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tathāgatena

tathāgata

masc instr sg of tathāgata (noun)

1. Such Become; realized; being in such a state; arrived at the truth; epithet of the Buddha

Built from

• tathā — stem · thus, in that manner
  Correlative adverb from ta- + thā; specifies that the Buddha has gone in the manner all Buddhas go.
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Reverses the motion of √gam: instead of 'going away', the sense becomes 'coming, arriving toward the speaker'.
• gata — root · gone, gone to
  Past participle of √gam 'go, come'; from PIE *gwem-. Cognate: English 'come'.
• -ena — ending · instrumental singular
  Marks the instrumental case in singular masculine, expressing the agent or instrument ('by the Buddha', 'with the Buddha').

Analysis. tathā + āgata: tathā 'thus' (correlative adverb, from ta-thā 'in that manner') + āgata 'gone' (past participle of ā-√gam 'come, arrive'). The compound expresses the Buddha's designation as one who has reached enlightenment by the path that all Buddhas follow.

Etymology. ā- (toward, reversed direction) + √gam (come, go); Sanskrit tathāgata. The prefix ā- reverses the sense of gam from 'go away' to 'come, arrive'. Tathā ('thus') picks up the formulaic notion that each Buddha follows the same ancient path. Cognate: English 'come' (from Proto-Germanic *kum-).

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

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