dhūmakālika (7948)

dhūmakālika
Entry 7948, Page 286, Col. 1

(DUmakAlika, DUmakAlika)
dhūmakālika¦ (Pali id., see below; from Pali °kāla, death, destruction, Jāt. iii.422.14, plus -ika), subject to destruction; destroyed, lost: (17--18 tīrthikā…krāyur, so mss. for Senart kreyur, apratimaśāsana-doṣaṃ) dhūmakāli- kam iti śramaṇasya, etad eva ca tu rakṣaṇīyatā (so with most mss.) Mv i.69.19--20 (vs), the heretics may do harm (or, cause enmity) to the matchless doctrine of the Monk (Buddha), saying that (iti) it is perishable (is now going to be destroyed); but this very thing is a state that we must guard against (Senart quite differently, ignoring iti); saṃ- gātavyam imaṃ vācyaṃ mā haiva (text °vaṃ) dhūmakā- likaṃ Mmk 600.10 (vs), this text must be recited in unison, lest it be destroyed (lost); °ka-tā, abstr., (mā haiva prava- canaṃ kṛtsnaṃ…) dhūmakālikatāṃ vrajet Mmk 596.25 (vs), lest the whole Gospel become destroyed (lost). This, I believe, is the mg. of the Pali word too; both the Pali comm. and modern interpreters misunderstand it. In Vin. ii.288.20 (bhavissanti vattāro:) dhūmakālikaṃ samaṇena Gotamena sāvakānaṃ sikkhāpadaṃ paññattaṃ, (if we do not preserve the Gospel, people will say:) a perishable set of religious teachings was taught by the monk G. to his disciples, or in other words, these teachings are perishing, or will perish. In Vin. ii.172.15, the only other passage recorded, dhūmakālikaṃ pi pariyositaṃ vihāraṃ navakam- maṃ denti, or they give as new work (the reparation of) a completed monastery that has proved perishable, that has [Page286-b+ 71] fallen into ruin, or begun to. The adj. dhūmakālika cannot mean, as is supposed, lasting to (the monk's) funeral, for then it would be synonymous with yāvajīvikaṃ, just before it, in line 15; the time expressions vīsativassikaṃ, tiṃsavassikaṃ, yāvajīvikaṃ, lines 14--15, all forbidden, contrast with lines 26--29 where jobs lasting from 5 or 6 to 10 or 12 years are permitted, but only upon an akataṃ or a vippakataṃ vihāraṃ; it is these latter expressions, in line 25, which contrast with the (forbidden) work on a dhūmakālikaṃ pariyositaṃ vihāraṃ. It seems that this derivative of (Pali) dhūmakāla came to be used figuratively in a way fairly remote from its original and literal mg., like English to go up in smoke = to be destroyed, completely lost.