2.1. Aniccasutta Impermanent (SN 22:12; III 21) Flashcards
rūpaṃ
“Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, aniccaṃ, vedanā aniccā, saññā aniccā, saṅkhārā aniccā, viññāṇaṃ aniccaṃ.”
“form,” a neuter noun in the nominative case. The word has two primary senses: (1) material form, the first of the five aggregates, intended here; and (2) a visible object, the first of the six sense objects. Occasionally the word also occurs as the second part of a compound, meaning “nature,” as in piyarūpa, “a pleasant nature” (see p. 374).
aniccaṃ
“Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, aniccaṃ, vedanā aniccā, saññā aniccā, saṅkhārā aniccā, viññāṇaṃ aniccaṃ.”
“impermanent,” a negation (a-) of permanent (nicca), here neuter nominative in agreement with rūpaṃ. It is also neuter following viññāṇaṃ. Following vedanā and saññā it is feminine singular, and following saṅkhārā it is masculine plural. Since the statement merely predicates the quality to the noun, a verb is not necessary.
evaṃ passaṃ
“Evaṃ passaṃ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpasmimpi nibbindati, vedanāyapi nibbindati, saññāyapi nibbindati, saṅkhāresupi nibbindati, viññāṇasmimpi nibbindati.”
”thus seeing.” Passaṃ is a masculine singular nominative present participle of passati; it is here in agreement with the subject, ariyasāvako. On the declension of the present participle, see Duroiselle §§439–440 and §219–26; Perniola §§94–95.
sutavā
“Evaṃ passaṃ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpasmimpi nibbindati, vedanāyapi nibbindati, saññāyapi nibbindati, saṅkhāresupi nibbindati, viññāṇasmimpi nibbindati.”
“learned, instructed”; masculine nominative of sutavat, in agreement with ariyasāvako. The word is an adjective composed of suta, “learning” (a noun derived from the past participle), and the possessive suffix -vat. On the declension of substantives ending in -vat, see Duroiselle §§229–30; Perniola §34.
rūpasmiṃ
“Evaṃ passaṃ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpasmimpi nibbindati, vedanāyapi nibbindati, saññāyapi nibbindati, saṅkhāresupi nibbindati, viññāṇasmimpi nibbindati.”
“in regard to form”; a singular locative, with -ṃ changing to -m before the labial consonant pi.
nibbindati
“Evaṃ passaṃ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpasmimpi nibbindati, vedanāyapi nibbindati, saññāyapi nibbindati, saṅkhāresupi nibbindati, viññāṇasmimpi nibbindati.”
“becomes disenchanted with, repelled by, disgusted with”; a third-person singular indicative verb, with the locative rūpasmiṃ as its object. The verb is composed of the prefix nir- and vindati, “finds, knows.” In Pāli, the sandhi of r + v results in -bb-, as seen too in Pāli nibbāna for Skt nirvāṇa.
vedanāya, etc.
“Evaṃ passaṃ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako rūpasmimpi nibbindati, vedanāyapi nibbindati, saññāyapi nibbindati, saṅkhāresupi nibbindati, viññāṇasmimpi nibbindati.”
locatives of the respective aggregates.
nibbindaṃ
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
a present participle of nibbindati, masculine singular nominative in agreement with ariyasāvako.
virajjati
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“becomes dispassionate”; a third-person singular verb in the present indicative.
virāgā
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“through dispassion”; the case is ablative, in the sense of cause.
vimuccati
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“is liberated”; a passive verb in the third-person singular.
vimuttasmiṃ
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“in regard to what is liberated”; a locative of the past participle vimutta. Since vimuttasmiṃ can be either neuter or masculine, the subject of the participle could be either cittaṃ, “mind,” or so, “he,” the noble disciple. It is possible, but uncertain, that vimuttasmiṃ is a locative absolute past participle without a corresponding locative subject, in which case it would bear the meaning “when liberated.”
vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
Iti following vimuttam serves as a quotation marker, highlighting the object of knowledge. Again, it is ambiguous whether the object of this knowledge is the mind or the person. The past participle vimuttaṃ is neuter, which would agree with cittaṃ, “mind,” but up to this point the sutta has been speaking about the ariyasāvaka, a person. I have replicated the ambiguity by simply using “liberated” without specifying whether the word refers to the mind or the person. In either case, since the mind and the person are inseparable, the choice is insignificant.
khīṇā
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“finished, destroyed, ended”; a past participle of khiṇāti qualifying the feminine noun jāti.
vusitaṃ
“Nibbindaṃ virajjati. Virāgā vimuccati. Vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti. ‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ, nāparaṃ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.”
“lived”; a past participle of vasati qualifying the neuter noun brahmacariyaṃ.
