รัตนบัลลังก์

[Oxx]

Came across this unfamiliar word and looked it up on LEXiTRON.  The definition rather surprised me (my emphasis):

 

"รัตนบัลลังก์ - N - the Buddha's scat under the pipal tree when he was in the state of enlightenment"

 

Well, it amused me, so I thought I'd share.

[tgeezer]

The Thai definition says อาสนะ which is 'seat' so 'scat' is probably a typo.


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[bannork]

บัลลังก์  is bench or throne too

[tgeezer]

It sounds as though it might be a place of pilgrimage, an unfortunate mistake for a dictionary to make!



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[Oxx]

Please let's stop the speculation.  I didn't want this threat to become disrespectful in any way.  From the RID:

 

"อาสนะที่พระพุทธเจ้าประทับใต้ต้นพระศรีมหาโพธิ
ณ พุทธคยา ประเทศอินเดีย ในวันตรัสรู้, โพธิบัลลังก์ หรือ วัชรอาสน์"

[tgeezer]

I am not speculating, and there is nothing disrespectful about bodily functions. I use Lexitron but read the RID definition first because the English often doesn't suit me, in this case I see a mistake.


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[Oxx]

38 minutes ago, tgeezer said:

I am not speculating

 

Yet you write "It sounds as though it might be a place of pilgrimage"?

[tgeezer]

This is where we discuss Thai isn't it? My interpretation led me to say that, I was looking for comment not censure.


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[Maestro]

Please let's stop the speculation...

Unfortunately, you did not give the source where you encountered this word but based on your quote from a dictionary I find it reasonable that anything of the Buddha under any type of tree where he was in a state of enlightenment can be considered as a destination for a pilgrimage if Buddhists do indeed go on pilgrimages, which is not to say that Buddha himself would probably have encouraged such nonsense.

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[tgeezer]

It is safe to assume that now with the help of Wikipedia etc., we all know that Mahabodi พุทธคยา is a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists. This place has other names with บัลลังก์ (seat) as the noun. When seeing X seat, y seat, where the noun follows the adjective as in English, do people agree that such words are probably Sandkrit or Pali?
I need my Wikipedia in English and the transliteration made by Thai is interesting, พุทธคยา is Bodh Gaya for example. The tree โพธิ I am told is said โพ . The dictionary gives both pronunciations so I am left wondering when to use which.

Whether Buddha would have advocated pilgrimage is beyond me, perhaps he would have taken a philosophical approach which I think means to do what makes you happy. As the saying goes, Life is "birth suffering, sickness, death" Suffering is the only thing we have control over so if visititing temples and making merit keeps us from the 'nuthouse', all well and good.


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[CMBob]

My Thai2English computer translator provides the following:  stone seat (where the Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree and attained Enlightenment).  The Lexitron deal is too often way off the mark. 
 

[tgeezer]

From what I have read he sat on a mat given to him by some girl who also gave him milk, but the truth will never be known I suppose.
The best dictionary I have found comes by searching for "Longdo" there you will find many sources, Thai2English is there sometimes.
รัตนบัลลังก์ has quotes from sites called Nectec and Volubilis in which 'scat' seems to have taken hold, maybe they think that scat means seat! Nectec is usually very good because it also gives Thai examples and often the official RID entry so you can check how 'off the mark' it is. Longdo includes the RID entry for many words as well.


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[CMBob]

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the word "รัตน" in my Mary Haas' Standford Thai-English Students Dictionary.  It lists the word (a noun) as an elegant term for a jewel or gem.  I would guess, then, that the meaning of two words together is jeweled throne/seat which, of course, only makes sense since we're talking about the Buddha here.

Also noticed that the Thai word "รัตนตรัย" means the "Three Gems" (which, in Buddhist teaching, are: Buddha, his teaching, and his disciples).

[tgeezer]

Is that all it says? If you look in longdo it only has Thai where it equates รัตนะ to แก้ว which is a metaphor for ยอดเยี่ยม > superb, supreme etc. which as a noun is to say treasured thing. รัตนตรัย is described as แก้วอันประเสริฐสุด of Buddhists.
From my "deep" knowledge of รัตนบัลลางด์ (two minutes in Wiki) is a temple or Chedi constructed over the place years later.


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