475 In the third line I supply “body” in deference to Spk, which explains the instrumentals as qualifying the body (kāyavisesanāni). Spk glosses sucārurūpaṃ with atisundaraṃ.
476 Spk: The world’s divine lord (lokādhipati) is Mahābrahmā, the supreme triple heaven (tidivam anuttaraṃ ) is said with reference to the brahmā world. I translate pādas cd as an assertion based on the v.l. tasmā found in some SS and adopted by Ee2 rather than as a question signalled by kasmā, the reading in Be, Se, and Ee1.
477 Spk explains desires (kaṅkhā), delights (abhinandanā), and longings (pajappitā) as modes of craving (taṇhā). The root of unknowing (aññāṇamūla) is ignorance (avijjā). A parallel to this verse is at Nett 24 and Peṭ 17, but with pāda a reading āsā pihā ca abhinandanā ca.
478 In pāda a, I read asito with Be, Se, and Ee2, as against Ee1 apiho, “without envy.” Spk takes “my purified vision of all things” to be an allusion to the knowledge of omniscience. In pāda c, it glosses sivaṃ with seṭṭhaṃ, and sambodhim anuttaraṃ with arahatta.
479 “Mendicant” is a rendering of bhikkhaka, which is of course related to bhikkhu, a fully ordained Buddhist monk.
480 Ee1 bhikkhavo in pāda b should be amended to bhikkhate. Spk explains vissaṃ dhammaṃ in the next pāda as duggandhaṃ akusaladhammaṃ , “a foul smelling unwholesome state,” assuming that vissa < Skt visra, raw meat. Spk-pṭ adds: “It produces a putrid smell, thus it is vissa, i.e., foul smelling” (virūpaṃ gandhaṃ pasavatī ti visso duggandho). Dhp-a III 393,2 (commenting on the verse at Dhp 266) says: “Vissa is an uneven doctrine (visamaṃ dhammaṃ); or else, a putrid-smelling state of bodily action, etc. (vissagandhaṃ vā kāyakammādikaṃ dhammaṃ), having undertaken which one is not called a bhikkhu.” As Brough points out, however, the original Pāli term is probably derived from Vedic veśman , domestic (Gāndhārī Dharmapada , pp. 191-92, n. to 67). Vesma occurs in Pāli at Ja V 84,17. Uv 32:18, the Skt parallel to the present verse, has veśmāṃ dharmaṃ.In the next verse, in pāda b, I read brahmacariyavā, with Se and SS, as against brahmacariyaṃ in the other eds. The latter does not seem to fit into the syntax, as it is neither subject nor object of the verb. Since the Buddha here defines a bhikkhu as one who has expelled both merit and evil (puññañ ca pāpañ ca bāhitvā), this means he is equating the real monk solely with the arahant.
481 See n. 453.
482 The name Khomadussa means “linen cloth.” Spk says that the town was given this name because of the prevalence of linen there. From what follows it seems the town was a brahmin enclave in the predominantly khattiya Sakyan republic. In the irate reaction of the brahmins to the Buddha’s arrival on the scene we can detect a note of hostility rooted in caste prejudice.
483 My rendering is not strictly literal but is intended to convey the sense of indignation. Spk: The “rule of order” (sabhādhammaṃ, lit. “rule of the council”) was that late-comers should enter through a side entrance so as not to disturb those comfortably settled in their seats. But the Buddha entered from the front, so the brahmins spoke scornfully.The Buddha picks up on the the word dhamma, in the sense of rule, and speaks with reference to the true doctrine. There is also a pun on sabhā as council (or meeting hall) and santo as the good ones. According to Spk, the Buddha had caused the rain to fall by an act of will to give himself a reason for entering the meeting hall. A clearer example of rain created by psychic power is at 41:4.
8. Vaṅgīsasaṃyutta
484 His verses are at Th 1209-79. Vv. 707-57 are parallel to Th 1209-62, but with variant readings and major differences especially in the verses corresponding to vv. 753-57. The verses are collected and translated in Ireland, Vaṅgīsa: An Early Buddhist Poet. For the resolution of philological problems posed by these verses I have relied largely upon Norman’s notes in EV I.
485 Cetiyas are memorial shrines, similar to stūpas, originally made from mounds of earth.Spk : Before the Buddhas arise the shrines such as Aggāḷava and Gotamaka are the haunts of yakkhas and nāgas, etc., but when Buddhas arise people drive the spirits away and build monasteries there.
