Pali Word for Dreamer

Q & A
1

I’m not familiar with Pali at all, honestly don’t have the time. Perhaps I have the time, but I’m terrible at managing it right now. So in short this question probably has a really simple answer. Why are there two words in Pali for the word ‘dreamer’?

The two words are… supinadassī ; upanijjhāyī

Would love to understand this large contrast in spelling and if they hold a different purpose or meaning from each other.

2

Could you quote the sutta contexts in which you found these words?

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3

Honestly I just used a Pali to English dictionary. I wouldn’t be able to give an example from the text.

4

It seems that “supinadassī” is more related to dream as in this definition:
supina

Meanwhile, “upanijjhāyī” seems to not so much related to dream as in:
upanijjhāyī

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5

To understand what the words mean, it may be best for a few instances of the words to be examined. Pali words are often best understood by their context.

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6

Supina Sutta: Dreams translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

If I wanted to describe someone as a 'dreamer" or a person that dreams; upanijjhāyī, seems outside of the definition I’m looking for as it impies a desire of sorts. A lustful attachment to a dream from what I’m gathering.

Supina seems like the more accurate term to use for a person that dreams in general without an attachment. So in English we would use “er” to make it an agentive noun. How does one do this with Pali?

In the PTS Pali English Dictionary, it seems to have a sort of reference for this, but it doesn’t have a hyperlink like the others. Vb-a.408 (who has dreams). I would not know how to find this or make sense of it sadly.

So basically how does someone call a person a ‘dreamer’ in Pali. Supina seems like the correct base word/noun, but I don’t know how to add the ‘er’ as it were.

What is the agent noun of ‘dream’ in Pali?

I would also like to know how one would use ‘dreamer’ as in the ‘past (aorist) tense’? Like would would be the Pali word for “dreamed”?

7

Hi,
I had a look at the sutta you cited, AN 5.196, and did not find the word you asked about, supinadassī.

That word would have the literal sense of ‘dream-seer’, or perhaps ‘vision-seer’, an -in stem noun.

But I do not find that word in any of the Pali Canon at all.

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8

So ‘supinadassi’ means ‘dream-seer’. This will be enough for me, I appreciate your patience and effort. It has been very helpful, thank you.

9

Maybe you have already chosen your preferred answer. Here, I only give you additional material.

I give you the Vb-a.408 for your reference of “who has dreams”:
PTS-Sammoha-vinodani.pdf (4.8 MB)

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10

This scan is from “The Dispeller of Delusion”, the classic commentary on the Abhidhamma’s Vibhanga.

The Pali words originally asked about are not given here. It’s a discussion about what happens while sleeping, the bhavanga consciousness being interrupted by sensory input.

The question of why we dream seems to be addressed in this section.

There is a distinction made between dreaming ‘supati’ and seeing a dream ‘supinam passati’
It would seem that ‘supati’ means an uninterrupted bhavanga consciousness while ‘seeing dreams’ would mean ‘dreaming’- i.e. being conscious of a dream. Various reasons are given for how sensory input would impinge on the bhavanga.

It seems a bit complicated…

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