[Verger99]

dear Theravada forum & Dhamma friends

i have just discovered this sutta:

Have no fear, Mahanama! Have no fear! Your death will not be a bad one, your demise will not be bad. If one's mind has long been nurtured with conviction, nurtured with virtue, nurtured with learning, nurtured with relinquishment, nurtured with discernment, then when the body — endowed with form, composed of the four primary elements, born from mother & father, nourished with rice & porridge, subject to inconstancy, rubbing, pressing, dissolution & dispersion — is eaten by crows, vultures, hawks, dogs, hyenas, or all sorts of creatures, nevertheless the mind — long nurtured with conviction, nurtured with virtue, learning, relinquishment & discernment — rises upward and separates out (uddhagāmi hoti visesagāmi).

Suppose a man were to throw a jar of ghee or a jar of oil into a deep lake of water, where it would break. There the shards & jar-fragments would go down, while the ghee or oil would rise upward and separate out. In the same way, if one's mind has long been nurtured with conviction, nurtured with virtue, nurtured with learning, nurtured with relinquishment, nurtured with discernment, then when the body... is eaten by crows, vultures, hawks, dogs, hyenas, or all sorts of creatures, nevertheless the mind... rises upward and separates out.

Have no fear, Mahanama! Have no fear! Your death will not be a bad one, your demise will not be bad.

Mahanama Sutta

˚Gāmin (adj.) [from gacchati, gam] f. ˚iṇī, in composition ˚gāmi˚. -- (a) going, walking, lit.: sīgha˚ walking quickly Sn 381; -- (b) leading to, making for, usually with magga or paṭipadā (gāminī), either lit. Pāṭaliputtagāmi -- magga the road to P

Uddhaŋ (& Uddha˚) (indecl.) [nt. of adj. *uddha = Sk. ūrdhva high; to Idg. ared(h) as in Lat. arduus steep, or ured as in Sk. vardhate to raise, Gr. o)rqo/s straight] high up, on top, above (adv. & prep.). -- On uddhaŋ in spatial, temporal, ethical & psychological application see in detail Nd2 155. -- I. (adv.). -- A. (of space) up, aloft, on top, above (opp. adho) -- In contrast with adho (above > below) -- Esp. with ref. to the points of the compass as "in zenith" (opp. adho "in nadir"), e. g. at D i.222 ("straight up"); It 120; J i.20. B. (of time) in future, ahead, hence Sn 894; Nd1 303 (u. vuccati anāgataŋ). -- II. (prep. with abl. & instr.). A. (of space) in phrase uddhaŋ pādatalā adho kesamatthakā (above the soles & below the scalp)

Visesa [fr. vi+śiṣ, cp. Epic Sk. viśeṣa] 1. (mark of) dis- tinction, characteristic, discrimination -- 2. elegance, splendour, excellence -- 3. distinction, peculiar merit or advantage, eminence, excellence, extraordinary state -- 4. difference, variety -- 5. specific idea (in meditation), attainment -- âdhigama specific attainment -- gāmin reaching distinction, gaining merit -- gū reaching a higher state or attainment -- paccaya ground for distinction -- bhāgiya participating in, or leading to distinction or progress (spiritually)