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adhivāsanāpahātabbaāsava

adhivāsanāpahātabbāsava

nominative singular masculine compound adjective (reconstructed from surface form adhivāsanāpahātabbaāsava; likely a corruption or variant of adhivāsanāpahātabba + āsava, meaning 'canker that should be abandoned through endurance')

1. canker to be abandoned through forbearance
2. defilement overcome by patient endurance

Built from

• adhi — prefix · on, bearing down
  Presiding over or bearing down on something; here, the resolute bearing or forbearance that masters defilement.
• vāsanā — stem · endurance, forbearance
  From √vas 'to dwell, abide'; the sense of dwelling with or staying firm in the face of affliction.
• pa — prefix · forth, away
  Marks the forth-stepping, removal, or abandonment of something.
• hātabba — stem · to be abandoned
  From √han 'to strike, destroy'; the -tabba suffix marks obligation or fitness, indicating what ought to be struck down or removed.
• ā — prefix · toward
  Reverses or completes motion; here the inflow of defilement toward the mind.
• sava — root · flow
  √su 'to flow'; āsava lit. 'a flowing toward', the cardinal defilements (ignorance, craving, views, becoming) that flow into and corrupt the mind.

Analysis. adhivāsanā (endurance, forbearance: adhi- 'bearing down on' + √vas 'dwell') + pahātabba (that should be abandoned: pa- 'forth' + √hata 'struck' + -tabba suffix of obligation) + āsava (canker, mental defilement, lit. 'flowing toward': ā- 'toward' + √su 'flow').

Etymology. A doctrinal compound analyzing āsava (the four cankers: kāmāsava, bhavāsava, diṭṭhāsava, avijjāsava) as something overcome through adhivāsanā (patient endurance, forbearance), a key quality in the path. Āsava derives from ā- + √su 'to flow', the image being mental taints that flow toward and into the mind.

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

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