Ageusia

[Stephen Hodge]

Ashok Aklujkar wrote:

> It would be better to share the passage with your potential helpers.

Sorry to have been unintentionally a bit cryptic. Actually, with a bit more 
thought, I think I have solved the problem myself.  The term I was looking 
for may have been "śuṣka" or perhaps "saṃśuṣka", used as a pun in the 
context, though "dagdha" is also a possibilty.  Needless to say, the pun has 
got lost in translation.  The problem was that I was not fully aware that 
"śuṣka" has other secondary meanings, especially as I was just looking at 
the more common (in Buddist texts) "viśuṣka".
The passage occurs in the Mahāyana Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, with glosses 
bracketed off thus < ... >:

        gsol pa | sems can <ma rungs pa 'jigs su rung ba> | <lce dang | rkan 
dang | lkog ma> tshig pa rnams ci las 'gyur lags ||

        bka' stsal pa | gzhi gsum rtag pa mi shes pa gang yin pa de dag ni 
sems can <ma rungs pa 'jigs su rung ba> | <lce dang | rkan dang | lkog ma> 
tshig par 'gyur ro || dper na mi <dang dung 'gro'i> lce tshig pa rnams kyis 
ro drug ste | mngar ba dang | skyur ba dang | lan tshwa'i ro dang | tsha ba 
dang | kha ba dang | bska ba rnams za ba na ro'i bye brag mi phyed pa de 
bzhin du sems can mi shes pa | lce dang | rkan dang | lkog ma tshig pa <ma 
rungs pa 'jigs su rung ba> | gzhi gsum rtag par mi shes pa gang yin pa de 
dag ni | <lce dang | rkan dang | lkog ma> tshig pa zhes bya'o ||

        "How come there are <harsh, terrifying> beings who are/have parched 
<tongues, palates and throats> ?"

        "Those who do not know the Three Bases [= Three Jewels] are 
permanent become <villainous, terrifying> beings <whose tongues, palates and 
throat> are burnt/parched. For example, humans <and animals> who tongues are 
burnt/parched are unable to distinguish the differences between the six 
tastes when they eat anything sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent or 
astringent. Similarly, ignorant beings <who are villainous and terrifying>, 
whose tongues <palates and throats> are burnt/parched, who do not know that 
the three grounds are permanent, are said to be/have "śuṣka" < tongues, 
palates and throats>.

This is not the place to describe in detail the many peculiarities of the 
Tibetan version of the Mahāyana Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, but reading this 
against the two Chinese versions, it is now clear to me that the Tibetan 
text has incorporated two glosses into the body of the text ~ which is 
typical for this text which had been heavily annotated several times during 
its transmission. Originally, I assume the text would have just read "How 
come there are people who are śuṣka ?" ~ in the primary sense of 
"frightening, harsh" and punning secondarily as "with parched /burnt mouths" 
(as with pretas).  First, the gloss of "tongue, plate and throat" was added 
in several places at an early stage and so is common to the Chinese and the 
Tibetan versions, and later the gloss "ma rungs pa 'jigs su rung ba" (harsh, 
frightening) was also added ~ but only in the Tibetan ms lineage. I would 
also imagine that some of the other connotations of "śuṣka", if that was the 
word used, are also implied here well such as "vain, useless".

As a footnote to this, if they have bothered to read this far, I wonder if 
anybody (Jonathan, Matthew ?) has come across the expression "gzhi gsum" for 
the tri-ratna ? This is used consistedly by preference throughout the 
Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra>. Maybe I haven't read attentively / widely enough (I 
do try, though), but I have never seen this term used in any other Tibetan 
translations of Indic texts. It would be nice to know what the underlying 
Skt word here would have been.

Best wishes,

Stephen Hodge