➥ gaṇḍa:

• for gaṇḍa:
  • carbuncle
• gaṇḍo: carbuncle
• gaṇḍaṁ: carbuncle

Carbuncles and ordination

Gaṇḍa is a serious disease that can block a bhikkhu candidate’s ordination (na bhikkhave pañcahi ābādhehi phuṭṭho pabbājetabbo, Vin.1.73). Accordingly, it seems appropriate to call gaṇḍa ‘carbuncle,’ not ‘boil,’ because a carbuncle is ‘somewhat like a boil, but more serious in its effects’ (http//:dictionary.reference.com). One would not expect a boil to block one’s ordination.

The body as a carbuncle

The body is compared to a gaṇḍa with nine orifices (nava vaṇamukhāni AN iv 386). Whatever flows out of a gaṇḍa is foul, foul-smelling, and disgusting (asuciññeva pagghareyya duggandhañceva pagghareyya jegucchiyaññeva pagghareyya). This again suggests carbuncle, not boil, because a carbuncle ‘is an abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings, draining pus onto the skin’ (en.wiktionary.org).

The aggregates: carbuncles

The five aggregates are like five carbuncles, presumably because of the chronic misery associated with them:

• Whatever phenomena are connected with the five aggregates, he sees those states… as an illness, as a carbuncle…

so yadeva tattha hoti rūpagataṁ vedanāgataṁ saññāgataṁ saṅkhāragataṁ viññāṇagataṁ te dhamme… rogato gaṇḍato… samanupassati. (MN i 435-7; AN iv 422-6)

For full quote, see Illustrations.

The notion “I am”: carbuncle

The Buddha applied the term metaphorically to the notion “I am”:

The notion “I am” is a matter of thinking in personal terms

asmī ti maññitametaṁ

‘I am this’ is a matter of thinking in personal terms

ayamahamasmī ti maññitametaṁ

‘I will be’ is a matter of thinking in personal terms

bhavissan ti maññitametaṁ

‘I will not be’ is a matter of thinking in personal terms

na bhavissan ti maññitametaṁ

… Thinking in personal terms is an illness, a carbuncle, a [piercing] arrow. Therefore train yourselves with the thought, ‘We will live with minds free of thinking in personal terms’

maññitaṁ bhikkhave rogo maññitaṁ gaṇḍo maññitaṁ sallaṁ tasmātiha bhikkhave amaññamānena cetasā viharissāmāti evaṁ hi vo bhikkhave sikkhitabbaṁ. (SN iv 203)

Sensuous pleasures: carbuncle

Sensuous pleasures are called a carbuncle because they are associated with carbuncles, presumably meaning the aggregates, or even the notion “I am”:

• Bhikkhus, ‘carbuncle’ is an epithet for sensuous pleasures. Why so? Because one who is passionately attached to sensuous pleasure, fastened by fondness and attachment, is neither free of carbuncles in this lifetime, nor in the hereafter, therefore ‘carbuncle’ is an epithet for sensuous pleasures.

gaṇḍo ti bhikkhave kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ. Kasmā ca bhikkhave gaṇḍo ti kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ. Yasmā ca kāmarāgarattāyaṁ bhikkhave chandarāgavinibaddho diṭṭhadhammikāpi gaṇḍā na parimuccati samparāyikāpi gaṇḍā na parimuccati. Tasmā gaṇḍanti kāmānametaṁ adhivacanaṁ. (AN iii 310)

➥ gaṇḍo: (main article see: gaṇḍa)

Illustration: gaṇḍo, carbuncle

Bhikkhus, suppose there was a carbuncle many years old, and which had nine openings, nine orifices. Whatever oozes out of them would be foul, foul-smelling, and disgusting.

gaṇḍo anekavassagaṇiko tassassu nava vaṇamukhāni nava abhedanamukhāni tato yaṁ kiñci pagghareyya asuciññeva pagghareyya duggandhañceva pagghareyya jegucchiyaññeva pagghareyya.

A ‘carbuncle’ is a metaphor for this [wretched human] body made of the four great material phenomena.

'Gaṇḍo ti kho bhikkhave imasseva cātummahābhūtikassa kāyassa adhivacanaṁ

It has nine openings, nine orifices.

tassa nava vanamukhāni nava abhedanamukhāni

Whatever oozes out of them is foul, foul-smelling, and disgusting.

yaṁ kiñci paggharati asuciññeva paggharati duggandhaññeva paggharati jegucchiyaññeva paggharati. (AN iv 386)

➥ gaṇḍaṁ: (main article see: gaṇḍa)

Illustration: gaṇḍaṁ, carbuncle

Whatever bhikkhunī, without having obtained permission from a community or group of bhikkhunīs, should together with a man, the one with the other, make a carbuncle or a scab that has formed on the lower part of her body burst or break, or allow it to be washed, smeared, bound up, or unbound, there is an offence of pācittiya.

Yā pana bhikkhunī pasākhe jātaṁ gaṇḍaṁ vā ruhitaṁ vā anapaloketvā saṅghaṁ vā gaṇaṁ vā purisena saddhiṁ ekenekā bhedāpeyya vā phālāpeyya vā dhovāpeyya vā ālimpāpeyya vā bandhāpeyya vā mocāpeyya vā pācittiyan ti. (Vin.4.316)

He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with the five aggregates, as unlasting, as intrinsically unsatisfactory, as an illness, as a carbuncle, as a [piercing] arrow, as suffering, as an affliction, as alien, as destined to decay, as void [of personal qualities], as void of personal qualities.

so yadeva tattha hoti rūpagataṁ vedanāgataṁ saññāgataṁ saṅkhāragataṁ viññāṇagataṁ te dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaṇḍato sallato aghato ābādhato parato palokato suññato anattato samanupassati. (MN i 435)