upahāra (3839)

upahāra
Entry 3839, Page 144, Col. 2

(upahAra, upahAra)
upahāra¦, m. (nt. once; = Skt., Pali, Pkt. id.), fun- damentally gift, (loving) present, in BHS as elsewhere; e.g. (with change of gender) Av i.378.2 (prose) sarvopa- hārāṇi copaḍhaukitāni.In a Mv passage beginning i.177.13 used repeatedly in a somewhat peculiar way which misled Senart, who in two notes (i.518 f., 523 f.) offers three different interpretations, all wrong (the passage cited 519 from SP contains a false reading; the SP ed. 476.5--6 does not contain the word cited by Senart, not even as a v.l.). In this Mv passage, the word applies to various acts by which the Buddha miraculously intervenes to save some- one from an intended grievous sin or to convert him from a dangerously false heresy. It should be rendered by some- thing like (kindly or compassionate) favor, gift, beneficial service: Mv i.177.13--15 introduces the detailed stories of specific acts called upahāra thus: paropahārāṃś ca… upaharanti (they present beneficial favors to others) samyak- saṃbuddhāḥ sattvānām anugrahārthaṃ. tad yathā, kaliṅgarājñaḥ kusumāye devyā paropahāraṃ bhagavāṃ vṛttavāṃ, dhruvasya śreṣṭhino vacanopahāraṃ (a benefit by spoken words) bhagavāṃ vṛttavāṃ; the cpd. paropa° also 178.5; 180.12; vacanopa° also 178.2. Other occur- rences: 178.7--8 (vs) etāṃ sarvāṃ pravakṣyāmi upahārāṃ manoramāṃ, tasya sattvapradhānasya śṛṇu vikrīḍitaṃ śubhaṃ; 184.(17--)18 (vs) (koṭīyo dvādaśa muniḥ) mānu- ṣāṇāṃ vinayati, upahāro ayaṃ iti; 185.3 upahāro vidhā- tavyo (to prevent Dhruva from burning his parents); 188.(10--)11 (vs) (yat tasya parikarma tat…) tam āhur upahāro ti; 192.(10--)11 (vs) (ye tatra nirmitā bhiksūḥ na caite bhikṣuṇo matā,) upahāraṃ vadanty etaṃ jinā śāstraviśāradāḥ.