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sakkāyo

sakka

fem nom pl of sakka (ptp); fem acc pl of sakka (ptp); fem voc pl of sakka (ptp); masc nom sg of sakkāya (noun)

1. sakka (ptp): able; capable; proficient; lit. to be able
2. sakkāya (masc): sense of self; individual identity; personal existence; (view that) one is the owner of the body and mind; lit. existing body

Built from

• sakka — root · able, capable
  From √sak 'to be strong, be able'; the imagery is of power and capacity. Cognate with Sanskrit śak- and English sake (original sense: ability, purpose).
• āya — ending · nominalizing suffix
  A possessive or abstracting suffix (also seen in āyu 'life span'); converts the adjective sakka into an abstract noun expressing the quality or state of being capable—here, reified as an entity one mistakenly owns.

Analysis. sakka (able, capable) + āya (possessive suffix or nominalizing ending); compound expressing 'that which is capable' or 'capacity for existence', crystallized into the technical term for the illusion of a permanent, ownable self.

Etymology. √sak 'to be strong, able' (cognate with Sanskrit śak-, English sake in the sense of purpose or ability) + āya, a nominalizing suffix (related to āyu 'life span'). The doctrine term sakkāya-diṭṭhi 'the view of self' targets the illusion that the body-and-mind is a unitary, autonomous agent — the first of the three fetters broken at stream-entry.

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

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