1.15. Papātasutta The Precipice (SN 56:42; V 448–50)

Question 1

nappajānanti (= na + pajānanti)

Answer 1

“do not understand,” with the -p- doubled on account of the -r- in Skt prajānanti, lost in Pāli.

Question 2

jātisaṃvattanikesu

Answer 2

“leading to birth”; a bahubbīhi compound qualifying saṅkhāresu, hence locative plural. Saṃvattanika is an adjective from saṃvattati, “leads to.” In the following clauses jāti is replaced by jarā and maraṇa. In the last clause, soka-parideva-dukkha-domanass’upāyāsa is a five-term dvanda, with vowel sandhi between domanassa and upāyāsa.

Question 3

saṅkhāresu

Answer 3

“volitional activities,” here locative plural. The word saṅkhārā occurs in several major contexts in the suttas, with a different nuance in each. Saṅkhārā are things — or, more accurately, processes — that act in unison to create other things, but they are equally the things created by the combined activity of other things. Here the word refers to the second link in the chain of dependent origination, activities that create kamma; the first term of the formula, ignorance (avijjā), is represented by not understanding the four noble truths (see the definition of avijjā at SN II 4,11–14).

Question 4

te

Answer 4

the third-person plural subject “they,” signifying samaṇā and brāhmaṇā.

Question 5

abhiramanti

Answer 5

“delight”; a third-person plural indicative verb, agreeing with te.

Question 6

abhiratā

Answer 6

“delighted in”; the past participle of abhiramanti, third-person plural nominative, in agreement with te. Here it is used in an active sense.

Question 7

jātisaṃvattanikepi saṅkhāre

Answer 7

“they generate volitional activities that lead to birth.” Here saṅkhāre is plural accusative as the object of the verb abhisaṅkharonti, which takes its cognate noun as its own object. To preserve idiomatic English, I have used a verb unrelated to the noun. A translator who wants to mirror the style of the Pāli might render it “they construct constructions” or “they fabricate fabrications.”

Question 8

saṅkhāre abhisaṅkharitvā

Answer 8

“having generated volitional activities”; the accusative plural of the noun followed by an absolutive of abhisaṅkharonti.

Question 9

jātipapātampi papatanti

Answer 9

“they fall down the precipice of birth.” This is another example of a verb taking a cognate noun as its own accusative object.

Question 10

parimuccanti

Answer 10

“are freed”; a prefixed third-person plural form of the verb muccati, passive of muñcati, “sets free.”

Question 11

nappapatanti (= na + papatanti)

Answer 11

“do not fall down”; with consonant duplication -pp- (see p. 127).

Question 12

jātiyā, etc.

Answer 12

Normally, parimuccati goes with the ablative case; thus the nouns here must be ablatives. Maraṇena is likely an ablative in the form of an instrumental.

Question 13

dukkhasmā

Answer 13

This is clearly an ablative. The quotation marker ti is for special emphasis.