This dictionary says that yathābhūta is an adjective, whereas yathābhūtaṃ is an adverb
I haven't seen how yathābhūta is used in practice. Where is yathābhūta even used? I can only find yathābhūtaṃ.
But grammatically I presume that an "adjective" would qualify a noun (e.g. "he sees a true thing"), whereas an "adverb" qualifies a verb (e.g. "he truly sees a thing").
I know the blank space might change the context, but I've found the 4 variations, so I'm hopping you know something more about this
I know the blank space might change the context, but I've found the 4 variations, so I'm hopping you know something more about this
I don't know about the Pali scripts, but in some scripts there are no blank spaces in the script, forexamplethetextiswrittenlikethis and it's up to the reader to know where each word ends (I think it's like that when you have to understand any spoken language too).
Furthermore (or rather, more importantly), Pali (like German) has compound words.
English has some compound words too, like "butter knife" and "farsighted".
So for example SN 12.23 includes:
I say that truly knowing and seeing has a vital condition.
Yathābhūtañāṇadassanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, saupanisaṃ vadāmi, no anupanisaṃ.
More literally:
"Truly-knowing-and-seeing, monks, I say, is not without a condition."
To translate a long, compound word like "Yathābhūtañāṇadassanampāhaṃ" you deconstruct it into its various component root words.
I have two more questions: Can yathābhūta be used as a term or should it be always used in a sentece? If it can be used as a term, how would you translate it?
Dictionary definitions of the roots of the word are:
So "according to the truth" or "true" or "truly" is a common translation.
Bhūta also apparently means things like "creatures", "beings", "biological kingdoms", "elements" -- so I might translate it as "seeing things according to their nature", or "seeing the nature of thing" (or, possibly, "naturally seeing things" or "seeings things naturally").
It could be translated "seeing things in their proper categories" -- for example AN 4.179 ...
Reverend Ānanda, it’s because some sentient beings don’t really understand which perceptions make things worse, which keep things steady, which lead to distinction, and which lead to penetration.
... talks about "really understanding" whether a perception belongs to one of three or four categories.
It also means "everything", "nature", and "the result of becoming" -- so it might mean "seeing things as natural". Buddhism has a lot to say about "all created things" (e.g. it says sabbe sankhara anicca) ... so perhaps that too should be included in the view (see e.g. SN 22.55).
According to the context in which it's used (in sentences, in suttas), it's often associated with samadhi and enlightenment.