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ākiñcaññāyatanūpapattiyāti

ākiñcaññāyatanūpapatti

feminine noun, instrumental/locative form with iti (quotative particle)

1. rebirth into dimension of nothingness; reappearance in the sphere of emptiness

Built from

• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Reverses or redirects the sense of the following root; here part of āyatana, extending the spatial sense of dimension.
• kiñcañña — stem · nothingness, something not
  From a-kiñca (a- 'not' + kiñca 'anything'); the abstract -ñña suffix turns negation into a noun meaning emptiness or absence.
• āyatana — stem · sphere, dimension, extension
  ā + yat 'stretch': the concrete image of stretching or reaching defines a field or realm of experience.
• upa — prefix · up close to, near, approach
  Prefix to patti; emphasizes the approach or entry into a state.
• patti — stem · attainment, rebirth, occurrence
  From pad 'obtain, reach'; the concrete sense of touching or arriving grounds the abstract notion of rebirth.
• ī — ending · feminine instrumental/locative
  Marks the noun as feminine and inflects it for the oblique case governing 'in' or 'by means of' the rebirth state.

Analysis. ā + kiñcaññā + āyatana + upapatti, iti — a compound designating rebirth into one of the four formless spheres (arūpaloka), specifically the sphere where consciousness alights on 'nothingness' itself as its object. The instrumental ākiñcaññāyatanūpapattiyā governs a preceding verb of becoming or passing, and iti marks the quoted or cited state.

Etymology. ākiñcaññā is a-kiñcañña, 'not-something' (negation a- + kiñca 'anything' + abstract suffix -ñña); āyatana is ā + yatana, 'extension, dimension' (from ā 'toward' + yam 'stretch', related to English yoke, Sanskrit yoga); upapatti is upa- + patti, 'reappearance, rebirth' (upa 'close, near' + pad 'obtain', cognate with Latin petere 'seek'). Together the compound names the attainment of rebirth in the realm where the meditator's object of focus is emptiness itself—a classical Buddhist cosmological term appearing throughout the Nikāyas.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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