रुक्ख
rukkha
Say it: ruk·kha
Sanskrit equivalent
Meaning
a tree. In the rukkha-mūlik’ anga (see below) Bdhgh at Vism.74 gives a list of trees which are not to be selected for the practice of “living at the root of a tree.” These are sīmantarika-rukkha, cetiya˚, niyyāsa˚ phala˚, vagguli˚, susira˚, vihāra-majjhe ṭhita˚, or a tree standing right on the border, a sacred tree, a resinous tree, a fruit t., a tree on which bats live, a hollow tree a tree growing in the middle of a monastery. The only one which is to be chosen is a tree “vihāra-paccante ṭhita,” or one standing on the outskirt of the Vihāra He then gives further advice as to the condition of the tree
■ Various kinds of trees are given in the defn of r. at Vism.183, viz. assattha, nigrodha, kacchaka kapitthaka; ucca, nīca, khuddaka, mahanto; kāḷa seta
■ A very complete list of trees mentioned in the Saṁyutta Nikāya is to be found in the Index to that Nikāya (vol. vi. p. 84, 85). On rukkha in similes see J.P.T.S. 1907, pp. 128–130
■ See also the foll. refs. AN.i.137; AN.ii.109, AN.ii.207; AN.iii.19, AN.iii.200, AN.iii.360; AN.iv.99, AN.iv.336 AN.v.4 sq., AN.v.314 sq.; Snp verse 603, Snp verse 712; Ja.i.35 (nāga˚); Vism.688 (in simile: mahārukkhe yāva kapp’ âvasānā bījaparamparāya rukkha-paveṇiṁ santāyamāne ṭhite) Vb-a.165 = Vism.555 (rukkha phalita); Vb-a.196 (in compound: jātassa avassaṁ jarā-maraṇaṁ, uppannassa rukkhassa patanaṁ viya), Vb-a.334 sq. (as garu-bhaṇḍa) Snp-a.5 (“pathavi-ras’ ādim iva rukkhe”: with same simile as at Vism.688, with reading kappâvasānaṁ and santānente); Dhp-a.iii.207 (amba˚); Vv-a.43 (rāja˚), Vv-a.198 (amba˚); Dhp-a.iv.120 (dīpa˚); Pv-a.43.
-antara the inside of a tree Pv-a.63. -koṭṭaka (-sakuṇa) the wood-pecker Ja.iii.327 (= java sakuṇa) -gahana tree-thicket or entanglement AN.i.154 (so for ˚gahaṇa). -devatā a tree spirit, dryad, a yakkha inhabiting a tree (rukkhe adhivatthā d. Vin.iv.34; Ja.ii.385; kakudhe adhivatthā d. Vin.i.28) Ja.i.168, Ja.i.322 Ja.ii.405, Ja.ii.438 sq. (eraṇḍa˚), Ja.ii.445; Ja.iii.23; Ja.iv.308 (vanajeṭṭhaka-rukkhe nibbatta-devatā); Dhp-a.ii.16; Pv-a.5 (in a Nigrodha tree), Pv-a.43 (in the Vindhya forest). They live in a Nigrodha tree at the entrance of the village (Ja.i.169), where they receive offerings at the foot of the tree (cp. iv.474), and occasionally one threatens them with discontinuance of the offerings if they do not fulfil one’s request. The trees are their vimānas (Ja.i.328, Ja.i.442; Ja.iv.154), occasionally they live in hollow trees (Ja.i.405; Ja.iii.343) or in tree tops (Ja.i.423) They have to rely on the food given to them (ibid.) for which they help the people (Ja.iii.24; Ja.v.511). They assume various forms when they appear to the people (Ja.i.423; Ja.ii.357, Ja.ii.439; Ja.iii.23); they also have children (Vin.iv.34; Ja.i.442). -paveṇi lineage of the tree Vism.688. -pāṇikā a wooden spoon Vism.124 (opp. to pāsāṇa˚). -mūla the foot of a tree (taken as a dwelling by the ascetics for meditation: DN.i.71, where several such lonely places are recommended, as arañña, r-m. pabbata, kandara, etc
■ DN-a.i.209 specifies as “yaṁ kiñci sanda-cchāyaṁ vivittaṁ rukkha-mūlaṁ”); AN.ii.38 AN.iv.139, AN.iv.392; SN.i.199 (˚gahana); Iti.102; Snp verse 708, Snp verse 958 Mnd.466; Pp.68; Pv-a.100 (variant reading sukkha-nadī), Pv-a.137 (Gaṇḍamba˚, with ref. to the Buddha). -˚gata one who undertakes living at the foot of a tree (as an ascetic) AN.iii.353; AN.v.109 sq., AN.v.207, AN.v.323 sq.; Pp.68 -˚senāsana having one’s bed & seat at the foot of a tree for meditative practices as a recluse Vin.i.58 (as one of the 4 nissayas: piṇḍiy’ ālopa-bhojana, paṁsukūla-cīvara, r - m. s., pūti-mutta bhesajja), Vin.i.96 (id.) AN.iv.231. -mūlika (a) one who lives at the foot of a tree, an open air recluse MN.i.282; MN.iii.41; AN.iii.219; Ja.iv.8 (āraññaka, paṇṇasālaṁ akatvā r., abbhokāsika) <(b) belonging to the practice of a recluse living under a tree “tree rootman’s practice” (Vism translation 84); as ˚anga one of the (13) dhutaṅga -practices; i.e. practices for a scrupulous way of living Vism.59, Vism.74, Vism.75 (mentioned between the ārannik’ anga & the; abbhokāsik’- anga). -mūlikatta the practice of living (alone) under a tree MN.iii.41 (mentioned with paṁsukūlikatta piṇḍapātikatta); AN.iii.109 (id.). -sunakha “tree dog, a cert. animal Ja.vi.538 (C. in expln of naḷa-sannibha “reed-coloured”). -susira a hollow tree Pv-a.62.
Vedic vṛkṣa. See Geiger, P.Gr. § 13, with note. Pischel, Prk. Gr. § 320 puts rukkha to Sk. rukṣa (shining which as Pischel, following Roth. says has also the meaning “tree” in Ṛgveda). The Prk. form is rukkha Cp. Wackernagel, Altind. Gr. 1, § 184 b. We find a byform rakkha at Ja.iii.144. Cp. Brethren, pp. 185, 416 where the Bn MS. has rukkha kathā the meaning being rakkha˚