Odd transliterations/terms in the Ekottarāgama

[Caoimhghín]

EA 51.8 has two terms in it, (尊者)耶輸提族 and 婆伽梨, which correspond to two kinds of person, one of whom "knows bliss" and one who "knows pain" (一者知樂，二者知苦). Does anyone have any idea what these two terms might mean? At least one of them looks like a transliteration of a Prakrit word, but what word I would not know.

[PeterC]

Do you have context? Are they types of people or referents of actual figures? 伽梨 is used as a transliteration of Kali, which would make sense in conjunction with 婆. Then 耶輸 transliterates Yaso usually, and 提族 transliterates -tisha as in Atisha.

[Caoimhghín]

I could only find correspondences to one term in tantric texts, similar I think to the correspondence you found, translated far after this Mahāsāṁghika Ekottarāgama. For instance, we can see 耶輸提 used for "yaśuddhe" in tantric texts. I also found "pāpakārin" for 婆伽梨, but neither of those are correct IMO.

Trying to string the characters in 尊者耶輸提族, I get a name something like "Arhat Yaśuddhe(gotra)," but once again I must stress that that is wrong because there is no such person.

Here is my failed attempt to understand the text:

長者報曰：「我不悲感。所以然者，我昔日來數承事佛，亦復尊敬諸長老比丘，亦不聞如斯 尊重之法，如舍利弗之所演說。」
Anāthapiṇḍaka replied: "I do not feel sadness. The reason is this: I have come before the Buddha many times in the past, so too have I revered all of the Sthaviras, but never have I heard such a solemn Dharma like in Śāriputra's speech to me."

是時，阿難語阿那邠祁曰：「長者當知，世間有二種之人，如來之所說。
Then, Ānanda spoke to Anāthapiṇḍaka, saying: "Householder, you should know that there are two kinds of person, as the Tathāgata has said.

云何為二？一者知樂，二者知苦。
What are the two? The first knows pleasure, and the second knows pain.

彼習樂之人，所謂尊者耶輸提族姓子是。
That person who habituates to pleasures is called a child of *Arhat Yaśuddhegotra.

彼習苦之人，婆伽梨比丘是。
That person who habituates to pain is called a *pāpakārin bhikṣu.

There are a lot of issues here. It's not a finished or polished translation effort. "Habituates" (習) I am particularly not confident in. It's basically just me guessing at this point.

The context is that these words are spoken by Venerable Ānanda to comfort Anāthapiṇḍika as he reaches the end of his life. This section is not substantiated in any direct parallel, as the Mahāsāṁghikas are the only source that believes that Ven Ānanda was there at all. All the other parallels are given by Venerable Śāriputra.

[PeterC]

Interesting. Is the text online anywhere? Why do you translate 习乐/习苦 as habituating rather than practising?

[Caoimhghín]

I was reading it more like "become used to" or "become accustomed to" because, though I am unsure what the material text actually says, I have a suspicion that Venerable Ānanda is giving Anāthapiṇḍika difficult advice, perhaps implying that he will experience mostly pain leading up to his death (whereas before he experienced mostly pleasure as a rich man). I'm not married to this suspicion however.

It's EĀ 51.8. I'm on my phone so hyperlinks and Taisho citation will come later.

[jmlee369]

EA 51.8 has two terms in it, (尊者)耶輸提族 and 婆伽梨, which correspond to two kinds of person, one of whom "knows bliss" and one who "knows pain" (一者知樂，二者知苦). Does anyone have any idea what these two terms might mean? At least one of them looks like a transliteration of a Prakrit word, but what word I would not know.

When I read the passage my first thought was that these are proper nouns of two disciples, and I'm pretty confident about 婆伽梨 at least. He is the arhat who committed suicide with a knife. According the EA26.10 account, he attained realisation at the moment of death. In the parallel SA1265 (transliterated as 跋迦黎) and SN (Vakkalisutta) versions, he was already an arhat when he ended his life. Our text here says he attained arhatship on observing the knife.

耶輸提 is a trickier one. 族姓子 I take to mean noble clansman, someone born into noble family. 尊者 would suggest the individual is a elder bhikshu and this is confirmed further along in the passage when it says 耶輸提比丘解空第一. The epithet 解空第一 is best known as referring to Subhuti, so 台大獅子吼佛學專站 suggests that there was an error in transmission and Subhuti ended up as 耶輸提. The reference of clansman would then make sense, as Subhuti was Anathapindika's brother.

The only other occurence of that name seems to be an upasaka, a great general of Vaisali who participated in the cremation of Mahaprajapati who has to be ruled out on account of being a layman.

Our text claims 耶輸提 became an arhat through observing earth, is anyone aware of such an account relating to Subhuti?

[Caoimhghín]

The Pali scriptures claim that Venerable Subhuti achieved awakening through meditation upon loving-kindness. Now, that doesn't mean that the Mahasamghikas didn't have a different story about him.

I should have noticed 解空第一. Alas! It's also possible that the under-attested Mahasamghika tradition associates another disciple with this title, but would be very odd.

[jmlee369]

The Pali scriptures claim that Venerable Subhuti achieved awakening through meditation upon loving-kindness. Now, that doesn't mean that the Mahasamghikas didn't have a different story about him.

I should have noticed 解空第一. Alas! It's also possible that the under-attested Mahasamghika tradition associates another disciple with this title, but would be very odd.

With regard to Subhuti's epithet, the EA seems to be internally consistent. In the chapter on disciples, Subhuti is described as follows:

我聲聞中第一比丘[...] 恒樂空定，分別空義，所謂須菩提比丘是。志在空寂，微妙德業，亦是須菩提比丘。

Btw, do you have a source for the Mahasamghika affiliation of the EA? Last I heard it was still an unsettled question.