I would like to know the reasons behind the rendering of ‘aveccapasaadena’ as experiential confidence? There are some different translations such as ‘unwavering’ and ‘verified’ for the same term. ‘verified’ seems to be a closer to ‘experiential’ yet unwavering is far.
Ven. @sujato
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See the lengthy discussion in chapter VIII of Jayatilleke’s Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge.
TL;DR – The Pali commentaries gloss the term both ways, but give primacy to the “verified” sense. Jayatilleke believes they’re right to do so.
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Rupert Gethin discusses this term a few times in his “Buddhist path”. I’ll quote later today or tomorrow.
(I meant to reply to the OP)
I look forward to more comments on this interesting study.
From Jayatilleke’s Chapter VIII, he leans heavily on
Gyomroi-Ludowyk, E., ‘The Valuation of Saddhā in the Early Buddhist Texts’ in UCR., Vol. 5, pp. 32–49.
Agreeing with her work, Jayatilleke builds his thesis:
( 655) The usage of saddhā (faith, belief) in the Pāli Canon is such that the meanings of bhatti– (devotion ═ Skr. bhakti), pema– (filial affection) and pasāda- (mental appreciation) overlap with it
where pasāda in aveccappasādena refers to the third type of saddhā. Then, with avecca in the compound:
[aveccappasādena] seems to mean ‘faith based on understanding’ since avecca seems to mean ‘having understood’
This would support, e.g., a translation like “verified” or “experiential” rather than “unwavering” – which strikes me more as devotional or inspirational faith or confidence (in a person).
Interestingly, in SN 6.3 (“With Brahmadeva”), Bhante Sujato translates
pasannā avikampamānā
with unwavering confidence [in Brahmadeva]
So here we have “unwavering confidence” but the term paired with pasannā means, more literally, unwavering. Also, it’s in reference to a deity.
This as opposed to aveccappasādena where the paired term avecca (√i) conveys more dynamic knowledge. (This is my reading of the Digital Pāli Dictionary.)
So in DN 33:
Idhāvuso, ariyasāvako buddhe aveccappasādena samannāgato hoti
A noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha
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Just to add some more context:
But Saccaka said to him, “Hold on, Dummukha, hold on! I wasn’t talking with you, I was talking with the worthy Gotama.
Worthy Gotama, leave aside that statement I made—as did various other ascetics and brahmins—it was, like, just a bit of nonsense. How do you define a disciple of the worthy Gotama who follows instructions and responds to advice; who has gone beyond doubt, got rid of indecision, gained assurance, and is independent of others in the Teacher’s instructions?”
“It’s when one of my disciples truly sees any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; solid or subtle; inferior or superior; far or near: all form—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ They truly see any kind of feeling … perception … choices … consciousness at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; solid or subtle; inferior or superior; far or near: all consciousness—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ That’s how to define one of my disciples who follows instructions and responds to advice; who has gone beyond doubt, got rid of indecision, gained assurance, and is independent of others in the Teacher’s instructions.”
Ettāvatā kho, aggivessana, mama sāvako sāsanakaro hoti ovādapatikaro tiṇṇavicikiccho vigatakathaṅkatho vesārajjappatto aparappaccayo satthusāsane viharatī”ti.
-MN 35
It seems to me that all of those phrases after the bolded semicolon are synonyms describing the stream-enterer’s security/confidence. The term under discussion here, aveccappasādena, also seems to be a synonym. Please correct me if I’m wrong.