion S V 6; adjective °a without desires, not desiring Snp 707.

Oh, I see. So did ChatGPT used a different word to translate anicca?

Is it possible that since Anicca and Anicchā sound almost identical, when the pali canon was written down, the two words got confused?

I don't think ChatGBT actually "translates" anything. It just hoovers up what it can find on the internet according to how it has been set up.

With regard to writing down the Pali, anything is possible, but we find nicca in bunches of synonyms along with dhuva, sassata, aviparināmadhamma, etc. ("...fixed, eternal, not of a nature to change into something else"), so we would have to account for why it was selectively confused.

[Nicolas]

What if anicca is not a+nicca but,
an + icca(or iccha) ?

rūpaṁ niccaṁ vā aniccaṁ vā”ti?
[is form permanent or impermanent?]

==> it is nicca & a-nicca.

Is it possible that since Anicca and Anicchā sound almost identical, when the pali canon was written down, the two words got confused?

Gain and loss, disrepute and fame,
blame and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions that people meet
are aniccā [impermanent], asassatā [transient], and vipariṇāmadhammā [subject to change].

==> aniccā ~ asassatā ~ vipariṇāmadhammā ==> anicca := "impermanent"

[Alex123]

Thank you all for your helpful replies.