183 Spk: The Buddha asked this question because he wanted to speak praise of the Elder Sāriputta. He chose to address Ānanda because the two monks were close friends and had deep admiration for each other’s virtues, and he knew Ānanda would answer in an appropriate way.
184 These words of praise are spoken by the Buddha himself of Sāriputta at MN III 25,6-10. Spk explains: Wise (paṇḍita) designates one who possesses the four kinds of skilfulness (kosalla)—in the elements, in the sense bases, in dependent origination, and in what is possible and impossible (MN III 62,4-6).The next series of definitions, which continues for several pages, is drawn from Paṭis II 190-202. Here I give only extracts: One is of great wisdom (mahāpañña) when one has great virtue, concentration, wisdom, liberation, etc., great dwellings and meditative attainments, great development of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, great paths and fruits, great direct knowledges, and attainment of Nibbāna, the great ultimate goal. One is of wide wisdom (puthupañña) when one’s knowledge occurs regarding the diverse aggregates, elements, sense bases, etc. (Apparently Paṭis takes Pāli puthu to be from Vedic pṛthak, “distinct,” but pṛthu, “wide,” is more likely the original sense.) One is of joyous wisdom (hāsapañña) when one fulfils all the steps of training full of joy, inspiration, delight, and gladness. One is of swift wisdom (javanapañña) when one swiftly understands all the five aggregates as impermanent, suffering, and nonself. One is of sharp wisdom (tikkhapañña) when one quickly cuts off all defilements and realizes the four paths and fruits in one sitting. One is of penetrative wisdom (nibbedhikapañña) when, full of disgust and revulsion towards all formations, one penetrates and splits apart the mass of greed, hatred, and delusion that had not been penetrated earlier. These terms, and other types of wisdom, are enumerated at 55:62-74.
185 Spk: When the Tathāgata and the Elder Ānanda had praised the Elder Sāriputta thus, the devas in 10,000 world systems rose up and praised him with the same sixteen terms. Then the young deva Susı̄ma, who had formerly (as a human being) been a pupil of Sāriputta, decided to approach the Blessed One with his own retinue and recite the same praise of his preceptor.Spk does not say whether this Susı̄ma is identical with the protagonist of 12:70. A young deva of this name is also mentioned at 11:2 as a subordinate of Sakka.
186 Spk: Elsewhere uccāvaca means: ucca = excellent (paṇīta) + avaca = inferior (hīna). But here it means diverse (nānāvidhā ), in apposition to vaṇṇanibhā. For the blue young devas in the assembly became exceptionally blue, and so too the yellow, red, and white young devas became exceptionally yellow, red, and white. To illustrate this the four similes are given.
187 Be and Ee2 include here the phrase saradasamaye viddhe vigatavalāhake deve, but as this seems to be an interpolation based on the following paragraph I have followed Se and Ee1, which omit it.
188 The simile recurs at 22:102 and 45:147. Spk glosses nabhaṃ abbhussakkamāno (as in Be) with ākāsaṃ abhilaṅghanto and says this shows the “tender time of the sun” [Spk-pṭ: the time when it is neither too low nor too high]. The verb abbhussakkati comes from the root sakk, and has no relation to the adjective sukka as Geiger supposes.
189 I read pāda d with SS thus: kālaṃ kaṅkhati bhāvito sudanto. This reading is suggested by VĀT, who writes: “The third word has been removed by Be and Se, no doubt in the belief that it is a Śloka pāda (failing, however, to regularize the cadence). But if one takes it as an Aupacchandasaka pāda there is no need to remove anything. Confirmation is got from Sn 516, the alteration of sa danto to sudanto being appropriate for the different contexts.”Spk does not offer help with the reading but explains the sense: “He awaits the time of his parinibbāna. For the arahant does not delight in death or yearn for life; he yearns for the time like a worker standing awaiting his day’s wage.” Spk then quotes Th 1003, which may account for the replacement of bhāvito by bhatiko in Ee1. To obtain a Śloka line, Ee2 retains bhāvito but deletes sudanto.
190 Spk: “These young devas were proponents of kamma; therefore they performed meritorious deeds and were reborn in heaven. Thinking that they had been reborn there on account of their confidence in their respective teachers, they came to the Buddha in order to recite verses in praise of those teachers.” Both Pūraṇa Kassapa and Makkhali Gosāla advocated doctrines that were opposed to the Buddhist teaching on kamma; their teachings are classified among the views that normally lead to a bad rebirth.
