ATAMMAYATA

　　The Rebirth of a Lost Word

　　The term atammayata cannot be found in the Pali Text Society Dictionary. Readers will find it difficult to discover references to it in scholarly works, whether they come from West or East. The meditation masters of Tibet, Burma, or Zen do not seem to be interested in it. Mention it to most Buddhists and they will not know what you are talking about. Yet there is clear evidence in the Pali Canon that the Buddha gave this word significant meaning. Currently, one of Thailand”s most influential monks is teaching that it is "the highest word in Buddhism, the final word of Buddhism."

　　Atammayata appears in a number of Pali suttas and each context suggests that the term has important meaning. The traditional commentators, however, never caught on. They glossed atammayata in a way that suggested the term was out of their depths: they rendered it as an absence of tanha (craving), absence of ditthi (wrong views), and an absence of mana (conceit). There are many Pali terms glossed in this stock, and therefore virtually meaningless, way. Even so, the commentators recognized atammayata”s importance. Their standard explanation, although vague, describes it as the awakened state of the Arahant, or fully-awakened, perfected being.

　　Further confusion occurs in the Thai version of the Pali Tipitaka, which was originally written in Khmer script. We find three variations in the spelling: agammayata, akammayata, and atammayata. There is no reason to believe that these are different words. The Khmer characters that are here rendered g, k, and t share the basic form of a horseshoe or upside-down "u." They differ as to whether there is a small, large, or missing "head" (circle) attached to the left leg of the horseshoe. Obviously, misspellings have occurred. Transcribing errors would not be surprising. Of the three variations, atammayata is the most common. Further, in the final analysis, it can be deciphered etymologically, consistent with its various contexts.

　　Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, from Suan Mokkhabalarama in southern Siam, first took note of this word about thirty years ago. The contexts in which he found atammayata convinced him that its meaning is important. As with other terms and teachings found in the Tipitaka, he was careful to look further than the orthodox grammarians, pedants, and pundits. He searched for a spiritual meaning on the deepest level possible. In the 1970s, he briefly mentioned atammayata, but felt his listeners were not yet ready for it. Finally, on Magha Puja Day 2531 (March 2, 1988), he brandished his newest Dhamma weapon. It immediately attracted attention.

　　"DON”T MESS WITH ME KNOW MORE!"

　　In his first talk about atammayata, Tan Ajarn Buddhadasa interspersed literal interpretations of the term with the spicy, crude street language "ku mai ao kap mung ik to pai woi," which can be rendered, "I won”t have anything to do with you ever again!" or "I ain”t gonna mess with you no more!" These are words used by drunks, rowdies, and angry merchants, rather than highly respected religious. The pronouns ku and mung are considered to be low-class and coarse, although they were once proper and polite. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has repeatedly used ku to point at the egoistic mind (the self-concept and selfishness) and its baseness. Nonetheless, his unique approach to atammayata raised a bit of a stir. The term was no longer ignored and forgotten. People who thought Buddhadasa Bhikkhu had grown too old, eighty-two at the time, recalled previous surprises and controversies.

　　We can only speculate as to why atammayata (or its misspellings) was left out of the Pali Text Society Dictionary. Surely not because it is impossible to decipher. A literal analysis gives us: a (not), tam (that), maya (to make, create, …

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