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cakkhusamphassapaccayā
ind. (ablative singular feminine of a tatpuruṣa compound used as indeclinable)
- dependent on contact with the eye; due to a visual impression; because of a visual experience; lit. from condition of eye contact
Built from
- cakkhu — root · eye
From PIE *okw-. Related to Latin oculus, Greek ōps, English eye. The visual faculty, first of the six sense-doors.
- sam — prefix · together
Brings things into one; here, eye and object unified in sensory contact. Works like Latin con-.
- phassa — stem · contact, touching
From √spaś "touch, perceive". The collision or meeting of sense faculty, object, and consciousness—the immediate ground of experience.
- paṭi — prefix · back, against, condition
Reverses motion; what leans back into or supports arising. The concrete sense of counter-force becomes the causal "prop" of dependent origination.
- aya — stem · condition, cause
From √i "go". Originally "that which goes back into" the process; the proximate condition sustaining the next link in the chain.
- ā — ending · ablative singular
Marks the source or instrumental cause: "from the condition of eye-contact", the reason why the next link arises.
Analysis. cakkhu (eye) + samphassa (contact) + paccaya (condition, cause) + ā (ablative marker). The compound expresses conditionality in dependent origination: visual contact (samphassa) involving the eye (cakkhu) serves as the proximate condition (paccaya) for consciousness and feeling. A key link in the causal chain of paṭiccasamuppāda.
Etymology. cakkhu: from PIE *okw- "eye" (Latin oculus, Greek ōps, English eye); samphassa: sam- (together) + phassa (contact, from √spaś "touch"); paccaya: paṭi- (back, against, counter) + aya (from √i "go"), originally "that which goes back against", hence "condition" or "proximate cause" in the sense of what supports or leans back into arising.