191 The verse is a concise statement of Pūraṇa Kassapa’s doctrine of nonaction (akiriyavāda), for which see DN I 52,22-53,4 and 24:6 (in the latter source no ascription of the view to a teacher is made). A detailed account of the teachings of the six “heretical teachers” (of whom four are mentioned here and all six just below at 3:1) can be found in the Sāmaññaphala Sutta, DN No. 2; for a translation with commentary, see Bodhi, The Discourse on the Fruits of Recluseship, esp. pp. 6-9, 19-26, 69-86. Spk paraphrases: “In declaring that there is no result of evil or merit, he taught to beings what is trustworthy as the foundation, the support; therefore he deserves esteem, veneration, worship.”
192 Makkhali Gosāla was the founder and leader of the sect of ascetics known as the Ājı̄vikas. For his doctrine of non-causality (ahetukavāda), also called “purification by wandering on” (saṃsārasuddhi), see DN I 53,25-54,21 and 24:7. A full account of his life and teachings can be found in Basham, History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas.
193 The verse alludes to Makkhali’s style of ascetic practice but, strangely, makes no mention of his doctrines. Spk explains his austerity (tapa) as bodily mortification and his scrupulousness (jigucchā) as the loathing of evil [Spk-pṭ: the undertaking of the vow of nudity, etc., in the belief that this is the way to eliminate evil]. This explanation shows that Spk regards tapojigucchā here as a collective dvanda compound, “austerity and scrupulousness,” and so I have rendered it. Sv III 834,37, however, commenting onDN III 40,13-52,22 (where the Buddha gives a long disquisition on how tapojigucchā is imperfect and perfect (aparipuṇṇā, paripuṇṇā)), explains the compound as a tappurisa meaning “scrupulousness by austerity”: Tapojigucchā ti viriyena pāpajigucchā pāpavivajjanā; “Austerity-scrupulousness : scrupulousness in regard to evil, the avoidance of evil, by means of energy.” Tapassī and jegucchī (the corresponding nouns of personal reference) are used to designate separate factors of the Bodhisatta’s “fourfold holy life” practised before his enlightenment at MN I 77,23-27 and 78,32-36. See too Basham, pp. 109-15, for a description of Ājı̄vika asceticism.
194 Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta is identical with Mahāvı̄ra, the historical progenitor of Jainism. His discipline of restraint by the four controls (cātuyāmasaṃvara) is described at DN I 57,25-27 and MN I 377,1-2. At MLDB, p. 482, the formula is translated: “(he is) curbed by all curbs, clamped by all curbs, cleansed by all curbs, and claimed by all curbs.” It is questionable whether either the text or its commentary (Sv I 168-69, Ps III 58-59) represents a genuine Jaina tradition.
195 Pakudhaka Kātiyāna is an alternative spelling of Pakudha Kaccāyana, whose doctrine of the seven bodies (sattakāya) is described at DN I 56,21-57,34 and at 24:8. Spk says that the statement that “they were not far from superior men” means, in effect, that they were superior men (sappurisa), i.e., ariyans or noble ones.
196 In pāda a, Be and Se read sahācaritena; Ee1 reads sagāravena, corrected in Ee2 to sahāravena, “along with (his) howling.” Spk-pṭ supports this: “By merely making a howl along with the roar of the lion; that is, the jackal (is not the lion’s equal) merely by making a jackal’s howl at the same time that the lion makes its lion’s roar.” The jackal and the lion form a classical pair of opposites in ancient Indian literature; see Ja Nos. 143 and 335, where a jackal does himself to death trying to emulate the lion’s prowess in hunting, and especially Ja No. 172, where a jackal shames a group of young lions to silence by trying to imitate their roar.
197 Spk: Mā
ra thought, “He has spoken dispraise of the other teachers. I will make him speak praise of them through his own mouth.”
198 Namuci is a name of Māra, which Spk-pṭ (to 4:1) explains as meaning “he does not free” (na muci): vaṭṭadukkhato aparimuttapaccayattā namuci; “He is called Namuci because he does not let one get free from the suffering of the round.” Spk paraphrases the Buddha’s remark: “Just as a fisherman throws out bait at the end of a hook for the purpose of catching fish, so, by praising these forms, you throw them out in order to catch living beings.” See 35:230. 3. Kosalasaṃyutta
199 King Pasenadi was to become one of the Buddha’s most devoted lay followers, though the texts never say that he attained any of the stages of sanctity. This sutta, it seems, records his first personal encounter with the Buddha. His cordial (as distinct from reverential) manner of greeting the Blessed One indicates that he has not yet acknowledged the Buddha as his master.
