21
Viṃśatikā / All 22 verses / 21
परचित्तविदां ज्ञानमयथार्थं कथं यथा स्वचित्तज्ञानमज्ञानाद् यथा बुद्धस्य गोचरः
paracittavidāṃ jñānam ayathārthaṃ kathaṃ yathā svacittajñānam ajñānād yathā buddhasya gocaraḥ
The line
How is the knowing that belongs to knowers of other minds not as the thing is? It is as the knowing of one's own mind is, from not-knowing, and as the range of a Buddha is.
नेपालीमा
परचित्त जान्नेहरूको ज्ञान वस्तु जस्तो छ त्यस्तै किन होइन? यो आफ्नै चित्तको ज्ञानजस्तै हो, नजान्नुबाट, र बुद्धको विषयजस्तै हो।
Where it sits
Verse 20 was about harm. Verse 21 is about knowledge of other minds, the strongest case for 'there is an object, namely that mind.' The answer places that knowledge with self-knowledge and with a Buddha's range. Verse 22 closes the book.
Split: para-citta-vidām (पर-चित्त-विदाम्) + jñānam (ज्ञानम्) + ayathā-artham (अयथा-अर्थम्) + katham (कथम्) + yathā (यथा) + sva-citta-jñānam (स्व-चित्त-ज्ञानम्) + ajñānāt (अज्ञानात्) + yathā (यथा) + buddhasya (बुद्धस्य) + gocaraḥ (गोचरः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| para-citta-vidām (पर-चित्त-विदाम्) | genitive plural, masculine | of those who know para-citta (पर-चित्त), the mind of another. The file joins jñānamayathārthaṃ (ज्ञानमयथार्थं). |
| jñānam (ज्ञानम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the knowing. |
| ayathā-artham (अयथा-अर्थम्) | nominative singular, neuter | not yathārtha (यथार्थ), not as the object is. yathā (यथा) is 'as,' artha (अर्थ) is the object. |
| katham (कथम्) | indeclinable | how is it that... The question expects the answer already patterned by the comparisons. |
| yathā (यथा) | indeclinable | as. |
| sva-citta-jñānam (स्व-चित्त-ज्ञानम्) | nominative singular, neuter | knowing of one's own mind. |
| ajñānāt (अज्ञानात्) | ablative singular, neuter | from ajñāna (अज्ञान), from not knowing. Ordinary self-knowledge misses the way the mind actually is. |
| yathā (यथा) | indeclinable | as. |
| buddhasya (बुद्धस्य) | genitive singular, masculine | of a Buddha. |
| gocaraḥ (गोचरः) | nominative singular, masculine | the range, what is accessible. The file writes buddhasya gocaraḥ (बुद्धस्य गोचरः) with the words separated only here at the end. |
The phrases
Knowing another mind is still a cognition with an appearance. It is not a look that takes the other stream as an external object, any more than ordinary knowing of one's own mind matches that mind, and any more than a Buddha's range is a range of outer things. The Buddha's range is named as the far case, not explained. Verse 22 says it is not to be thought out.
ayathārtham (अयथार्थम्) is the charge, and the verse accepts it for this kind of knowing.
Sanskrit in this line
yathārtha (यथार्थ) means 'as the object is.' The a- (अ-) in ayathārtham (अयथार्थम्) is the denial. The ablative ajñānāt (अज्ञानात्) says the ordinary case comes from not knowing.
Say it back
Is para-citta-jñāna (पर-चित्त-ज्ञान) being offered as a window onto an outer object?