Osservazioni sull’esposizione della creazione del corpo fatto di mente (manomaya-kāya) all’interno del Sāmaññaphala-sutta

Abstract

This article will analyse in detail some features of a passage which describes the creation of a mind-made body (manomaya-kāya) within the Sāmaññaphala-sutta. The study starts from the translation of the term ‘manomaya’, which could have more than one grammatical interpretation. The point at issue is that both the commentarial tradition and a scholar who discussed this problem (Sue Hamilton) understand the compound with the first term (mano/manas) inflected in the instrumental case. I will argue that an interpretation, according to the genitive case, cannot be completely disregarded. Subsequently, the translation of a couple of terms (muñja and isīkā) will be discussed, having a look to modern translation, to the Buddhist world view, and to the use of these terms within some Vedic texts. Finally, an odd wording of a passage will be analysed, and the comparison with the use of the same passage in a later exegetic text will highlight the conservative feature of the tradition of Pāli texts.