200 These are the six sectarian teachers (cha satthāro) or “ford makers” (titthakārā), of whom four are mentioned in 2:30. Of the two not mentioned above, Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta was a sceptic (DN I 58,23-59,7) and Ajita Kesakambalı̄ a materialist (DN I 55,15-56,31).
201 Spk: Na uññātabbā = na avajānitabbā; na paribhotabbā = na paribhavitabbā. Spk distinguishes between “to despise” and “to disparage” with respect to each of the four things mentioned by the Buddha. For example: One despises a young prince if, when one meets him, one does not yield way or remove one’s cloak or rise up from one’s seat, etc. One disparages him if one says such things as, “This prince has a big neck (Se: big ears) and a big belly. How will he be able to exercise rulership?”
202 Uccāvacehi vaṇṇehi. This line reflects the belief, widespread in Indian mythology, that serpents can change their appearance at will. As Spk testifies: “A serpent glides along in whatever form it finds prey, even in the form of a squirrel.” See Vin I 86-87, where a nāga serpent assumes the form of a young man in order to receive ordination as a monk.
203 The grim consequences of despising and disparaging a virtuous bhikkhu do not come to pass because he harbours vindictive intentions, but as natural fruits of the offensive deeds. Spk explains that a bhikkhu who retaliates when provoked is incapable of harming anyone with “(his virtue’s) fire” (tejasā); the transgressor is burned only when the bhikkhu bears up patiently. In this respect the bhikkhu contrasts with the archetypal Indian figure of the maligned holy man who deliberately inflicts a curse on his enemies (see below 11:10).
204 Tacasāraṃ va sam phalaṃ. Spk: As its own fruit injures, destroys, the bamboo or reed, so do they injure, destroy, him.The reed family is called tacasāra because its bark is hard like heartwood. Sam here is the reflexive pronominal adjective, glossed attano. See EV I, n. to 659, EV II, n. to 136, and n. 657 below. Compare the present verse with v. 597.
205 Atthi nu kho bhante jātassa aññatra jarāmaraṇā. Spk: He asks, “Is there anyone who is free from aging and death?”
206 When speaking of the arahant, the Buddha does not describe his destiny as viewed from the outside, i.e., as aging and death, but in terms of the arahant’s own experience, as a mere breaking up and discarding of the body.
207 Santo have sabbhi pavedayanti. Spk offers three interpretations, of which only the first, which I follow, sounds plausible: “The good, together with the good, declare: ‘The Dhamma of the good does not decay.’ The Dhamma of the good is Nibbāna; since that does not decay they call it unaging, deathless.” The verse = Dhp 151, on which Dhp-a III 123,2-5 comments: “The ninefold Dhamma of the good—of the Buddhas, etc.—does not decay, does not undergo destruction. So the good—the Buddhas, etc.—proclaim this, declare it, along with the good, with the wise.” The ninefold supramundane Dhamma is the four paths, their fruits, and Nibbāna. Brough argues that sabbhi here must be understood to bear the sense of a dative, and he takes the point to be that “the doctrine does not wear out ‘because good men teach it to other good men,’ their disciples and successors” (p. 228, n. 160). I do not find his interpretation convincing, for the Dhamma-as-teaching must certainly decay, and only the supramundane Dhamma remains immune to aging and death.
208 “The End-maker” (antaka), in pāda a, is a personification of death; elsewhere (e.g., at v. 448) the word refers expressly to Māra.
209 Spk resolves pacchāsaṃ, in pāda c, into pacchā tesaṃ. Saṃ is from esaṃ, a genitive plural form of the third person pronoun; see Geiger, Pāli Grammar, §108.1. In pāda f, hissa = hi ssa < Skt hi sma. See EV I, nn. to 225, 705.
210 Be: aṭṭakaraṇa; Se and Ee1 & 2: atthakaraṇa. See CPD, s.v. aṭṭa, for hypotheses concerning the derivation. Spk-pṭ explains aṭṭakaraṇa as vinicchayaṭṭhāna, a place for making judgements (regarding litigation).
