1.14. Suriyasutta — 2 The Sun — 2 (SN 56:38; V 442–43) Flashcards
yāvakīvaṃ
“so long as”; an indeclinable indicating extent in time.
candimasuriyā
“moon and sun”; a nominative dvanda compound of the plural type (see p. 36).
n’uppajjanti = na uppajjanti
“do not arise”; a third-person plural indicative.
tāva
“for so long”; the demonstrative counterpart of yāva.
mahato ālokassa
“of great light”; ālokassa, a singular genitive noun in relation to pātubhāvo, with mahato qualifying ālokassa.
pātubhāvo
“manifestation”; the nominative subject of the main clause of the sentence. The word is a kammadhāraya compound composed of the indeclinable pātur, “visible, open, manifest,” and bhāva, “state, condition.”
mahato obhāsassa
“of great radiance”; another genitive singular. This kind of sentence structure is typical of the suttas: the main expression, here mahato ālokassa pātubhāvo, precedes the verb hoti, while the nearly synonymous expression, mahato obhāsassa (also dependent on pātubhāvo), follows the verb.
andhatamaṃ
a kammadhāraya compound composed of andha, “blind,” and tamaṃ, “darkness” — a neuter singular in the nominative case.
tadā
“then”; an indeclinable indicating time.
andhakāratimisā
another dvanda compound of the plural type, feminine nominative, composed of andhakāra, darkness (literally, “making blind”), and timisā, also meaning darkness.
n’eva (= na + eva)
“not” at the beginning of a series.
rattindivā
“nights and days”; a plural dvanda composed of ratti, night, and diva, day; this compound, like those that follow, is masculine nominative.
paññāyanti
“are known, are discerned”; a third-person plural passive verb.
māsaddhamāsā
“months and fortnights”; a plural dvanda of māsa, month, and addhamāsa, half-month.
utusaṃvaccharā
“seasons and years”; a plural dvanda of utu, season, and saṃvacchara, year.
yato
“when.”
ca
used here in the disjunctive sense, “but” rather than “and.” See DOP ca2 2. The following kho is a mere emphatic.
tathāgato
It cannot be determined here whether the text is speaking about buddhas in general (“a tathāgata”) or specifically about the present buddha. Either interpretation is feasible.
arahaṃ
“worthy one”; a masculine nominative, from the stem arahat, here used to refer to the Buddha. The other masculine nominative, arahā, is used to describe a liberated monk.
sammāsambuddho
“the perfectly enlightened one.” Sammāsambuddho is a kammadhāraya compound of the adverb sammā, “right(ly), perfect(ly), complete(ly),” and the past participle sambuddha, a prefixed form of buddha, “enlightened, awakened,” used as a noun.
ācikkhaṇā
“pointing out.” This noun and those that follow are nominatives. All but the last are feminine, and all but the last are action nouns (with the -ana- insert typical of an action noun). The first noun precedes the verb hoti, while the others, near-synonyms, follow. This is another typical Pāli syntactical feature, similar to the construction where the first modifier precedes the noun and the subsequent modifiers follow it (see p. 122).
desanā
“teaching”; based on the verb deseti, “teaches, expounds.”
paññāpanā
“making known”; based on paññāpeti, “makes known,” causative of pajānāti, “understands, knows.”
paṭṭhapanā
“establishing”; based on paṭṭhapeti, “establishes, sets forth.”
vivaraṇā
“disclosing”; based on vivarati, “opens up, discloses.”
vibhajanā
“analyzing”; based on vibhajati, “divides up, analyzes.”
uttānīkammaṃ
“elucidation”; a verbal compound composed of uttāna, “clear, evident,” and kamma, “action,” hence “making clear, making evident.” Before kamma, the final -a is changed to -ī (Duroiselle §557).
