bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

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Caoimhghín
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by Caoimhghín »

DGA wrote: Fri Sep 27, 2013 12:56 pm
dzogchungpa wrote:The Tibetans transliterate Sanskrit, much as we do using the Latin alphabet, using their alphabet and some special characters and diacritic type markings.
Obviously. Which means that there's no debate whether there should be one or two Ts, the debate is over the usage of Tibetan orthography.
sukhamanveti wrote:I think Duff's point must be that Tibetans tend to read the second half of the word as satva ("warrior") instead of sattva ("being"). This is true.
This makes a great deal of sense: it's not a mere orthographic distinction but a completely different word.
It's actually a quirk of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

"āryya", with a geminated " y", for "ārya" is another frequent one, like in "āryyāvalokiteśvaro".

Check this out: https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... 25_-_Draft
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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dzogchungpa
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by dzogchungpa »

dzogchungpa wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:16 pm I happen to have in front of me "From Turfan to Ajanta : festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the occasion of his eightieth birthday" which contains the paper "How to justify the spelling of the Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit term Bodhisatva?" by Gouriswar Bhattacharya. Apparently it was spelled 'bodhisatva' in many Buddhist texts and inscriptions, but in many modern editions of texts and studies this has been "corrected" or whatever.

BTW, this paper is now available online here.
There is not only nothingness because there is always, and always can manifest. - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

In note #2 from the new 84,000 translation of Miraculous Play of Manjushri they write:
We prefer to follow the mainstream Buddhist Sanskrit usage of manuscripts and
inscriptions by spelling bodhisatva with a single rather than a double t, the latter
being a convention of modern editors. See Bhattacharya (2010). Note that this is
also the spelling used in Gāndhārī, as well as in Khotanese, in Tibetan
lexicography, and in old Thai documents.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Caoimhghín
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by Caoimhghín »

The Prākrit phonetic reduction of "satta" has multiple Sanskrit correspondences, and likely more than one of them was meant at the time that these languages were first used IMO. Various Prākrits' excessive homophones makes for easy punning, linguistic puns being a feature of very old prajñāpāramitā literature. I can post an example in a bit.

Sattva = being
Satva = warrior
Śakta = seeker

All three of these are synonyms in many, many, Prākrit languages, but are pronounced differently in Sanskrit.
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)
tingdzin
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by tingdzin »

Actually, a lot of Sanskritists have picked up a Brahamanical arrogance along with the language, and "correct" things according to their presuppositions fairly often. Caveat emptor.
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Caoimhghín
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Re: bodhisattva vs bodhisatva

Post by Caoimhghín »

Caoimhghín wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:39 pm Sattva = being
Satva = warrior
Śakta = seeker
Apparently there's more to this. The sense of 'satva' as 'warrior' is apparently in the sense of 'satvan.' I don't really know how this -n changes things.

There is also satva in the sense of truth, reality, or essence, from which the sense 'sattva' with the gemination is derived.
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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