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viññāṇasamudayaṁ
viññāṇasamudaya
accusative singular of viññāṇasamudaya (masculine noun, a dependent compound)
- the arising of consciousness
- the origin/source of consciousness
- (canonical) the second link of dependent origination
Built from
- vi — prefix · apart, asunder
Clarity and distinctness through separation; here marks consciousness as discriminative awareness distinct from mere form.
- jñā — root · know, perceive
The root of knowing and cognition; consciousness fundamentally distinguishes and recognizes objects.
- ṇa — ending · nominalizing suffix
Forms an abstract noun (masculine) from the root; viññāṇa is the state or faculty of knowing-apart.
- sam — prefix · together, completely
Things brought into one; marks the convergence and integration of conditions into a unified arising.
- ud — prefix · up, out, upward
Upward motion and emergence; the springing forth of a phenomenon into manifestation.
- i — root · go, come
Motion and process; combined with ud, the sense of arising, emergence, and occurrence.
- a — ending · nominalizing suffix
Forms an abstract noun (masculine); samudaya is the process or fact of arising.
Analysis. viññāṇa (consciousness) + samudaya (arising, origin); the compound denotes consciousness as a phenomenon arising in dependence on conditions. In the doctrine of paṭiccasamuppāda, viññāṇasamudaya is the second member: consciousness arises dependent on mental and physical formations (saṅkhāra).
Etymology. viññāṇa: vi + √jñā, 'knowing apart, discriminating' (cf. Sanskrit vijñāna, Greek gnosis); samudaya: sam + ud + √i, 'rising together, convergence' (ud- as in English 'up', sam- as in English 'same'). The term expresses the doctrine that consciousness is not a substance but an emergent process arising from conditions.