akṣaṇa (57)

akṣaṇa
Entry 57, Page 2, Col. 2

(akzaRa, akzaRa)
akṣaṇa¦, m. or nt. (= Pali akkhaṇa), inopportune birth, birth under such circumstances that one cannot learn from a Buddha. There are eight such in Pali, DN iii.287.12 ff.; AN iv. 225.19 ff. (9 in DN iii.263.31 ff.), viz.: (at a time when a Buddha is living) one is born (1) in a hell, (2) as an animal, (3) as a preta, (4) as one of the ‘long-lived gods’, (5) in border countries or barbarian regions, (6) with perverted, heretical mentality, (7) dull, stupid, incapable of distinguishing the gospel from what is inconsistent with it; or (8) he is born capable of profiting from the gospel but at a time when no Buddha exists to teach it. (DN iii.263 ff. adds as 9th, after No. 3, birth as an asura.) These same 8, transposing 6 and 7, are briefly listed Mvy 2299--2306: (1) narakāḥ, (2) tiryañcaḥ, (3) pretāḥ, (4) dīrghāyuṣo devāḥ, (5) pratyantajanapadam, (6) indriyavai- kalyam, (7) mithyādarśanam, (8) tathāgatānām anutpādaḥ. In Dharmas 134 No. 5 is put before 4, otherwise 1--7 as in Mvy, but 8 (obviously by a secondary change) is wholly different: (1) narakopapattis, (2) tiryagupapattir, (3) yamalokopapattiḥ, (4) pratyantajanapadopapattir, (5) dīrghāyuṣadevopapattir, (6) indriyavikalatā, (7) mithyā- dṛṣṭiś, (8) cittotpādavirāgitatā (seems to be a different version of 6, which corresponds to Pali 7, while 8 of the others is omitted). As opposed to these there is only one kṣaṇa, opportune birth; see s.v. Eight akṣaṇa Mv ii.363.3; LV 412.14; Śikṣ 2.4; 114.14; Gv 116.16; Suv 41.13. The word never means misfortune in general, but only un- favorable birth, and in most cases clearly in just the sense described above. So Śikṣ 147.14 akṣaṇagatiṃ na gacchaty anyatra sattvaparipākāt, (a Bodhisattva) is not born in an inopportune birth, except to mature creatures (the transl. misunderstands); LV 278.22 akṣaṇāni pithitāny abhūvan, and 279.19 akṣaṇāḥ pithitāḥ, are explained by Gv 112.19 sarvākṣaṇadvārakapāṭāni pithayiṣyati (or with text [Page003-a+ 71] pithapayiṣ°, see Chap. 43, s.v.) he will close the door-panels (opening into) all the inopportune births. The akṣaṇa are śodhita, purified, LV 53.6; 357.5, or made śūnya, empty, LV 358.13. Others: LV 12.3; 34.22; 275.21; 327.13; 364.7; Mv ii.358.5; 371.12; 392.5 = Śikṣ 306.1; Av i.291.12; RP 35.19; Śikṣ 69.5; Sukh 23.9; Gv 54.9 (preta-tiryaṅ- narakākṣaṇe-gatāḥ); cf. Lévi, Sūtrāl. 17.26. On SP 163.8 akṣaṇāḥ saṃvṛtā cf. Senart's note Mv i.405 f.; it is (as Senart says) certainly secondary, the original being aghā(ḥ) aghasaṃvṛtā(ḥ), miseries, surrounded by miseries (in ap- position with lokāntarikā, q.v., sc. narakāḥ or nirayāḥ); akṣaṇāḥ in SP was, in my opinion as in Senart's (if I under- stand him), a noun and a near-synonym of aghā(ḥ), (constituting) unfavorable births, see agha (2). Perhaps akṣaṇasaṃvṛtā(ḥ) was originally read after it(?). In Dbh.g. 7(343).4 read probably akṣaṇāḥ for text akṣalāḥ: sarve ti pāpapatitā 'kṣalāḥ (text) prabhonti.

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