DUmakAlika
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 .