‹ Back to the text

aparisuddhakāyakammanto

aparisuddhakāyakammanta

masc nom sg of aparisuddhakāyakammanta (adj)

1. who is impure in bodily action; defiled in physical conduct

Built from

• a- — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation, blocking the quality that follows. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)-.
• pari- — prefix · around, completely
  Emphasizes completeness and thoroughness. Cognates: Greek peri- (perimeter).
• suddhakāya — stem · pure body
  Suddhakāya (composed of sudh- 'to purify' and kāya 'body') denotes bodily purity as the object of ethical appraisal.
• kammanta — stem · action, conduct
  From kamma (action, karma) + anta (end, boundary), denoting the domain or scope of action; here used to characterize the nature of conduct.
• -o — ending · nominative singular masculine
  The nominative singular ending -o marks this as a predicate adjective or descriptive designation in direct statement.

Analysis. a-parisuddhakāya-kammanta: a- (not) + parisuddhakāya (completely purified body) + kammanta (action, conduct). The compound denotes one whose bodily conduct is not completely purified; often contrasted with parisuddhakāyakammanta in the canon's ethical classifications.

Etymology. From a- (negation prefix, Sanskrit a-, Greek a(n)-) + parisuddhakāya (from pari- 'all around, completely' + suddhakāya 'pure body'), a negated locution expressing the Buddhist ethical category of impurity in physical action. The root sudh- (Sanskrit śudh-) means 'to purify, cleanse'; related to Latin sudor (sweat, filth washed away) in the concrete sense of making clean.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version