[INDOLOGY] The Buddhist term sutta
Dieter Schlingloff
dieter at schlingloff.de
Thu May 13 08:52:30 UTC 2021
Dear all,
in an article in ZDMG 113, 1964, /Zur Interpretation des
Pratimoksasutra/, p.536-51 , I have given proofs for the thesis, that
the Buddhist Pratimoksa/sutra/ (in its oldest form) is the earliest
Buddhist text at all. This text is a real /thread/, a guide to korrekt
behaviour for Buddhist monks. From this guide book, the term was taken
over to the following texts concerned with teaching, the Buddhist suttas.
Best greetings, Dieter Schlingloff.
Am 12.05.2021 um 14:36 schrieb Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I am reminded by Professor Paul Dundas of a few other points that
> might be relevant to this discussion:
>
> * Paul Dundas (“Somnolent Sūtras: Scriptural Commentary in
> Śvetāmbara Jainism," /Journal of Indian Philosophy/ 24: 73–101,
> 1996) says the following (p. 78: see the notes for the sources):
> o The Jain position with regard to scripture and commentary upon
> it, of whatever type or period, is strongly predicated upon
> the acceptance of meaning as being superior to word. This can
> be seen clearly from the standard Jain etymology for the term
> “sūtra” which would derive it from the root sūc, “indicate.” A
> sūtra “indicates” many meanings which the teacher explicates
> through commentary, obtaining the sense from the root text in
> the same manner as a potter creates shapes from a lump of clay.
> * Mari Jvyärsjärvi (“Retrieving the Hidden Meaning: Jain
> Commentarial Techniques and the Art of Memory,” /Journal of Indian
> Philosophy /38.2: 133–162, 2010), cites Saṅghadāsa’s commentary on
> the /Br̥hatkalpa /(p. 138):
> o Sutra [becomes sutta] just like supta; or sūtra has a double
> meaning [ 'sūtra is a thread']. Or it becomes sutta because it
> indicates [sūcana] the meaning, or is well-spoken
> [sūkta]. These are its etymologies: it 'indicates' or it
> 'sews,' or also 'it is produced,' or 'it follows.' These are
> the divisions [of etymology], and these are its names. Sūtra
> is like a person who is slumbering: unless it is "awakened" by
> meaning,
> it cannot be known. Or due to the similarity in [words that
> have] double meanings, many meanings are joined together. A
> needle, even when broken, can be traced by the thread as long
> as it is threaded. Likewise meaning [is pointed out] by the
> sūtra. It 'sews together' words and meanings like a thread
> [sews together] jackets and so on.13
> * The name of one of the older texts in the Śvētāmbara canon,
> Sūyagaḍa-, is often rendered as Sūtrakr̥ta-, but the first part
> doesn't correspond to the usual development of the Old Indic word
> sūtra-. Willem Bollée suggested that it might come from
> *sūca-kr̥ta- or *sūca-gata- (in his glossary to /Studien zum
> Sūyagaḍa/, vol. 1, p. 197). Compare the Sanskrit word /sūcā/.
>
> Andrew
>
> On Tue, May 11, 2021 at 1:45 PM Andrew Ollett <andrew.ollett at gmail.com
> <mailto:andrew.ollett at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Since Rupert asked about the "wider Prakrit evidence," I can just
> cite the following verse that is included in the "late canonical"
> Anuyōgadvāra of the Śvētāmbara Jains (p. 91 of vol. 1 of
> Jambūvijayajī's edition):
>
> Sūtram (giving a list of synonyms for suya, i.e., śruta, learning):
> suya-sutta-gantha-siddhanta-sāsaṇē āṇa-vayaṇa-uvadēsē
> paṇṇavaṇa-āgamē yā ēgaṭṭhā pajjavā-suttē
>
> Cūrṇiḥ of Jinadāsa: gurūhiṁ aṇakkhātaṁ jamhā ṇō bujjhati tamhā
> pāsuttasamaṁ suttaṁ (i.e. deriving /sutta/- from /supta-/)
> Vivr̥tiḥ of Haribhadra: sūcanāt sūtram.
