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kāyānupassanāiriyāpathapabba
nt (compound)
- body contemplation, section on postures
Built from
- kāya — root · body
From PIE *keh₂- 'to lie, recline'. Concrete imagery: the body as the physical form that lies in space. Cognates: Latin caedō 'lie down', Greek kenē 'cavity, tomb'.
- anu — prefix · along, following
Trailing behind, tracing along a path. Here: contemplation that follows after and tracks the body's states.
- pass — root · see, perceive
The act of witnessing or observing. Fundamental to meditation practice (vipassanā, 'seeing apart').
- anā — ending · abstract noun
Nominalizing suffix forming feminine abstract nouns. Here: anupassanā 'the practice/state of contemplating'.
- iriyati — root · move, conduct oneself, deport
Physical movement and comportment. The body's way of being and acting in space.
- patha — root · path, way, mode
From PIE *pent- 'to go, tread'. Cognates: English path, Sanskrit patha. Here: 'the way of movement', i.e., postures.
- pabba — root · section, chapter
From Sanskrit prabandha 'chapter, division of a text'. Marks the discourse section heading in canonical structure.
Analysis. kāya-anupassanā-iriyāpatha-pabba: 'body' + 'contemplation' + 'posture/deportment' + 'section'. A compound title from the Satipaṭṭhānasuttanta designating the subsection of the body-mindfulness discourse that treats the four postures (walking, standing, sitting, lying down) as objects of meditation.
Etymology. kāya (body) from PIE *keh₂- 'to lie down' (Latin caedō, Greek kenē 'empty space, tomb'); anupassanā from anu- 'along, following' + passanā 'seeing' (√pass 'see', related to English pass and Latin passus 'step'); iriyāpatha from iriyati 'move, conduct oneself' + patha 'path, way' (√path, related to English path, Sanskrit patha); pabba from Sanskrit prabandha 'section, chapter'.