'nāma' in nāmamahāyānasūtra

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Caoimhghín
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'nāma' in nāmamahāyānasūtra

Post by Caoimhghín »

A lot of Mahāyāna sūtrāṇi have short names (e.g. Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtram), and also longer names (e.g. something "like" Āryasaddharmapuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtram). The "ārya" prefix makes sense, but what of the "nāma" infix?

I presume this means something like "named". So Āryasaddharmapuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtram would be something like "The Noble Sublime Dharma's White Lotus Named Great Vehicle Scripture". But nāma doesn't look like any sort of past tense I have ever seen.

Is the usage of "nāma" as an infix here related to the usage of "gāmi" as an infix in constructions like asaṁskṛtagāmimārgaḥ (Pāli: asaṅkhatagāmimaggo)?
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Wayfarer
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Re: 'nāma' in nāmamahāyānasūtra

Post by Wayfarer »

At a guess, I think ‘nama’ has an esoteric dimension, as for example in the invocation ‘namo tassa bhagavato...’ which every Buddhist recites. So it is more like an invocation than a grammatical signifier - like ‘the holy name’, the recitation or saying of which itself conveys blessings or causes one to remember or realise the truth of the teaching.
'Only practice with no gaining idea' ~ Suzuki Roshi
Temicco
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Re: 'nāma' in nāmamahāyānasūtra

Post by Temicco »

Coëmgenu wrote: Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:12 pm A lot of Mahāyāna sūtrāṇi have short names (e.g. Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtram), and also longer names (e.g. something "like" Āryasaddharmapuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtram). The "ārya" prefix makes sense, but what of the "nāma" infix?

I presume this means something like "named". So Āryasaddharmapuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtram would be something like "The Noble Sublime Dharma's White Lotus Named Great Vehicle Scripture". But nāma doesn't look like any sort of past tense I have ever seen.

Is the usage of "nāma" as an infix here related to the usage of "gāmi" as an infix in constructions like asaṁskṛtagāmimārgaḥ (Pāli: asaṅkhatagāmimaggo)?
It's just a typical bahuvrihi/exocentric compound.

e.g. daza-grIva="ten necks" (as a plain karmadharaya) OR "ten-necked one" (as a bahuvrihi)

XYZ-nAma="name of XYZ" OR "one who has the name of XYZ"
"Deliberate upon that which does not deliberate."
-Yaoshan Weiyan (tr. chintokkong)

若覓真不動。動上有不動。
"Search for what it really is to be unmoving in what does not move amid movement."
-Huineng (tr. Mark Crosbie)

ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན། །
འཁོར་བ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན། །
བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། །
འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན། །
Temicco
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Re: 'nāma' in nāmamahāyānasūtra

Post by Temicco »

Wayfarer wrote: Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:49 am At a guess, I think ‘nama’ has an esoteric dimension, as for example in the invocation ‘namo tassa bhagavato...’ which every Buddhist recites. So it is more like an invocation than a grammatical signifier - like ‘the holy name’, the recitation or saying of which itself conveys blessings or causes one to remember or realise the truth of the teaching.
these are different words. nAman ("name") vs. namas ("bowing")
"Deliberate upon that which does not deliberate."
-Yaoshan Weiyan (tr. chintokkong)

若覓真不動。動上有不動。
"Search for what it really is to be unmoving in what does not move amid movement."
-Huineng (tr. Mark Crosbie)

ཚེ་འདི་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ཆོས་པ་མིན། །
འཁོར་བ་ལ་ཞེན་ན་ངེས་འབྱུང་མིན། །
བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། །
འཛིན་པ་བྱུང་ན་ལྟ་བ་མིན། །
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