388 For nirabbuda, see n. 409. Spk says that this is the extent of the life span that remains.
389 I follow Spk in ascribing the statement “I am the one of infinite vision …” to the Buddha. If the text is read without the commentary, the words would have to be attributed to Baka. The request that follows, however, seems to confirm Spk’s interpretation.Spk glosses: Vatasīlavattan ti vuccati sīlam eva (“It is virtue alone that is referred to as ‘practice of vow and virtue’”). Spk-pṭ: “It is a vow (vatabhūtam) because it is formally undertaken, and a practice of virtue (sīlavattam) because it is practised by way of virtuous conduct, but the two terms actually refer to one thing; thus the commentary says, ‘It is virtue alone.’”
390 Spk relates detailed stories behind each of the incidents referred to in vv. 575-77. See too DPPN, 2:259-60. Malalasekera errs, however, in stating that all the incidents occurred during his incarnation as Kesava. It seems Spk ascribes v. 578 alone to the life as Kesava.
391 This verse refers to the Kesava Jātaka (Ja No. 346; see too Dhp-a I 342-44). In pāda a, baddhacara is glossed by Spk as antevāsika; see n. 268. I read the verb in pāda b with Be as amaññi (or amañña in Ee2) as against amaññim = “I thought” in Se and Ee1. Though Spk takes the line to thought” in Se and Ee1. Though Spk takes the line to mean that Kappa thought thus of his teacher, I follow the Jātaka, in which the teacher Kesava esteems his pupil Kappa as intelligent and devout while Kesava himself appears almost maudlin.
392 Spk: He did the preparatory work on the fire-kasiṇa, emerged from the basic jhāna, and made a determination: “Let flames come forth from my body.” By the power of his determination, flames came out from his entire body.
393 I translate pādas cd in accordance with Spk’s paraphrase: “Do you see the radiance, the aura, of the Buddha, the Blessed One, surpassing the other auras of the brahmā’s bodies, mansions, and ornaments in this brahmā world?”
394 According to Spk, this brahmā had held two views: first, the view that no ascetics could come to his world; and second, an eternalist view. The first was abandoned when he saw the Buddha and his disciples arrive in his realm. Thereafter the Buddha gave him a discourse at the conclusion of which he was established in the fruit of stream-entry, and thus, through the path of stream-entry, he abandoned his eternalist view.
395 The three knowledges implied by “triple-knowledge bearers” (tevijjā) are: the knowledge of the recollection of past abodes, the divine eye (also called the knowledge of the passing away and rebirth of beings), and the knowledge of the destruction of the taints. Together with spiritual powers (iddhi) and the capacity for reading others’ minds, these make five of the six abhiññās or direct knowledges. Spk says that the sixth, the divine ear, is also implied.
396 Spk-pṭ: A paccekabrahmā is a brahmā who moves about alone, without a retinue. Spk: They stood outside the door like sentries.
397 Spk says that satā in pāda b should also be connected with tayo and caturo in pāda a; the numbers can be interpreted by way of either individual figures (rūpa) or rows (panti). The supaṇṇa is identical with the garuḍa, the giant eagle of Indian mythology; see 30:1. Spk explains byagghīnisā as beasts similar to tigers (byagghasadisā), but the word occurs at Ja VI 538,9 in a list of birds; it is there glossed as sena, a hawk or falcon. It seems that all these figures are illusory creations of the brahmā’s meditative power. Spk: “He shows, ‘This is the splendour of the palace belonging to me, the meditator.’”
398 Pāda c reads: rūpe raṇam disvā sadā pavedhitam. Spk: Having seen form’s flaw—the fault (dosa) consisting in birth, aging, and dissolution; having seen its chronic trembling—that form is always trembling, shaken, stricken by cold, etc. The wise one is the Teacher (the Buddha).While the deity is proud of the forms—the figures that ornament his palace—Subrahmā reproves him by taking up “form” in its technical sense, as the first of the five aggregates, and then exposing its dangers.
399 The story of Kokālika is related below at 6:10.
400 Spk: The immeasurable one (appameyyam) is the arahant; one takes his measure by determining, “He has this much virtue, this much concentration, this much wisdom.” Spkpṭ: The states that make for measurement (pamāṇakara) are lust, hatred, and delusion, and with their removal it is impossible “to measure” the arahant by way of lust, etc. In this connection see 41:7 (IV 297,11-14 = MN I 298,8-11).
