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gocarakusalo

gocarakusala

masc nom sg of gocarakusala (adj)

1. skilled in pastures
2. skilled in meditation subjects; lit. skilled in pastures

Built from

• go — root · cow
  From √go (Latin bōs, English beef, Germanic *gō-); the pastoral world provides metaphors for monastic training.
• cara — stem · going, range
  From √car (move, wander). In compounds, -cara means 'field of activity' or 'pasture'—the ground one traverses in practice.
• kusala — stem · skilled, wholesome
  From √kṛ (do, make); cognate with Sanskrit kuśala. In Buddhist usage, kusala denotes both technical skill and moral wholesomeness—the two senses merge in meditation mastery.

Analysis. gocarakusala = gocara (pasture, range of practice) + kusala (skilled, wholesome). The compound means 'skilled in one's range of practice', used in the canon for mastery of meditation subjects (jhāna, etc.) or virtue. The literal sense 'skilled in pastures' reflects the image of cattle-herds knowing good grazing grounds, transferred to the monk's mastery of his spiritual practice-ground.

Etymology. gocara from go (cow) + cara (going, range; √car 'move'), thus 'place where cows go'. kusala from √kṛ (make, do) via older *kṛsala, related to Sanskrit kuśala 'clever', ultimately from the root meaning 'to accomplish, fit well'. The pairing of pastoral imagery with spiritual practice is characteristic of early Buddhist discourse.

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

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