[INDOLOGY] a question about the āśīrliṅ

Fri Mar 20 09:47:52 UTC 2026

Dear Harry,

I was following the text given by Amano:
Abhisamayālaṃkārakārikāśāstravivṛti by Haribhadra. Skt.
ed. Koei H. Amano, Kyoto: Heirakujishoten, 2000.
and consulting the earlier editions as well.

I think that the readings you find in GRETIL are simply typos and not genuine variants.
Matthew

Matthew T. Kapstein
Professor emeritus
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris

Associate
The University of Chicago Divinity School

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein

https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1

https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949

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On Friday, March 20th, 2026 at 12:51 AM, Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear list members,
>
> Matthew Kapstein and ( David Reigle using edition 1929 by Stcherbatsky and Obermiller) spell the word as vīkṣiṣīraṃs . Same text in GRETIL (different editions) spell it vīkṣīṣīraṃs and vīkṣiṣiraṃs
>
> Are these misprints or alternate spellings in GRETIL? pratipatsīrann is spelled the same in these etexts
>
> Matthew Kapstein and ( David Reigle)
>
> sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo'tra deśitaḥ|
> dhīmanto vīkṣiṣīraṃs tam anālīḍhaṃ parair iti ||1||
>
> smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām |
> sukhena pratipatsīrann ity ārambhaprayojanam ||2||
>
> --------------------------
>
> GRETIL abhisamayālaṃkaranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstram
>
> https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/html/sa_maitreyanAtha-abhisamayAlaMkaranAmaprajJApAramitopadezazAstra.htm
> input by Christian Coseru (no source book given) has;
>
> sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo 'tra deśita /
>
> dhīmantī vīkṣīṣīraṃstamanālīḍhaṃ parairiti // Abhs_1.1 //
>
> smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryā daśātmikā /
>
> sūkhena pratipatsīrannityārambhaprayojanam // Abhs_1.2 //
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> GRETIL
>
> Abhisamayālaṃkāra
>
> https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/html/sa_abhisamayAlaMkAra.htm
>
> Data entry: members of the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Input Project
>
> Based on the ed. by Ramsankar Tripathi: Abhisamayalankaravrttih Sphutartha.
>
> Sarnath : Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), 1977.
>
> grānthārambhaprayojanam sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo 'tra deśitaḥ /
> dhīmanto
>
> vīkṣiṣiraṃs
>
> tamanālīḍhaṃ parairiti // asa_1.2 //
>
> smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām /
>
> sukhena
>
> pratipatsīrann
>
> ityārambhaprayojanam // asa_1.3 //
>
> Harry Spier
>
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 5:30 PM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Many thanks to all who replied on- and off-list. I am sorry that I was not aware of David Reigle's paper, addressing my query so precisely, beforehand, and I am grateful to him and to Asko Parpola for sharing it. Walter Slaje's helpful remarks lend some support to my thought that the benedictive form may have had an intentionally archaic nuance.
>>
>> Matthew
>>
>> Matthew T. Kapstein
>> Professor emeritus
>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>>
>> Associate
>> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>>
>> Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
>>
>> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>>
>> https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/
>>
>> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1
>>
>> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1
>>
>> https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949
>>
>> Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email.
>>
>> On Thursday, March 19th, 2026 at 3:39 PM, Asko Parpola <aparpola at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Matthew, David Reigle ha written a paper (attached) on these very two occurrences of the benedictive.
>>> With best wishes, Asko
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 11:39 AM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear friends,
>>>>
>>>> In the opening verses (given below) of the Abhisamayālamkāra-śāstra (ASA), an important Mahāyāna Buddhist treatise (said to have been revealed to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya), we find two instances of verbs that I take to be examples of “precatives” or “benedictives” (āśīrliṅ) in the middle voice (ātmanepāda) third person plural. Whitney (925) and Macdonell (150) both flatly state that the precative middle, though current in Vedic, does not occur in Classical Sanskrit. Renou (330-331) does not affirm this categorically, but suggests that the āśīrliṅ (without specifying voice) is commonly met with in kāvya and epigraphy, though unknown to Buddhist usage. Edgerton, BHS Grammar, has nothing at all to say about the āśīrliṅ, probably due to its absence in the corpus that he consulted, though the ASA is not in any case written in “hybrid” Sanskrit; its terminology is distinctly Buddhist, of course, but without peculiarly BHS grammatical forms.
>>>>
>>>> Conze, in the vocabulary accompanying his summary translation of the ASA (SOR VI) offers no grammatical analysis, but treats vīkṣiṣīran as an aorist optative, “have been able to behold,” and pratipatsīran as a future optative, “will be able to make progress.” (It seems simpler to me to adopt a mildly benedictive reading of both, “that the wise may behold… and that they may easily master…”)
>>>>
>>>> What I wish to ask the vyākaraṇa specialists, however, is whether I am correct to take these verbs as middle voice āśīrliṅ third person plural? And, if so, are there other instances, whether in Buddhist or non-Buddhist works, that similarly call into question Whitney and Macdonell’s assertions? I would welcome any other observations about this apparently unusual form that you may be able to share. In particular, I am wondering if it is plausible to take its use here as a deliberately archaizing gesture.
>>>>
>>>> sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo'tra deśitaḥ|
>>>>
>>>> dhīmanto vīkṣiṣīraṃs tam anālīḍhaṃ parair iti ||1||
>>>>
>>>> smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām |
>>>>
>>>> sukhena pratipatsīrann ity ārambhaprayojanam ||2||
>>>>
>>>> with thanks in advance for your observations and insights,
>>>> Matthew
>>>>
>>>> Matthew T. Kapstein
>>>> Professor emeritus
>>>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>>>>
>>>> Associate
>>>> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>>>>
>>>> Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
>>>>
>>>> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>>>>
>>>> https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/
>>>>
>>>> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1
>>>>
>>>> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1
>>>>
>>>> https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949
>>>>
>>>> Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Asko Parpola, aparpola at gmail.com
>>> http://www.helsinki.academia.edu/AskoParpola
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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