1.5. Koṭigāmasutta Koṭigāma (SN 56:21; V 431–42)

Question 1

ekaṃ samayaṃ

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā vajjīsu viharati koṭigāme.”

Answer 1

“one occasion, one time”; an accusative used adverbially for a period of time.

Question 2

bhagavā

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā vajjīsu viharati koṭigāme.”

Answer 2

“the Blessed One,” the Buddha; the nominative singular of bhagavat, a possessive noun meaning literally “one who possesses (-vat) fortune (or excellence).”

Question 3

Vajjīsu

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā vajjīsu viharati koṭigāme.”

Answer 3

the name of the people of the Vajji confederacy, here a locative plural.

Question 4

viharati

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā vajjīsu viharati koṭigāme.”

Answer 4

“lives, dwells”; a third-person singular verb used as a historical present (Duroiselle §611,vi; Perniola §271d).

Question 5

Koṭigāme

”Ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā vajjīsu viharati koṭigāme.”

Answer 5

the name of a village in the Vajji country, here locative singular.

Question 6

tatra

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 6

“there”; an indeclinable indicating place.

Question 7

kho

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 7

a mere particle, when used with atha or tatra indicates the continuation of a narrative.

Question 8

āmantesi

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 8

“addressed”; a third-person singular aorist of āmanteti.

Question 9

bhikkhū

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 9

the plural accusative of bhikkhu.

Question 10

catunnaṃ

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 10

genitive plural of cattāri, “four,” in agreement with ariyasaccānaṃ.

Question 11

ananubodhā

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 11

“through non-understanding”; negation of anubodhā, a masculine singular noun in the ablative case, indicating cause, reason, or motive (Duroiselle §600,xi; Perniola §257e).

Question 12

appaṭivedhā

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 12

“through non-penetration”; a negation of paṭivedha, a masculine singular noun in the ablative case. When prefixed by the negative a-, the initial p is doubled through the influence of the -r- in the Skt prefix prati, which is eliminated in Pāli.

Question 13

evam

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 13

“thus”; evaṃ with -ṃ changed to -m in sandhi with the following vowel.

Question 14

idaṃ

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 14

a neuter singular pronoun, “this,” in the nominative case qualifying the noun that follows.

Question 15

dīghamaddhānaṃ

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 15

“long journey”; an adjective, dīghaṃ, followed by a singular noun, addhānaṃ, a nominative functioning as the passive grammatical subject. The logical subjects of the sentence are represented by the genitive pronouns that follow, the actions by the past participles. See pp. 74–75.

Question 16

sandhāvitaṃ

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 16

a past participle of the verb sandhāvati, “runs along,” qualifying addhānaṃ.

Question 17

saṃsaritaṃ

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 17

a past participle of the verb saṃsarati, “roams,” also qualifying addhānaṃ. It is from this verb that the noun saṃsāra is derived.

Question 18

mamañc’eva

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 18

a sandhi formation of mamaṃ and c’eva (see below). Mamaṃ is a euphonic form of mama, “of me,” with -ṃ changed to palatal -ñ before palatal ca; the pronoun is a singular genitive here referring to the Buddha himself.

Question 19

c’eva

LTatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 19

“and.” The addition of eva to the initial ca is typical in conjunctions and in series of negations; it is merely stylistic and does not imply either emphasis or exclusivity.

Question 20

tumhākañca

”Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “Catunnaṃ, bhikkhave, ariyasaccānaṃ ananubodhā appaṭivedhā evamidaṃ dīghamaddhānaṃ sandhāvitaṃ saṃsaritaṃ mamañc’eva tumhākañca.”

Answer 20

a sandhi formation of tumhākaṃ and ca, “and.” Tumhākaṃ is a plural genitive pronoun, “of you,” referring to the monks. The two pronouns — mamaṃ and tumhākaṃ — are instances of the “subjective genitive,” the genitive used to represent the agent of the action, often with an instrumental sense (see Wijesekera §142, Duroiselle §596; Perniola §260b). The Dīgha commentary to a corresponding passage actually glosses mamaṃ and tumhākaṃ with their corresponding instrumentals.80 The actions are represented by the two past participles, sandhāvitaṃ and saṃsaritaṃ. The syntax is almost the converse of that used in modern English. Whereas a normal English sentence would represent the agents as the active subjects and the “long journey” as the object — as I render it in the natural translation — the Pāli makes dīghamaddhānaṃ the grammatical subject, while the logical subject or effective agents, the persons who run and roam through this long journey, occur in the genitive. For similar instances, see pp. 75–77.

Question 21

tayidaṃ

“Tayidaṃ, bhikkhave, dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhasamudayaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ.”

Answer 21

“that this”; a sandhi of taṃ and idaṃ, with the -ṃ dropping out and the semivowel -y- inserted for euphony (see Geiger §72.2). In English tayidaṃ has the sense of an emphatic “this.”

Question 22

anubuddhaṃ

“Tayidaṃ, bhikkhave, dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhasamudayaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ.”

Answer 22

“understood”; the past participle of anubujjhati, nominative neuter as qualifying ariyasaccaṃ.

Question 23

paṭividdhaṃ

”Tayidaṃ, bhikkhave, dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhasamudayaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ, dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ anubuddhaṃ paṭividdhaṃ.”

Answer 23

“penetrated”; the past participle of pativijjhati, also nominative neuter as qualifying ariyasaccaṃ.

Question 24

ucchinnā

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 24

“cut off”; the past participle of ucchindati, feminine nominative in agreement with bhavataṇhā, “craving for existence.”

Question 25

khīṇā

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 25

“destroyed, worn away”; the past participle of khīyati, “is destroyed, is worn away,” also feminine nominative in agreement with netti.

Question 26

bhavanetti

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 26

“the conduit to existence.” Netti (from the verb neti) is “that which leads,” in this case, to bhava, existence. The compound is a dative tappurisa.

Question 27

natthi (= na + atthi)

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 27

“there is not.”

Question 28

dāni

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 28

abridgment of idāni (Skt idānīṃ), “now.”

Question 29

punabbhavo

”Ucchinnā bhavataṇhā, khīṇā bhavanetti, natthi dāni punabbhavo”ti.”

Answer 29

“renewed existence”; a kammadhāraya with the adverb puna(r) modifying the noun bhavo. The -rbh- cluster of Skt punarbhava is represented in Pāli by doubling of the consonant, -bbh.