8
Viṃśatikā / All 22 verses / 8
रूपाद्यायतनास्तित्वं तद्विनेयजनं प्रति अभिप्रायवशादुक्तमुपपादुकसत्त्ववत्
rūpādyāyatanāstitvaṃ tadvineyajanaṃ prati abhiprāyavaśād uktam upapādukasattvavat
The line
The existence of the sense fields beginning with the visible was spoken, for the people to be trained by it, by the force of an intention, as with apparitional beings.
नेपालीमा
रूपदेखि सुरु हुने आयतनको सत्ता त्यसबाट सिकाइने मानिसका लागि अभिप्रायको बलले भनिएको थियो, जस्तै अचानक जन्मिने प्राणीमा।
Where it sits
Verses 6 and 7 argued that a fruit can be a cognition. A reader of the sūtras (सूत्र) will say the Buddha talked about objects. Verse 8 is the answer to that reader. Verse 9 gives the inner meaning of the two fields.
Split: rūpa-ādi-āyatana-astitvam (रूप-आदि-आयतन-अस्तित्वम्) + tad-vineya-janam (तद्-विनेय-जनम्) + prati (प्रति) + abhiprāya-vaśāt (अभिप्राय-वशात्) + uktam (उक्तम्) + upapāduka-sattvavat (उपपादुक-सत्त्ववत्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| rūpa-ādi-āyatana-astitvam (रूप-आदि-आयतन-अस्तित्वम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the existence of the āyatanas (आयतन) beginning with rūpa (रूप), the visible. An āyatana (आयतन) is a sense field, a base of cognition. |
| tad-vineya-janam (तद्-विनेय-जनम्) | accusative singular, masculine | people who are to be trained by that. vineya (विनेय) is one who is to be led. |
| prati (प्रति) | indeclinable | toward, for. It governs the accusative janam (जनम्). |
| abhiprāya-vaśāt (अभिप्राय-वशात्) | ablative singular, masculine | from the force of an intention. abhiprāya (अभिप्राय) is what the speaker has in view. vaśa (वश) is sway. |
| uktam (उक्तम्) | nominative singular, neuter | it was said. Agrees with astitvam (अस्तित्वम्). |
| upapāduka-sattvavat (उपपादुक-सत्त्ववत्) | indeclinable | like a being who is upapāduka (उपपादुक), born all at once, by apparition, without parents. -vat (-वत्) is 'like.' |
The phrases
The Buddha spoke of rūpa (रूप) and the other fields as existing. This verse says that speech was for trainees, under an intention, the way the speech about apparitional beings was. It was not a claim that those fields are objects apart from cognition.
The comparison is a teaching that uses a picture the hearer can take, in order to lead him. Verse 9 says what the picture was really naming.
Sanskrit in this line
prati (प्रति) after its noun still governs it. janam prati (जनम् प्रति) is 'with regard to people.' The ablative vaśāt (वशात्) is 'because of the sway of.'
Say it back
For whom was the existence of rūpa (रूप) spoken?