Reply To: Anattā meanings

#52522
cubibobi
Participant

@pathfinder
“Also, I haven’t been able to find ‘anatta’ (without long ā) as a standalone word in any sutta, so I don’t think that word exists, …”

 

This may have to do with Pali grammar, where “anatta” changes form depending on the words that appear with it, such as the case or number of the noun it goes with. For example, “Sabbe dhammā (plural) anattā“. This general rule applies to other words like anicca and dukkha as well, as in:

Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā” ti, yadā paññāya passati; Atha nibbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiyā.”

Sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā” ti, yadā paññāya passati; Atha nibbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiyā.”

Sabbe dhammā anattā” ti, yadā paññāya passati; Atha nibbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiyā.”

 

In general, I notice that the “-a” words rarely appear in their original form; it must be a very rarely-used case. Take “dhamma” for example; a Pali textbook describes “dhamma” as the vocative case. Other cases, such as accusative or locative, must be more common, thus we see more of: dhammam, dhammo, dhammesu, etc.

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