(& lena) neuter

1. a cave (in a rock), a mountain cave, used by ascetics (or bhikkhus) as a hermitage or place of shelter, a rock cell. Often enumerated with kuṭi guhā, e.g. Vin.iv.48; Mil.151; Vb.251 (n.). At Vin.ii.146 it is given as collective name for 5 kinds of hermitages, viz. vihāra, aḍḍhayoga, pāsāda, hammiya guhā. The explⁿ of leṇa at Vb-a.366 runs as follows “pabbataṃ khaṇitvā vā pabbhārassa appahonakaṭṭhāne kuḍḍaṃ uṭṭhāpetvā vā katasenāsanaṃ,” i.e. opportunity for sitting & lying made by digging (a cave in a mountain or by erecting a wall where the cave is insufficient (so as to make the rest of it habitable) Cp. Vin.i.206 = Vin.iii.248 (pabbhāraṃ sodhāpeti leṇaṃ kattukāmo) Mhvs.16, Mhvs.12; Mhvs.28, Mhvs.31 sq. (n); Mil.200 (mahā˚).
2. refuge, shelter, (fig.) salvation (sometimes in sense of nibbāna). In this meaning often combined with tāṇa & saraṇa;, e.g. at DN.i.95; SN.iv.315 (maṃ-leṇa refuge with me; + maṃtāṇa); SN.iv.372 (= nibbāna); AN.i.155 sq. (n); Ja.ii.253; DN-a.i.232. Cp. Vin.iii.155. leṇ’atthaṃ for refuge Vin.ii.164 (n); Ja.i.94- aleṇa without a refuge Pts.i.127; Pts.ii.238; Pv.ii.2#5 (= asaraṇa Pv-a.80).

• -gavesin seeking shelter or refuge Ja.ii.407 = Ja.iv.346
• -guhā a mountain cave Ja.iii.511.
• -dvāra the door of the (rock) hermitage Vism.38; Dhp-a.iii.39.
• -pabbhāra “cave-slope,” cave in a mountain Dhp-a.iv.170.

*Sk. layana, fr.; lī in meaning “to hide,” cp. Prk. leṇa