401 In Be and Ee1 & 2 the monk’s name is spelt “-modaka-.” He was one of the renegades who joined Devadatta in his plot to create a schism in the Saṅgha. Spk explains akissava, in pāda d, as nippañña, kissava being equivalent to paññā. Spk-pṭ derives kissava, perhaps by “folk etymology,” from “that by which one hears what” (kinti suṇāti etāyā ti), i.e., learns what is wholesome and unwholesome, etc.
402 In Be the deity’s name is Turu. Spk explains that in his previous birth he had been Kokālika’s preceptor; he passed away as a nonreturner and had been reborn in the brahmā world. He heard about Kokālika’s attempt to malign Sāriputta and Moggallāna and came to advise him to abandon this misguided behaviour.
403 Since the Buddha had declared Tudu a nonreturner, Kokālika reproves him for reappearing in the human world. A nonreturning brahmā does not, of course, take rebirth into the human world, but he may manifest himself to humans. Spk paraphrases: “He does not see the boil on his own forehead, yet he thinks he should reproach me for a pimple the size of a mustard seed.” Tudu then realized the wretch was incorrigible and spoke the following verses.
404 In v. 589 I have translated pāda c a little freely in order to make more apparent the connection with v. 590. Literally it should be rendered: “The fool collects a disaster with his mouth.” Kali means both the losing throw at dice and a disaster.
405 Spk paraphrases pādas a-c: “This misfortune is trifling, that is, the loss of wealth at dice along with all that one owns too, including oneself.” Spk glosses sugatesu, “fortunate ones,” in pāda e as sammaggatesu puggalesu, “persons who have rightly attained”; thus here the term refers more widely to all arahants, not only to the Buddha. The verse is also at Uv 8:4, minus pāda c (which Norman considers a later addition), and at P-Dhp 301, which includes pāda c but with saddhammam pi in place of SN’s sabbassā pi. For a theory regarding the historical evolution of the verse, see GD, p. 268, n. to 659.
406 The relationship of the figures here will be clarified in n. 409.
407 This sutta is also at Sn III, 10 (pp. 123-31), with the name spelt Kokāliya. The prose portions are identical, but Sn 661-78 gives detailed descriptions of the torments in hell not included here. AN V 170-74 combines 6:9 and 6:10. The background to Kokālika’s animosity towards the two chief disciples is related in the prologue to Ja No. 480; see too Dhp-a IV 90-93; BL 3:247-49.
408 Spk: The Paduma hell is not a separate hell realm but a particular place in the great Avı̄ci hell where the duration of the torment is measured by paduma units. The same applies to the Abbuda hell, etc., mentioned below.
409 Spk explains the scale for measuring time as follows: one koṭi = ten million years; a koṭi of koṭis = one pakoṭi; a koṭi of pakoṭis = one koṭipakoṭi; a koṭi of koṭipakoṭis = one nahuta; a koṭi of nahutas = one ninnahuta; a koṭi of ninnahutas = one abbuda; twenty abbudas = one nirabbuda.
410 Spk: When he was the youth Pañcasikha he developed jhāna and was reborn in the brahmā world. Because he retained the appearance of a youth they knew him as Kumāra, but because of his great age he was called Sanaṅkumāra, “Forever Youthful.” He makes a dramatic appearance at DN II 210-19. At MN I 358,28-29 Ānanda utters the verse after he has given a detailed analysis of the two terms knowledge (vijjā) and conduct (caraṇa).
411 Spk says this took place not long after Devadatta had created a schism and had gone from the Bamboo Grove to Gayā’s Head; see Vin II 199. In the Vin version, however, the Buddha pronounces this verse, not after Devadatta
creates a schism, but when he wins the patronage of the parricide King Ajātasattu; see Vin II 188.
412 The similes are elaborated at 17:35, followed by the same verse. Cp. v. 383.
413 In pāda b, -vippamokkhā can be understood as a truncated dative (Spk = -vippamokkhatthāya).
414 Spk: Though one has entered into the midst of the Saṅgha, one should not dwell there socializing with one’s lay supporters. Having made the mind proficient, having suffused it with joy and contentment, one should again resort to a remote lodging. Pāda d is explained: “Freed from the fear of saṃsāra, one should dwell liberated in (vimutto)—that is, resolved upon (adhimutto hutvā)—the fearless, Nibbāna.”
