Dear Dominik,

     This kind of double meaning of the word kaṣāya is also seen in the Buddhist usage of the word kasāva/kāsāva.  For example, in the Pali verse (Dhammapada 1.9) "anikkasāvo kāsāvaṃ yo vattham paridahessati / apeto damasaccena na so kāsāvam arahati //" (One not free from defilements, who dons a yellow robe, that one devoid of control and truth, is not worthy of a yellow robe."  Here, there is a pun on the words kasāva/kāsāva, and it shows the use of the word in the sense of a color of defilements as well as the color of the Buddhist robe.

Madhav

On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 10:30 PM, Jeffery Long via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear Dominik,

I believe there is a Jain connection here.  In Jain texts, "kaṣāya" refers to passions/attachments which attract karmic matter to the jīva.  But each kaṣāya is also connected with a specific "leśya"–the colors which the jīva takes on due to the presence of the kaṣāya-s.  Perhaps the meaning of kaṣāya as a color has been conflated with the leśya concept?  This is just an initial guess, and not based on any in-depth investigation of specific occurrences of these terms in Jaina sources.

Hopefully a helpful start,
Jeff
 
Dr. Jeffery D. Long
Professor of Religion and Asian Studies
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA

https://etown.academia.edu/JefferyLong

Series Editor, Explorations in Indic Traditions: Theological, Ethical, and Philosophical
Lexington Books

"One who makes a habit of prayer and meditation will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life."  (Holy Mother Sarada Devi)

"We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself." (Carl Sagan)



On Wednesday, April 12, 2017 9:51 PM, Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:


Has anyone wrestled with the divergent meanings of "kaṣāya"?  Obviously there are core meanings like "red/yellow," "a sort of tea-like infusion," and "astringent taste."  But there are several outlier meanings, including Wilson's "attachment to worldly objects."  Wilson is often very apt, and I think he got his meaning from the Pandits around him.   The Buddhist "decay, etc." seems to carry over the ChUp's "impurity, sin."  Vedāntasāra's "stupidity" is another outlier.  Is this really a conflation of homonyms, or what?

Dominik Wujastyk
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