The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c8.17

c8.17

It seems probable that the form *pakṣya* is not related to the word *pakṣa*, which means “wing”. That simile would not be very appropriate, as no bird has thirty-seven wings. We find other similes referring to the two wings of a bird. The Pāli word *bodhipakkhiya* is probably derived from the Sanskrit form, which was the earlier of the two, as this word does not occur often in the *Nikāyas* or the *Milinda-pañha*, though all the factors are mentioned in the *Mahāparinibbāna-sutta* (Dīgha, ii, 120; *Mil.*, pp. 37ff.; *Vibhaṅga*, p. 372). As E. Hardy has pointed out, the collective term *bodhipakṣā dharmāḥ* is found in the *Lalita-vistara* (8.6; 182.11).¹ It also occurs in the *Mtu.* (ii, 290.6). The number “thirty-seven” is first mentioned in the *Sad. Pu.* (458.1). The term emphatically refers to *bodhi* and not to the *nirvāṇa* of the Pāli scriptures. Both the term and the complete formula seem to have originated among the Sanskritists or quasi-Sanskritists, who were the forerunners of the Mahāyāna. The Pāli rendering points to *pakṣya* as the correct Sanskrit form, which is also used in the *Bo. Bhū.* in connection with other words, e.g. *sukha-pakṣya*, etc. (fol. 5a.2, fol. 83b.4). It is derived from the substantive *pakṣa*, which means “a side, party, faction” (Skt. Dicy. M.W. 520b), as in such words as *pakṣapāta*, *pratipakṣa*, etc. Literally it means “belonging to a side” (Skt. Dicy. M.W. 521a). *Pakṣyāḥ* makes both good sense and good grammar. We are therefore justified in accepting this latter form and translating: “Principles which are conducive to Enlightenment.” The Tibetan equivalent renders *pakṣa* or *pakṣya* by *phyogs*, which means “side, party, direction”, and not “wing” (Tib. Dicy. Das, 840a; J. Rahder, Glossary, 134).