เห็นกงจักรเป็นดอกบัว

Thai

Etymology

A prēta ghost (right) with a discus flying over its head.

From เห็น (hěn, “to consider; to perceive; to see; to view; etc.”) +‎ กงจักร (“chakra discus”) +‎ เป็น (bpen, “to be”) +‎ ดอกบัว (“lotus flower; water lily ; etc.”); literally "to see a chakra discus as a lotus flower".

The term is derived from a story in a Buddhist treatise, Mangalattha Dīpanī ("The Book of the Commentaries to the Auspicious Discourse"). The story tells of a matricide named Mittavinduka who met a prēta ghost on an isle. As a punishment for its matricidal act, the ghost had long been confined on this infernal isle and had incessantly been injured by a discus flying over its head. Due to his grave sin, Mittavinduka saw the discus as a beautiful lotus and asked the ghost for it. Realising that it had completely served its punishment and a new ghost had now come to replace it, the ghost immediately handed the lotus over to Mittavinduka before disappearing. Once he accepted the lotus, or the discus in reality, Mittavinduka turned into a new preta ghost and his punishment began.

Pronunciation

Orthographic		เห็นกงจักรเป็นดอกบัว e h ˘ n k ŋ t͡ɕ ạ k r e p ˘ n ɗ ɒ k ɓ ạ w
Phonemic		เห็น-กง-จัก-เป็น-ดอก-บัว e h ˘ n – k ŋ – t͡ɕ ạ k – e p ˘ n – ɗ ɒ k – ɓ ạ w
Romanization	Paiboon	hěn-gong-jàk-bpen-dɔ̀ɔk-buua
	Royal Institute	hen-kong-chak-pen-dok-bua
(standard) IPA(key)		/hen˩˩˦.koŋ˧.t͡ɕak̚˨˩.pen˧.dɔːk̚˨˩.bua̯˧/(R)

Verb

เห็นกงจักรเป็นดอกบัว • (hěn-gong-jàk-bpen-dɔ̀ɔk-buua) (abstract noun การเห็นกงจักรเป็นดอกบัว)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) to fail to discern right from wrong; to consider something or someone immoral, improper, unfavourable, unpleasant, etc., to be moral, proper, favourable, pleasant, etc.

Synonyms

• เห็นผิดเป็นชอบ

 

References

• Royal Society of Thailand. (2013-04-04). "กงจักร Gong-jàk" (in Thai). Retrieved: 2015-09-25.