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धूमकालिक (dhUmakAlika)

 
Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid
English
dhūmakālika (Pali id., see below
from Pali °kāla, death, destruction, Jāt. 〔iii.422.14〕, plus -ika), subject to destruction
destroyed, lost: (17—18 tīrthikā … krāyur, so mss. for Senart kreyur, apratimaśāsana-doṣaṃ) dhūmakālikam iti śramaṇasya, etad eva ca tu rakṣaṇīyatā (so with most mss.) Mv 〔i.69.19—20〕 (vs), the heretics may do harm (or, cause enmity) to the matchless doctrine of the Monk (Buddha), saying that (iti) it is perishable (is now going to be destroyed)
but this very thing is a state that we must guard against (Senart quite differently, ignoring iti)
saṃgātavyam imaṃ vācyaṃ mā haiva (text °vaṃ) dhūmakālikaṃ Mmk 〔600.10〕 (vs), this text must be recited in unison, lest it be destroyed (lost)
°ka-tā, abstr., (mā haiva pravacanaṃ kṛtsnaṃ …) dhūmakālikatāṃ vrajet Mmk 〔596.25〕 (vs), lest the whole Gospel become destroyed (lost). This, I believe, is the mg. of the Pali word too
both the Pali comm. and modern interpreters misunderstand it. In Vin. 〔ii.288.20〕 (bhavissanti vattāro:) dhūmakālikaṃ samaṇena Gotamena sāvakānaṃ sikkhāpadaṃ paññattaṃ, (if we do not preserve the Gospel, people will say:) a perishable set of religious teachings was taught by the monk G. to his disciples, or in other words, these teachings are perishing, or will perish. In Vin. 〔ii.172.15〕, the only other passage recorded, dhūmakālikaṃ pi pariyositaṃ vihāraṃ navakammaṃ denti, or they give as new work (the reparation of) a completed monastery that has proved perishable, that has [Page286-b] fallen into ruin, or begun to. The adj. dhūmakālika cannot mean, as is supposed, lasting to (the monkʼs) funeral, for then it would be synonymous with yāvajīvikaṃ, just before it, in line 15
the time expressions vīsativassikaṃ, tiṃsavassikaṃ, yāvajīvikaṃ, lines 14—15, all forbidden, contrast with lines 26—29 where jobs lasting from 5 or 6 to 10 or 12 years are permitted, but only upon an akataṃ or a vippakataṃ vihāraṃ
it is these latter expressions, in line 25, which contrast with the (forbidden) work on a dhūmakālikaṃ pariyositaṃ vihāraṃ. It seems that this derivative of (Pali) dhūmakāla came to be used figuratively in a way fairly remote from its original and literal mg., like English to go up in smoke = to be destroyed, completely lost.