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PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

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48Pacific Worldawe upon viewing the deity and also gratefully receives the gracious gaze<strong>of</strong> the deity, was at play during the time reflected in the Påli canon. It islikely that the term in the particular semantic frame here (bhavantamdassanåya upasankam°), and as will be mentioned later in this chapter inthe context <strong>of</strong> pasåda, with reference to Visuddhimagga <strong>of</strong>Buddhaghosåcariya, ed. Henry Clarke Warren, rev. Dharmananda Kosambi(Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. XLI. Cambridge, Massachusetts: HarvardUniversity Press, 1950; hereafter abbreviated as Vism.), VII.61, is not totallywithout some convergence in meaning. Utilizing the activity <strong>of</strong> the sensesin acts <strong>of</strong> devotion—seeing, hearing, smelling, touching—has been long apart <strong>of</strong> Indian religiousness such that keeping darΩana in our translationtends to underscore the depth and quality <strong>of</strong> the activity <strong>of</strong> the eyes inreligious acts. This is hardly an act <strong>of</strong> “looking at” or <strong>of</strong> merely noticing.6. S.III.120. Carter, loc. cit.7. Vakkali is well known in canonical and commentarial literature. His finaldemise is variously recorded, whether in apparent suicide as the Saµyuttanikåyaaccount presents it, or while arising into the air at the instruction <strong>of</strong>the Buddha, according to the commentaries on the <strong>The</strong>ragåtha and theDhammapada. See G. P. Malalasekera, Dictionary <strong>of</strong> Påli Proper Names(London Luzac & Company, Ltd., 1960 [1938]), II.799–800, and F. L.Woodward, <strong>The</strong> Book <strong>of</strong> the Kindred Sayings (London: Luzac & Company,Ltd., 1954 [1925]), III, pp. 103–104, n. 4. Woodward refers to the commentaryon our passage and says that it was at the point <strong>of</strong> dying that Vakkaliwas able to attain release. <strong>The</strong> commentary on the Açguttara-nikåya notesthat Vakkali jumped down from a considerable height but alighted safelyin the presence <strong>of</strong> the Buddha. Vakkali is held as an exemplar <strong>of</strong> a personwho is characterized as being devoted through faith.8. Papañcas¥dan∆ Majjhimanikåya††hakathå <strong>of</strong> Buddhaghosåcariya (partsI–II, ed. J. H. Woods and D. Kosambi, London: Oxford University Press,1922 [part I], 1923 [part II]; parts III–IV, ed. I. B. Horner, 1933 [part III], 1937[part IV]; abbreviated hereafter as MA.), I.22 (on Majjhima-nikåya [vol. I,ed. V. Trenckner, London: Published for the Pali Text Society by Luzac andCo., Ltd., 1964; vols. II–III, ed. Robert Chalmers, London: Luzac & Co., 1960;hereafter abbreviated as M.], I.1) draws a contrast between cakhunådassanam and ñå√ena dassanam and quotes our key passage from S.III.120.<strong>The</strong> ordinary person puts emphasis on the customary activity <strong>of</strong> the eyesand seeks for the physical presence <strong>of</strong> the Buddha, while the person <strong>of</strong>admirable bearing sees with insight. MA’s reference is considering the case<strong>of</strong> an average person (puthujjana). Paramattha-D∆pan∆ Udåna††hakathå(Udåna Commentary) <strong>of</strong> Dhammapålåcariya, ed. F. L. Woodward (London:Published for the Pali Text Society by the Oxford University Press,1926; hereafter abbreviated UdA.), 310–311 (on Udåna, ed. Paul Steinthal[London: Oxford University Press, 1948; hereafter abbreviated as Ud.], 58)

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