Learn Pali Language

The Satipatthāna Sutta can be found in two forms: Majjhima Nikaya 10 (MN 10), & Digha Nikaya 22 (DN 22) There are also, I believe, versions in the Chinese āgama: Madhyama Āgama No. 26 & Ekottarika Āgama 12.1 The term satipaṭṭhāna is a compound of sati, (mindfulness) and either paṭṭhāna, (foundation) or upaṭṭhāna, (presence). The compound term could thus be interpreted as sati-paṭṭhāna ("foundation of mindfulness" : preferred by Buddhaghosa's commentary) or sati-upaṭṭhāna, "presence of mindfulness". According to Anālayo, "presence of mindfulness," is a more etymologically correct (cf. smṛty-upasthāna in BHS). Upaṭṭhāna is derived from the verb upaṭṭhāti (itself a variant of upatiṭṭhati), and literally means standing near, and by extension, attending on, serving. The word sati is a feminine action noun derived from the past participle of sarati the basic meaning of which is to remember. It is cognate with Vedic smṛti：memory, recogn...

In this post we'll look at how both nouns and verbs can be formed into adjectives by use of suffixes. (And though a little off subject, how they can be formed for other uses...). It follows on from the post on  participles in Pali . What is an adjective? It's probably worth pointing out, in these posts I've been happily talking about word classes - nouns, verb, adjectives etc - without really defining what I mean. Linguists have categorised words as belonging to certain groups. And we are told that a noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea; a verb is an action or state; while an adjective is a description word that tells us more about a noun. The question arises 'how do we know?' Some words appear to belong to two or more categories: cold : 'I have a cold' (noun) or 'it is a cold night' (adj) smile : 'the monk smiled' (verb) or 'I like your smile' (noun)