Abhinivesa AN7.61

Textual Scholarship
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Greetings, venerables and friends. :slight_smile:

I’m looking for a clarification on abhinivesa as it’s used in AN7.61:

“Take a mendicant who has heard:
“Idha, moggallāna, bhikkhuno sutaṁ hoti:

‘Nothing is worth insisting on.’
‘sabbe dhammā nālaṁ abhinivesāyā’ti;

When a mendicant has heard that
evañcetaṁ, moggallāna, bhikkhuno sutaṁ hoti:

nothing is worth insisting on,
‘sabbe dhammā nālaṁ abhinivesāyā’ti.

Earlier this passage is talking about arguments:

So you should train like this:
Tasmātiha, moggallāna, evaṁ sikkhitabbaṁ:

‘I won’t get into arguments.’
‘na viggāhikakathaṁ kathessāmī’ti.

Abhinivesa, using golden pali dictionary, I would say “settling on/taking up on”, but perhaps that doesn’t convey the argumentative connonations. “Insist” as Ven. Sujato uses here, seems like a good enough substitute.

Ven. Thanissaro offers a radical understanding, which I feel like paraphrases the meaning in a certain way he wants to read with this:

All phenomena are unworthy of attachment.

Both in using phenomena for dhamma (which I don’t think is quite correct here, with the previous example of argumentation) and using attachment, which technically not wrong, doesn’t seem to bring out the full meaning either.

This is another case where I’d rather not translate dhamma to anything else, alas.

I get the feeling of “All dhamma (point/perspective/ideas) is unworthy entering up into.” (settling on, taking up, etc?) which is something like what a literal translation of abhinivesa would imply to my ears.

“Nothing is worth getting into.” another example I can think of. But using Nothing doesn’t ring good to me, as Nothing is defined properly (and sometimes we even rely on nothingness in the suttas).

I would like to be meticulous in translating this passage as close to CT perspective as possible.

Thanks in advance for your time and help. :slight_smile:

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Venerable Bodhi’s note to this sutta:

1549 The following exchange is also at MN 37.2–3, I 251–52, but with Sakka as the inquirer. Mp explains the passage thus: “Nothing (lit., not all things) is worth holding to (sabbe dhammā nālaṃ abhinivesāya): here, ‘all things’ (sabbe dhammā) are the five aggregates, the twelve sense bases, and the eighteen elements. These are not worth holding to by way of craving and views. Why not? Because they do not exist in the way they are held to. They are held to be permanent, pleasurable, and self, but they turn out to be impermanent, suffering, and non-self. Therefore they are not worth holding to. One directly knows them by the full understanding of the known (ñātapariññāya abhijānāti) as impermanent, suffering, and non-self. One fully understands them in the same way by the full understanding of scrutinization (tīraṇapariññāya parijānāti).” The “all things” in my translation from Mp relates to the “nothing” of the sutta, since the Pāli phrase of the sutta is a negation of sabbe dhammā (“ not all things”). On the three kinds of full understanding (pariññā), see Vism 606,18–607,23, Ppn 20.3–6.”

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So I guess “phenomena” is not quite wrong, in that sense.

In this case, “attachment” is an okay-ish translation covering that meaning, but I think still misses the nuance of abhinivesa, which was the meaning of entering into with √ves-. Perhaps “dwelling in” is a good way to supply the nuance.

Thanks a lot for that note!

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Here is Nina van Gorkom’s notes on the various meanings of dhamma.

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I think

  • Literal meaning is “dwell in, reside in”.
  • In other words “adhere to, hold on to, grasp, cling to”.
  • In other Pali words “parāmāsa, gāha”.
  • In simple Pali “upadana”.
  • As Cetasikas “tanha & ditthi”.

Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhayasuttavaṇṇanā:

sabbe dhammā nālaṃ abhinivesāyā ti ettha sabbe dhammā nāma pañcakkhandhā dvādasāyatanāni aṭṭhārasa dhātuyo. Te sabbepi taṇhādiṭṭhivasena abhinivesāya nālaṃ na pariyattā na samatthā na yuttā, kasmā? Gahitākārena atiṭṭhanato. Te hi niccāti gahitāpi aniccāva sampajjanti, sukhāti gahitāpi dukkhāva sampajjanti, attāti gahitāpi anattāva sampajjanti, tasmā nālaṃ abhinivesāya.

Dutiyaavijjāpahānasuttavaṇṇanā:

Aniccādivasena abhinivisanaṃ abhiniveso, so eva dhammasabhāvaṃ atikkamitvā parato āmasanato parāmāso, so eva gāho. Tena abhinivesaparāmāsaggāhena gaṇhituṃ na yuttā aniccādisabhāvattā.

Dictionaries:

PTS:
Abhinivesa [abhi + nivesa, see nivesa2 & cp. nivesana] “settling in”, i. e. wishing for, tendency towards ( – ˚) inclination, adherence; as adj. liking, loving, being given or inclined to; gāha parāmasa +; adherence to;

Abhiniviṭṭha (adj.) [abhi + niviṭṭha, pp. of abhi – nivisati] “settled in”, attached to, clinging on Nd2 152 (gahita parāmaṭṭha a.);

Abhinivisati [abhi + nivisati] to cling to, adhere to, be attached to Nd1 308, 309 (parāmasati +);

CPD:
Abhinivesa abhi-nivesa, m. [sa. abhi-niveça, cf . abhi-nivisa-ti], (á) lit. ‘entirely entering into’, or ‘extending over’, (b) metaph. = tendency, inclination, adherence; confidence,“conviction”;

Abhinivisati abhi-nivisati, pr. 3 sg. [sa. abhi-ni-viçate, √viç], (a) to enter into, settle down; 3 pl.; (b) to devote oneself to, to be disposed to, or attached to, to adhere to (a certain opinion, acc loc. 1);

Abhiniviṭṭha abhi-niviṭṭha, mfn. [sa. abhi-niviṣṭa; pp. of abhi-nivisati (b), q. v.], attached to, clinging to or intent on;

Abhinivuttha abhi-nivuttha, mfn. (pp. of abhi-nivasati, q. v.),
who has lived or dwelt in (loc);

Abhiniveseti (abhi-niveseti?), pr. 3 sg. (denom, of prec), to aspire to, apply oneself to (acc); to affect;

VRI:
Abhiniveso Adhering to; inclination

Abhinivasati abhi-nivasati, pr. 3 sg. [abhi + sa. ni-vasati, √vas], to dwell or sojourn with (acc);

Abhinivisati To settle down; to devote oneself to

Buddhadatta:
Abhinivesa (m.) clinging to; adherence, attachment, establishment, entering into, love, inclination; tendency;

Sumangala:
Abhinivesa m. entering into, entrance, contain in;

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