18 important pali words to memorize: 6 āyatana 👁 👂 👃 👅 👆 💭

This will the first mini lesson, of several consecutive days,  on the topic of 6 ayatana pali vocabulary.

The idea of the mini lesson, is not to overwhelm you with too much pali to learn. Basically to dispense tips and information in very small daily doses that take you 5 minutes or some very short amount of time, to keep you engaged, having fun, and building up a life long habit of immersing yourself in the Buddha's language.

For this introductory lesson, just treat it as an overview, and don't try to memorize all the words right away. We'll go over it a few times.

6 āyatana 👁 👂 👃 👅 👆 💭

āyatana: sphere; region; sense-organ; position. (nt.)

AN 4.14 six sense bases operating

👁 cakkhunā rūpaṃ disvā | With-the-eye, [visible]-form (he) sees.
👂 sotena saddaṃ sutvā | With-the-ear, sounds (he) hears.
👃 ghānena gandhaṃ ghāyitvā | With-the-nose, odors (he) smells.
👅 jivhāya rasaṃ sāyitvā | With-the-tongue, flavors (he) tastes
👆 kāyena phoṭṭhabbaṃ phusitvā | With-the-body, tactile-sensations (he) senses.
💭 manasā dhammaṃ viññāya | With-the-mind, ideas (he) cognizes.

This lesson we'll focus on the ear and sounds  👂

👂 sotena saddaṃ sutvā | With-the-ear, sounds (he) hears.

Notice all 3 words, the ear, the sound, the verb of "having heard" (sutva), all start with "s" and seem similar to each other.

With the way learning happens in the oral tradition, hearing is a very important activity. It's not just the raw sensory process of hearing sound, it's how you learn, memorize, understand, and transmit teachings. So the word 'sutva', you'll see in the pali suttas is often translated as "(he) learns", rather than "he hears" (many contexts, both meanings apply, but translators seem to generally prefer choosing one word and picking one  meaning and effectively deleting the other for the audience). 

In introductory statement "evam me sutam", that occurs so frequently:

pali "me", conveniently, means "I".

"Evam" = thus

"sutam" = heard.

"evam me sutam 👂" = Thus I heard.

sutva = having heard. 

Here's the verb "hearing" is  based on, from PED: 

Suṇāti (suṇoti) [śru, Vedic śṛṇoti; cp. Gr. kle/w to praise; Lat. clueo to be called; Oir. clunim to hear; Goth hliup attention, hliuma hearing, and many others] to hear. Pres. suṇāti D i.62, 152; S v.265; Sn 696 It 98; Miln 5. -- suṇoti J iv.443; Pot. suṇeyya Vin i.7 D i.79; suṇe J iv.240; Imper. suṇa S iii.121; sunāhi Sn p. 21; suṇohi D i.62; Sn 997; 3^rd sg. suṇātu Vin i.56; 1^st pl. suṇāma Sn 354; suṇoma Sn 350, 988, 1110 Pv iv.1³¹. -- 2^nd pl. suṇātha D i.131; ii.76; It 41 Sn 385; PvA 13. suṇotha Sn 997; Miln 1. -- 3^rd pl suṇantu Vin i.5; -- ppr. sunanto Sn 1023; DA i.261 savaŋ J iii.244. -- inf. sotuŋ D ii.2; Sn 384; suṇitum Miln 91. -- Fut. sossati D ii.131, 265; J ii.107; J ii.63 Ap 156; VvA 187; 1^st sg. sussaŋ Sn 694. -- 2^nd sg. sossi J vi.423. -- aor. 1^st sg. assuŋ J iii.572. -- 2^nd sg. assu J iii.541. -- 3^rd sg. suṇi J iv.336; assosi D i.87, 152 Sn p. 103; 1^st pl. assumha J ii.79. -- 2^nd pl. assuttha S i.157; ii.230. 3^rd pl. assosuŋ Vin i.18; D i.111. <-> ger. sutvā Vin i.12; D i.4; Sn 30. sutvāna Vin i.19 D ii.30; Sn 202. suṇitvā J v.96; Mhvs 23, 80. suṇiya Mhvs 23, 101. -- Pass. sūyati M i.30; J i.72, 86; Miln 152. suyyati J iv.141; J iv.160; v.459. 3^rd pl. sūyare J vi.528. -- Grd. savanīya what should be heard, agreeable to the ear D ii.211. sotabba D i.175; ii.346. <-> pp. suta: see separately. -- Caus. sāveti to cause to hear to tell, declare, announce J i.344; Mhvs 5, 238; PvA 200; VvA 66. nāmaŋ s. to shout out one's name Vin i.36; DA i.262; maŋ dāsī ti sāvaya announce me to be your slave J iii.437; cp. J iv.402 (but see on this passage and on J iii.198; vi.486 Kern's proposed reading sāṭeti); to cause to be heard, to play D ii.265. Caus also suṇāpeti DhA i.206. -- Desiderative sussūsati (often written sussūyati) D i.230; M iii.133 (text sussūsanti), A iv.393 (do.). -- ppr. sussusaŋ Sn 189 (var read., text sussussā); sussūsamāna Sn 383; aor. sussūsiŋsu Vin i.10; fut. sussūsissanti Vin i.150; S ii.267 (text sussu -- ). 

conclusion: what you have learned (sutva)

Although you "read" this blog article visually rather than "heard" (sutva), so really my choice of "learned" was inappropriate. 

Today we went over 3 of the 18 vocabulary to learn related to the 👂 organ.

And some bonus words:

Evam me sutam: thus I heard.

Suṇāti (suṇoti): (he) hears. The un conjugated verb form from which sutva was derived.

One more bonus tip:

Suttam (discourse) is not etymologically connected to sutam (heard).