415 Spk: By this he explains: “Blessed One, just as you are now sitting without attending to the fearful objects situated there, or to the serpents, or to the lightning and thunder, just so do bhikkhus sit when they are intent on striving.”
416 Spk explains itihītam in pāda b as if it meant deduced by reasoning or logic or inferred from scripture (idam itiha itihā ti na takkahetu vā nayahetu vā piṭakasampadānena vā aham vadāmi). The use of the expression elsewhere, however, indicates that it is specifically connected with oral tradition, e.g., at MN I 520,4: so anussavena itihītihaparamparāya piṭakasampadāya dhammam deseti; “he teaches a doctrine by oral tradition, by transmission of hearsay, by what has come down in scriptures.” See too MN II 169,12.In pāda d, the thousand who have left Death behind (sahassam maccuhāyinam) are the arahants.
417 I interpret the numbers in v. 602 with the aid of Spk, even though this leads to the unlikely conclusion that the number of stream-enterers is not significantly higher than the number of arahants (cp. 55:5, V 406,11-30). I read pāda b with Be, Se, and Ee2 as dasā ca dasadhā dasa rather than with Ee1 dasā ca dasadhā satam. Though the latter gives a ten times higher figure, it does not agree with the commentary, which glosses: dasadhā dasā ti satam. It is not clear to me whether the “five hundred more trainees” (bhiyyo pañcasatā sekkhā) means that there are fifteen hundred trainees between the arahant and stream-enterer stages plus an additional thousand stream-enterers, or fifteen hundred trainees who are stream-enterers. V. 603 is also at DN II 218,6-9, uttered by Brahmā Sanaṅkumāra after he has said that twenty-four hundred thousand (not twenty-four hundred, as Walshe has it at LDB, p. 299) Magadhan followers had passed away as stream-enterers and oncereturners. According to Spk-pṭ, “the other people who partake of merit” (itarā pajā puññabhāgā) are those who have partaken of merit aimed at the ending of the round (but who, presumably, have not yet reached any path or fruit).
418 Sikhı̄ was the fifth Buddha of antiquity counting back from Gotama. He arose thirty-one aeons ago (see DN II 2,14-16).
419 For a more detailed account of Abhibhū’s power of transformation (vikubbanā-iddhi) see Paṭis II 210,14-30.
420 This incident is referred to elsewhere by Ānanda, and in response the Buddha describes the structure of the world system (AN I 227-28). There the Buddha claims that he himself is capable of making his voice heard throughout a three-thousand great thousandfold world system.Spk: The elder first asked himself what kind of Dhamma discourse would be pleasing and agreeable to everyone, and he then realized that all devas and humans praise manly effort. Thus he taught a discourse concerning energy (viriya-paṭisamyutta). The two verses are ascribed to an Abhibhūta Thera at Th 256-57; perhaps the similarity of names has resulted from a garbled transmission. See Horner’s trans. of Mil, Milinda’s Questions, 2:51, n. 5, for ascriptions of the first verse in Pāli and Skt Buddhist literature.
421 This sutta corresponds to the portion of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta that reports the actual passing away of the Buddha (DN II 156,1-157,19). A few discrepancies between the two versions are noticeable. The omission of the attainment of cessation of perception and feeling, noted by C.Rh.D, seems to be peculiar to Ee1; the passage is in Be, Se, and Ee2 as well as in the lemma of Spk. All four eds., however, omit Ānanda’s assertion that the Blessed One (while still in cessation) has attained parinibbāna and Anuruddha’s correction. The SN version also omits the earthquake and thundering, mentioned at DN II 156,35-37.
422 Spk: Here there are two kinds of “immediately after” (samanantarā): immediately after jhāna and immediately after reviewing. In the former case one emerges from the fourth jhāna, descends into the bhavaṅga, and attains parinibbāna. In the latter case, one emerges from the fourth jhāna, reviews the jhāna factors again, then descends into the bhavaṅga, and attains parinibbāna. In the case of the Blessed One, the parinibbāna occurred in the second way. But all beings whatsoever, from Buddhas down to ants and termites, pass away with a kammically indeterminate bhavaṅga consciousness.
