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About JC Ball
Expertise
A long-time lay practitioner and student of Buddhism who has lived and studied in all of the three major traditions/schools as a lay monastic (Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan/Vajrayana) practicing alongside Bhikku's and studying under Monks such as Ajahn Sumedho and H.E Lopon Tenzin Jigme Rinpoche III. I am happy to receive any question you have on the vast topic of Buddhism and will endeavor to give you a clear and honest answer.

Experience
I am a long-time lay practitioner and student of Buddhism for over 14 years. I have lived as a lay monastic in many monasteries around the world studying and practicing alongside the Sangha.

Organizations
Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK (Theravada, Thai Forest Tradition), Know Buddhism Organization (http://www.knowbuddhism.info)

Education/Credentials
Director of the 'Know Buddhism' Organization (http://www.knowbuddhism.info)

 
   

You are here:  Experts > Homework Help > Buddhism > Buddhists > Sanskrit - Question

Buddhists - Sanskrit - Question


Expert: JC Ball - 7/23/2009

Question
QUESTION: Which is the correct way of writing the words below?

anicca dukkha anatta
I have attached an image.
There is an extra vertical line at the end of the words in the second set of the words. Which is correct? The first or the second ones?
IMAGE: Trans

ANSWER: Dear Ken,
It doesn't seem to be Sanskrit. The word after the forward slash seems to have a 'long a' at the end.

Thus:

anicca/aniccaa
dukkha/dukkhaa
anatta/anattaa


Hope this helps
Shozen
http://www.knowbuddhism.info

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: These are written in Pali language which is the prakrita form of Sanskrit written in Devanagari script [The Script of City of Gods]. My question is which way of writing the words is correct? The words with short 'a' sound or the long 'a' i.e. aa sound at the end?

Answer
Dear Ken,

I had to ask a friend whom is a fully ordained monk (Huifeng) to help me with this. here is what he said:

"Depends.

Most of them are used as adjectives, so their endings (declensions) have to match the noun(s) that they qualify.

eg.
sabba-sankharaa aniccaa
but,
saddha-dhamma anicca

Sentences have more of a meaning than words alone. smile.gif

In that sense, they are "impermanent", "dissatisfactory", and "not self".
But for the abstract forms, ie. "impermanence", "dissatisfactoriness", and "not self-ness", then something like a "-taa" suffix is required."

Shozen

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