patta-kkhandha: A Semantic Study on a Contentious Word in Early Buddhism

Abstract

The availability of early Buddhist sources in multifarious languages such as Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese enables the researcher to acquire comparative knowledge of Buddhism. One of the outstanding benefits of comparing these sources in academic Buddhist studies is to figure out some scribal errors in a particular Buddhist tradition in terms of the corresponding sources that have been preserved in another Buddhist tradition. This paper elucidates the utility of non-Pali Buddhist sources in the process of tracing the earliest accurate forms of some terms in the Pali canon with particular reference to patta-kkhandha (PK hereafter). Besides, the Pali commentarial exegeses and Vedic sources also will be scanned in necessary places concerning this term. Nigrodho paribbājako tuṇhībhūto maṅkubhūto pattakkhandho adhomukho pajjhāyanto appaṭibhāno nisīdi—D III 53. This passage appears elsewhere in the Pali canon with the exception of the proper name. e.g. M I 132, Ibid, I 233, 258, Ibid, II 154, Ibid, III 298, S I 124, A I 186, Ibid, III 57. In some cases, the same stereotypical passage appears also in plural. See: D III 57, M I 334, A V 188-91, V II 78, Ibid, III 162, wherein this term occurs as patta-kkhandhā. PK together with a typical set of terms as a stereotypical passage occurs in many places of the Pali canon in order to reveal one’s embarrassment or discomfiture. This term has two units as patta and khandha. Apparently, khandha means in this context ‘shoulders’ yet the exact meaning of patta is quite ambiguous. However, patta may express at least three meanings, namely, [one who] attained (derived from Skt. Prāpta), a bowl (derived from Skt. Pātra), a leaf (derived from Skt. Patra). Interestingly, none of these meanings yields a satisfactory sense to the context. That is to say, literal renderings depend on these three meanings as ‘attained shoulders’, ‘leaf-shouldered’ and ‘bowl-likeshoulders’ adding a sort of absurdity. PED (406) notes this inappropriateness of the meaning, thus remarking as ‘we may have to deal with an old misspelling for panna (=pa+ nam bent down, put down), which explanation would suit the sense better than any other’. Horner translates this term as “shoulders drooped” (1954, p. 170) and Rhys David as “hunch back” (1921, p. 48). Obviously, these scholars have been influenced by the Pali commentarial exegeses (DA III 841, MA II 104) on PK. Nonetheless, they seem to have not been paid attention to parallel occurrences in the Pali canon and Buddhist Sanskrit equivalents. Accordingly, attempts will be made in this paper to discern the most trustworthy term for PK depending on substantial proof. In the light of parallel readings, which appear in the Pāli canon, we can factually point out that the term panna-kkhandha, makes better sense in the context, thus it is a more appropriate term. Pāli exegetical literature also supports the replacement of the latter term for PK.