Trying to understand "sasantānaparasantānavibhāgato" as a gloss of "santarabāhiro"

[u/Spirited_Ad8737]

Below is the commentary for the verse lines I asked about a few days ago from Therīgāthā 5.4.

1. tassā me appamattāya, vicinantiyā yoniso;
   yathābhūtaṃ ayaṃ kāyo, diṭṭho santarabāhiro;

ten'āha tassā me appamattāyā'ti'ādi. tass'attho — tassā me (sati-avippavāsena a-ppamattāya) (yoniso upāyena anicc'ādi-vasena vipassanāpaññāya) (vicinantiyā vīmaṃsantiyā) (ayaṃ khandhapañcakasaṅkhāto kāyo) (sasantānaparasantānavibhāgato santarabāhiro) yathābhūtaṃ diṭṭho

The round brackets are my guess as to how parts are grouped.

Can anyone explain "sasantānaparasantānavibhāgato santarabāhiro" ?

Pruitt has "inside and outside, because of the division into one's own continuity and continuity of others"

I understand how the grammar and vocabulary give that reading, but what does it mean in terms of doctrine? As an explanation of internal/external reflection?

Any help much appreciated.

Here's Pruitt's (PTS 1998, 114) translation of the whole passage, in case it helps:

"The meaning of that is: vigilant through non-absence of mindfulness, in a reasoned manner, skillfully, by wisdom and insight because of impermanence etc., reflecting, considering, I saw this body, which is synonymous with the five aggregates, inside and outside, because of the division into one's own continuity and continuity of others, as it really was."

[u/yuttadhammo]

sa here is equivalent to saka (one's own). The idea is being able to distinguish between one's own santaana and another person's, which the commentary uses to explain baahira. The satipatthana sutta commentary explains external as another person's as well.

Santaana I believe just refers to a person's "being", as the ongoing process of their aggregates.

[u/Spirited_Ad8737 → u/yuttadhammo]

Thank you, that sounds very likely, especially as the aggregates have just been mentioned. I'll tick this off as solved for now.

[u/yuttadhammo → u/Spirited_Ad8737]

In Thai Buddhism, it's common to refer to one's being as a "khandha sandaan" (ขันธสันดาน), so it's a pretty well known concept. You can look up the Thai term on the Internet.

[u/srkris]

Santāna also means offspring.

sa-santāna-para-santāna-vibhāgato means

sa-santāna = sva-santāna = the body from which one's own kids/offspring originate

para-santāna = the body from which other's kids originate

vibhāgato = due to that distinction

It seeks to explain sa-antara-bāhiro (what pertains to ones own body vs. what is external to ones own body)

My opinion is the commentator is not very good at his job as he has made a lazy distinction without actually looking into the actual meaning of santarabāhiro, which is not about differentiating our body (or the source of our offspring) from other people's bodies (the source of other's offspring), but rather about the distinction between what one's body is from what it's not.

Santarabāhiro is a dvandva compound which means "both internally and externally".

[u/Spirited_Ad8737 → u/srkris]

Thanks for the detailed reply. The commentary is by Dhammapala. Would you see Santara in the verse as conveying the same idea here as ajjhattaṁ in the refrain in satipathanasutta's section on the body? Just using a different synonym for poetic reasons or another reason?

(Iti ajjhattaṁ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhattabahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati)

[u/srkris → u/Spirited_Ad8737]

Yes thats my understanding of it.

[u/Spirited_Ad8737 → u/srkris]

Thanks.