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ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpattiyāpi
ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpatti
feminine nominative singular (in ablative ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpattiyā + enclitic api)
- attainment of the dimension of nothingness; attainment of the sphere of emptiness
Built from
- ā — prefix · toward, complete
Reversal of motion; here the mind draws up to and enters the state completely. Cognate Sanskrit ā.
- kiñcana — root · something, anything
From ki- (interrogative pronoun, what?) + ñc- (suffix). The meaning 'thing' is concrete; negated it means absence of object.
- ññā — ending · state of, -ness
Abstract noun suffix deriving nominal qualities from roots. Here it abstracts 'non-thingness' into a philosophical category.
- āyatana — stem · base, dimension, sphere
Ā + √i (stretch) + tan (extend); literally 'what is stretched out as a base'. Cognate Sanskrit āyana 'path, way'.
- sam — prefix · together, complete
Brings things into unified collectedness. Cognates English 'same', Greek homo-, Latin similis. Here the mind is brought wholly into one state.
- ā — prefix · toward, up to
Second occurrence; reverses √pad. The mind steps up to and into the absorption completely.
- pad — root · fall, step, reach
Sanskrit √pad (foot, path). The absorption is the 'stepping into' or 'falling into' a mental state.
- tti — ending · abstract noun feminine
Feminine nominative singular of -patti (attainment, absorption). Marks the result of the action: 'the reaching (into the state)'.
- yā — ending · ablative singular
Feminine singular ablative case: 'from, out of, by means of'. Here: 'even from the attainment of the sphere of nothingness'.
- pi — ending · even, also (enclitic)
Enclitic particle emphasizing or adding inclusively. Sandhi note: yā + api → yāpi.
Analysis. A compound in ablative form with enclitic api 'even'. ākiñcaññāyatana (the fourth immaterial sphere in Buddhist meditation, literally 'the dimension/base of non-thing-ness') + samāpatti (attainment, absorption). Sandhi: ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpattiyā (feminine ablative singular) + api → ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpattiyāpi. The core doctrine: among the four formless (arūpa) absorptions, the base of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana) is the third highest; entering it (ākiñcaññāyatanasamāpatti) marks the threshold of the most subtle mental attainment in the path.
Etymology. ā- (toward, reversal) + kiñcana (something, anything: ki- interrogative + ñc- suffix) + -ña (abstract noun suffix 'state of') + āyatana (base, dimension, sphere: ā + i + tan 'to stretch, extend'; cognates Sanskrit āyana 'path', English 'extend') + samāpatti (sam- 'together' + ā 'up to' + √pad 'fall, step'; the mind falling into the absorption completely). Kiñcana means 'any thing, something'; negated by a-, it yields 'non-thingness'. The prefix sam- in samāpatti shows the collapse into a single unified state; ā- intensifies arrival.