211 Spk: One day, when the king was sitting in the judgement hall, he saw his ministers accepting bribes and deciding cases in favour of their benefactors. He thought, “When they do such things right in front of me, the sovereign, what won’t they do behind my back? Now it is General Viḍūḍabha who will be known through his own reign. Why should I sit in the same place with these bribe-eating liars?” The exact purport of this last sentence is obscure, and neither Spk nor Spk-pṭ sheds much light on it . Bhadramukha, “Good Face,” is a term of affection (see MN II 53,27, 210,11 foll.; Ja II 261,14; Vism 92,21), which according to Spk and Spk-pṭ here refers to Viḍūḍabha, the king’s son and commander-in-chief. However, the prologue to Ja No. 465 (Ja IV 148-50) relates that King Pasenadi’s earlier commander-in-chief was a warrior named Bandhula, who assumed the role of judge when he learned that the official judges had become corrupt. Thus, despite the gloss, it is possible the king here uses the term with reference to Bandhula rather than his son.
212 Mallikā had been a poor flower girl whom King Pasenadi met by chance after a military defeat. He fell in love with her, married her, and appointed her his chief queen (see prologue to Ja No. 415).Spk: The king had asked her this question expecting her to say, “You are dearer to me than myself,” and then to ask him the same question, to which he would have given the same reply, so that they would have strengthened their mutual love. But Mallikā, being wise and learned, answered with complete honesty (sarasen’ eva) and the king too had to reply in the same way. The translation of attā as soul at KS 1:101 is misleading, despite the attempt at justification in the accompanying footnote. The sutta (inclusive of the verse) is at Ud 47, with the verse described as an “inspired utterance” (udāna).
The conversation between King Pasenadi and Mallikā is strikingly reminiscent of the discussion between the sage Yājñavalkya and his wife Maitreyı̄ recorded at Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad II.4.5 (also at IV.5.6): “Verily, a husband is not dear, that you may love the husband; but that you may love the Self, therefore a husband is dear. Verily, a wife is not dear, that you may love the wife; but that you may love the Self, therefore a wife is dear” (Muller, The Upanishads, 2:109-10, 182-83). It is conceivable that the Buddhist conversation is modelled after the Upaniṣad but with a different message. Whereas Yājñavalkya affirms a transcendent Self—the Ātman—which is “to be seen, to be heard, to be perceived, to be marked,” the Buddha extracts an ethical maxim: since one loves oneself above all others, one should realize the same is true of others and treat them with kindness and respect.
213 Spk relates the background story, also found (in greater detail) at Dhp-a II 1-12; see BL 2:100-7 and Ja No. 314. In brief: The king had become infatuated with a married woman and planned to have her husband killed so that he could take his wife. One night, unable to sleep, he heard eerie cries of inexplicable origin. The next day, when he anxiously asked his brahmin chaplain to explain the meaning, the priest told him that the voices portended his imminent death, which he could avert only by performing a great sacrifice. When the king later inquired from the Buddha about the voices, the Buddha told him these were the cries of adulterers boiling in a cauldron i
n the great hell.
214 The sacrifices are also referred to at It 21,12-17, and their origin related at Sn 299-305. Spk explains that in the times of the ancient kings the first four sacrifices were actually the four bases of beneficence (saṅgahavatthu)—giving, pleasant speech, beneficent conduct, and equality of treatment—by means of which the kings conferred benefits on the world. But during the time of King Okkāka the brahmins reinterpreted the bases of beneficence (which they augmented to five) as bloody sacrifices involving slaughter and violence.In pāda c, I include mahāyaññā, found in Se and Ee2 but absent from Be and Ee1. Spk explains mahārambhā as mahākiccā mahākaraṇīyā, “great activities, great duties,” which Spk-pṭ clarifies: bahupasughātakammā, “the action of slaughtering many animals.”
215 Yajanti anukulaṃ sadā. Spk-pṭ explains anukulaṃ as kulānugataṃ, “what has come down in the family (as family tradition).” Spk: The regular meal offering that was started by people earlier—this the people give in uninterrupted succession through the generations.
216 Spk relates, as the background story, an abridged version of the prologue to Ja No. 92. The verses appear, however, also at Dhp 345-46, the commentarial background story to which states merely that the king had ordered the criminals brought before him to be bound with fetters, ropes, and chains. See Dhp-a IV 53-55; BL 3:223-24. The same story is in the prologue to Ja No. 201.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha Page 41