> Vr̥tti of Hēmacandra: arthānāṁ sūcanāt sūtram.
>
> The idea of taking /suttam/ from the verbal root √/sūc /is clever
> (via something like /sūk-tra-/), but of course √/sūc /is secondary
> from √/sū/ (via the noun /sū-cī́-/), so maybe it doesn't work.
>
> Sanskrit of uktá- usually corresponds to vutta- in Middle Indic
> (including Ardhamagadhi), and although utta- is used too under the
> influence of Sanskrit at a later period.
>
> Andrew
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 11, 2021 at 1:15 PM Dan Lusthaus
> <lusthaus at g.harvard.edu <mailto:lusthaus at g.harvard.edu>> wrote:
>
> Dominik,
>
> The Aṅguttara passage contrasting sutta with vinaya would
> appear to pose sutta and vinaya as referring to two of what
> became three piṭakas (abhidhamma had yet to appear).
> Bhikkhu Bodhi translates that passage (and the following one)
> this way.
>
> “Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu might say: ‘In the presence of the
> Blessed One I heard this; in his presence I learned this:
> “This is the Dhamma; this is the discipline; this is the
> Teacher’s teaching!”’ That bhikkhu’s statement should neither
> be approved nor rejected. Without approving or rejecting it,
> you should thoroughly learn those words and phrases and then
> check for them in the discourses and seek them in the
> discipline.{893} If, when you check for them in the discourses
> and seek them in the discipline, [you find that] they are not
> included among the discourses and are not to be seen in the
> discipline, you should draw the conclusion: ‘Surely, this is
> not the word of the Blessed One, the Arahant, the Perfectly
> Enlightened One. It has been badly learned by this bhikkhu.’
> Thus you should discard it.
>
> “But a bhikkhu might say: ‘In the presence of the Blessed One
> I heard this; in his presence I learned this: “This is the
> Dhamma; this is the discipline; this is the Teacher’s
> teaching!”’ That bhikkhu’s statement should neither be
> approved nor rejected. Without approving or rejecting it, you
> should thoroughly learn those words and phrases and then check
> for them in the discourses and seek them in the discipline.
> If, when you check for them in the discourses and seek them in
> the discipline, [you find that] they are included among the
> discourses and are to be seen in the discipline, you should
> draw the conclusion: ‘Surely, this is the word of the Blessed
> One, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. It has been
> learned well by this bhikkhu.’ You should remember this first
> great reference.
>
> Bhikkhu Bodhi’s note {893} is interesting:
> Tāni padabyañjanāni . . . sutte otāretabbāni vinaye
> sandassetabbāni. Mp gives various meanings of sutte and vinaye
> here, some improbable. Clearly, this instruction presupposes
> that there already existed a body of discourses and a
> systematic Vinaya that could be used to evaluate other texts
> proposed for inclusion as authentic utterances of the Buddha.
> Otāretabbāni is gerundive plural of otārenti, “make descend,
> put down or put into,” and otaranti, just below, means
> “descend, come down, go into.” My renderings, respectively, as
> “check for them” and “are included among” are adapted to the
> context. Sandassetabbāni is gerundive plural of sandassenti,
> “show, make seen,” and sandissanti means “are seen.”
>
> Like Woodward, Bodhi will on occasion indicate when he finds
> the commentaries unhelpful or misleading.
>
> Dan
>
>> On May 11, 2021, at 12:11 PM, Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info
>> <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>>
>> Interesting that in some of those citations, Dan, sutta is in
>> the singular. That suggests, to me, a genre rather than
>> "texts". (I'm not on secure ground here; my Pali grammar is
>> a bit rusty.)
>>
>> On another topic, my teacher Richard Gombrich also taught me
>> that sutta could be *<sūkta . But I'd like to note that he
>> wasn't dogmatic about it. It was represented as a possibility.
>>
>> Best,
>> Dominik
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info <mailto:INDOLOGY at list.indology.info>
>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>> <https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info <mailto:INDOLOGY at list.indology.info>
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
> <https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20210513/52d8ef59/attachment.htm>
More information about the INDOLOGY
mailing list