423 On Brahmā Sahampati, see n. 367. The powers (bala) are the ten Tathāgata’s powers, enumerated at MN I 69-71.
424 At v. 21, we have the same verse with a reading sabbasaṅkhārā in place of vata saṅkhārā in pāda a. See n. 20.
425 In the DN version Anuruddha’s verses precede Ānanda’s.
426 VĀT remarks: “The absence of in-and-out breathing (in pāda a) refers to the state in the fourth jhāna, where breathing ceases, from which the Buddha passed away. This is not the ordinary cessation of breathing that sets in when anyone dies. The verse states something remarkable: that already before ‘dying’ there was no breathing.” On “the Stable One” (tādī), see below n. 435. On the ceasing of the breath in the fourth jhāna, see 36:11 (IV 217,8-9).Spk: Bent on peace (santim ārabbha): bent upon, depending upon, leaning towards Nibbāna without residue. The One with Vision—he with the five eyes—attained final Nibbāna through the full quenching of the aggregates (khandhaparinibbāna). On the five eyes, see n. 370; on the two kinds of parinibbāna, see General Introduction, p. 50. At DN II 157,13 this pāda reads: yaṃ kālam akarī munī; “when the Sage passed away.”
427 Pādas cd read: Pajjotasseva nibbānaṃ/Vimokkho cetaso ahū. The word nibbāna is used here in its literal sense but with doctrinal overtones that fit the context. Spk: His deliverance, not obstructed by anything, his approaching the completely indescribable state (sabbaso apaññattibhāvūpagamo ), resembled the quenching of a lamp. Anuruddha’s verses on the Buddha’s parinibbāna in Th include an additional verse, Th 907.7. Brāhmaṇasaṃyutta
428 The story related here is also at Dhp-a IV,161-63; see BL 3:288-89. The opening is similar to that of MN No. 100 (II 209,21 foll.), which concerns a brahmin lady of the same name, there spelt Dhānañjānı̄.Spk: The Dhanañjāni clan was reputed to be the highest clan of brahmins. They believed that while other brahmins had been born from Brahmā’s mouth, they themselves had issued from the top of his head. This woman was a noble disciple, a stream-enterer, but her husband was staunchly opposed to the Buddha’s dispensation and would block his ears whenever she spoke in praise of the Triple Gem.
429 Spk: The brahmin had invited five hundred fellow brahmins to a banquet. The previous day he had pleaded with his wife not to disgrace him by praising the Buddha before his peers. When she stumbled over a stack of fire-wood while serving food to the brahmins, she knelt down and paid homage to the Buddha. Scandalized by this, the brahmins reviled her husband and walked out without even finishing their meal.
430 Vasalī, here rendered “wretched woman,” is a term of severe contempt, used by the brahmins to address outcasts.
431 The verses have already appeared at 1:71 and 2:3, with different narrative settings. This illustrates once again how the “floating mass” of didactic verses could be freely drawn upon to suit different pedagogical requirements. Spk: He formulated his question with the following intent: “If he says, ‘I approve of the killing of such and such,’ then I’ll call him a killer and challenge his claim to be an ascetic; but if he says he doesn’t approve of any killing, I’ll say, ‘Then you don’t desire the killing of lust, etc., so why do you wander about as an ascetic?’ Thus the ascetic Go
tama will be caught on the horns of this dilemma, unable either to swallow it or to cough it up.” He greeted the Buddha cordially in order to hide his anger.
432 See n. 376.
433 I give the sobriquet both in Pāli and in English. Spk, which identifies him as the younger brother of the first Bhāradvāja brahmin, says that the epithet was added by the redactors of the canon because he came abusing (akkosanto) the Tathagata with five hundred verses.
434 Spk: He had heard that seers (isi) inflict a curse when they become angry, so when the Buddha said, “It still belongs to you, brahmin!” he was frightened, thinking, “The ascetic Gotama, it seems, is putting a curse on me.” Therefore he spoke thus.
435 I have translated tādī as “the Stable One” in accordance with the commentarial gloss, tādilakkhaṇaṃ pattassa, which alludes to the explanation of tādī at Nidd I 114-16: “The arahant is tādī because he is ‘stable’ (tādī) in the face of gain and loss, etc.; he is tādī because he has given up all defilements, etc.; he is tādī because he has crossed the four floods, etc.; he is tādī because his mind is free from all defilements; and he is tādī as a description of him in terms of his qualities” (condensed). A similar but slightly different definition of tādī in relation to the Buddha occurs at Nidd I 459-61.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha Page 46