1.14. Suriyasutta — 2 The Sun — 2 (SN 56:38; V 442–43)

Question 1

yāvakīvaṃ

Answer 1

“so long as”; an indeclinable indicating extent in time.

Question 2

candimasuriyā

Answer 2

“moon and sun”; a nominative dvanda compound of the plural type (see p. 36).

Question 3

n’uppajjanti = na uppajjanti

Answer 3

“do not arise”; a third-person plural indicative.

Question 4

tāva

Answer 4

“for so long”; the demonstrative counterpart of yāva.

Question 5

mahato ālokassa

Answer 5

“of great light”; ālokassa, a singular genitive noun in relation to pātubhāvo, with mahato qualifying ālokassa.

Question 6

pātubhāvo

Answer 6

“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.”

Question 7

mahato obhāsassa

Answer 7

“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.

Question 8

andhatamaṃ

Answer 8

a kammadhāraya compound composed of andha, “blind,” and tamaṃ, “darkness” — a neuter singular in the nominative case.

Question 9

tadā

Answer 9

“then”; an indeclinable indicating time.

Question 10

andhakāratimisā

Answer 10

another dvanda compound of the plural type, feminine nominative, composed of andhakāra, darkness (literally, “making blind”), and timisā, also meaning darkness.

Question 11

n’eva (= na + eva)

Answer 11

“not” at the beginning of a series.

Question 12

rattindivā

Answer 12

“nights and days”; a plural dvanda composed of ratti, night, and diva, day; this compound, like those that follow, is masculine nominative.

Question 13

paññāyanti

Answer 13

“are known, are discerned”; a third-person plural passive verb.

Question 14

māsaddhamāsā

Answer 14

“months and fortnights”; a plural dvanda of māsa, month, and addhamāsa, half-month.

Question 15

utusaṃvaccharā

Answer 15

“seasons and years”; a plural dvanda of utu, season, and saṃvacchara, year.

Question 16

yato

Answer 16

“when.”

Question 17

ca

Answer 17

used here in the disjunctive sense, “but” rather than “and.” See DOP ca2 2. The following kho is a mere emphatic.

Question 18

tathāgato

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

arahaṃ

Answer 19

“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.

Question 20

sammāsambuddho

Answer 20

“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.

Question 21

ācikkhaṇā

Answer 21

“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).

Question 22

desanā

Answer 22

“teaching”; based on the verb deseti, “teaches, expounds.”

Question 23

paññāpanā

Answer 23

“making known”; based on paññāpeti, “makes known,” causative of pajānāti, “understands, knows.”

Question 24

paṭṭhapanā

Answer 24

“establishing”; based on paṭṭhapeti, “establishes, sets forth.”

Question 25

vivaraṇā

Answer 25

“disclosing”; based on vivarati, “opens up, discloses.”

Question 26

vibhajanā

Answer 26

“analyzing”; based on vibhajati, “divides up, analyzes.”

Question 27

uttānīkammaṃ

Answer 27

“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).