"Togehter with a great community of Bhiksus"

     In the Prologue to the S�tra of the Land of
Happiness, which describes the Paradise of the Buddha
Amitbha and the dharma door of reciting the Buddha's name
to be reborn in Sukhvatƒ, after the initial establishments
of faith, hearing, time, place and host, we now
come to the sixth and final one, the assembly.  Who
made up the assembly, the audience, when žkyamuni Buddha
spoke this S�tra?

     Mahat means "great."  The stem of the
word is mahant, which has a weaker form
mahat (without the n) in some functions, such as the
one discussed here.  The ending -a is the function marker
and it translates "with." The same -a was seen earlier in
the phrase evam may �rutam, "Thus by me was
heard," Where it translated "by."  The function
indicated is the means by which or whom something else
is done, with what or whom.  Just as in English, "with"
can have two meanings:
     (1) by means of; and
     (2) in the company of.
The same Sanskrit ending represents these two meanings.
Here the sense is  that of (2), in the company of. Mahat
and the compound word bhikŒusa-nghena both depend
upon the final word srdham which  causes them to take
this ending.

       BhikŒu is a Buddhist who has left the
home life. The word is based upon the root bhikŒ
which means "to seek a share," referring to the fact
that those who have left home in the Buddhadharma depend
upon the gifts of others for their food.  At the time
of the Buddha, and in many Buddhist countries still today,
the BhikŒus go begging daily from house to house
until they obtain food. Some follow the recommended
practice of seeking only up to seven houses in a row, then
stopping even if no offering has been made.  This
renders the Buddhist practice of eating only once a day
at noon even more ascetic.

     The root bhikΠis a variation of another root
bhaj- which means "to have a share" or "eat." By certain
sound changes, mainly involving -ikŒ- and -u, Sanskrit
can form words which mean to wish or seek to do whatever
the basic root implies.  Here bhikŒ- means "to seek to
bhaj-," to seek to have a share.  It is not the case
however that a Bhiksu asks for food.  He stands silent
and composed before a house holding out his bowl, and
if no one gives him food he goes away.

     Sa-nghena, is the word Sa-ngha, which
means "community," with the ending -ena which
means "with."  The articles "a" and "the" do not exist
as such in Sanskrit.  Previously the ending - meant
"with."  -ena has the same function as -, but has a
different shape, and is used with all singular nouns
whose stem ends in - to translate "with" or "by."
Sa-ngha often refers to the third member of the Triple
Jewel: the Buddha, Dharma, Sa-ngha.

     Srdham, means "together with" or "in
the  company of," and calls for the "with"
case ending function marker on the words it governs.
The words so governed come before srdham in Sanskrit,
while English we say "together" first.

     The total phrase means "together with a large
BhikŒu-community."  The Buddha is in the Jeta Grove
together with these monks, the BhikŒus have the same
teacher, the Buddha; they live in the same place; they
study the Buddhadharma together; they will all produce
the same resolve for Enlightenment; they will all open
the same wisdom, and together realize Buddhahood...six
reasons why it says sdham.