486 I translate anabhirati as “dissatisfaction,” and the nearly synonymous arati as “discontent.” Although the meanings of the two words overlap, arati is often glossed in the commentaries as discontent with remote lodgings and with meditation (pantasenāsanesu c ’ eva bhāvanāya ca ukkaṇṭhitaṃ: Spk I 264,29-31 [to 7:17]) or discontent with the Buddha’s Teaching (sāsane aratiṃ: Spk I 269,23-24 [to 8:2]). Anabhirati usually implies distress caused by sensual passion, often inducing a wish to give up the celibate life and return to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. In the expression sabbaloke anabhiratasaññā, “the perception of nondelight in the entire world,” anabhirata is used in a positive sense as the designation for a particular topic of insight meditation (see AN V 111,3-7). The delight (abhirati) that Vaṅgı̄sa will arouse in himself is, of course, delight in the holy life, not the unwholesome delight in the five sense objects, a mode of craving.
487 From the Dark One (kaṇhato). Spk: “From the dark faction, the faction of Māra.” Māra is addressed as Kaṇha in the refrain of the verses at MN I 337-38.
488 Spk explains uggaputtā in pāda a as the powerful and royal sons of aristocrats (uggatānaṃ puttā mahesakkhā rājaññabhūtā). CPD, s.v. ugga, says they are members of the ugga caste, a mixed caste sprung from a kṣatriya father and a śūdrā mother. Members of this caste, it seems, served as police, guards, and professional soldiers. Spk glosses daḷhadhammino as “those of firm bows bearing a teacher’s bow of the maximum size” (daḷhadhanuno uttamapamāṇaṃ ācariyadhanuṃ dhārayamānā); see n. 181 above, II, n. 365, and EV I, n. to 1210. With Spk, I take apalāyinaṃ as a metrically shortened genitive plural used in apposition to sahassaṃ, not as an accusative singular. Spk paraphrases pāda d: te samantā sarehi parikireyyuṃ; “they might surround (me) with arrows on all sides.” Although Spk-pṭ glosses parikireyyuṃ with vijjheyyuṃ, “they might shoot,” the use of the expression samantā parikiriṃsu at Ja VI 592,11-15 clearly shows that parikireyyuṃ does not imply shooting. (The wrong spelling parikaraṃsu in Ee of Ja should be corrected to parikiriṃsu as in Be: Ja II 372, vv. 2431-35.) The commentary (Ja VI 589,5) glosses the word with parivārayiṃsu, “to accompany (as members of a retinue).”
489 I read pāda d with Ee1 as dhamme s’ amhi patiṭṭhito and take s’ amhi to be a conjunct of so amhi, with so functioning as the first person pronoun, a common enough form in Pāli. Ee2 supports this with its reading dhamme sv amhi patiṭṭhito. The whole expression dhamme s’ amhi patiṭṭhito would then be a nominative periphrastic construction, with the word order inverted in compliance with the metre. Th 1211 can also support this interpretation if read, as Norman suggests, as dhamme svamhi. Be and Se, however, have the accusative patiṭṭhitaṃ , apparently in apposition to maṃ in pāda c. Commenting on the basis of this reading, Spk explains dhamme samhi as meaning sake sāsanadhamme, “in my own Dhamma teaching,” with samhi understood as the locative singular of sa < Skt sva. While this interpretation at first sight seems strained, we do find sehi dhammehi at Sn 298, glossed by Pj II 319,16 as sakehi cārittehi. This shows that the reading accepted by Spk is feasible, though less plausible than the alternative.Spk connects the simile with this verse thus: “If a thousand archers were to shoot arrows all around, a trained person might take a staff and knock down all the arrows in flight before they strike him, bringing them to his feet. One archer cannot shoot more than one arrow at a time, but these women each shoot five arrows at a time, by way of form and the other sense objects. If more than a thousand of these were to shoot in such a way, still they would not be able to shake me.”
490 Spk explains maggaṃ in pāda c as a transformation of case (liṅgavipallāsa). Spk: “This statement refers to insight (vipassanā); for that is the preliminary phase of the path leading to Nibbāna. His mind deli
ghts in his own tender insight called the path leading to Nibbāna.”
491 Spk: “I will so act that you will not even see the path I have gone along among the realms of existence, modes of origin, etc.” See vv. 49 (= 105), 479, 494.
492 Spk: Discontent and delight (aratiñ ca ratiñ ca): discontent with the dispensation [Spk-pṭ: dissatisfaction with the fulfilment of virtue and the development of serenity and insight] and delight in the cords of sensual pleasure. Household thoughts (gehasitañ ca vitakkaṃ): having abandoned in all ways evil thoughts connected with “the household,” i.e., with the five cords of sensual pleasure.The next couplet plays upon the double meaning of vanatha; see n. 474. Spk glosses vanathaṃ as kilesamahāvanaṃ , “the great woods of defilements,” and nibbanatho as nikkilesavano, “without the woods of defilements.” The last word in pāda d is read arato in Be, Se, and Ee2, but in Ee1 as anato, “uninclined.” Spk (both Be and Se) reads arato in the lemma and glosses taṇhāratirahito, “devoid of delight on account of craving,” but anato and nati would also fit the lemma and gloss respectively, as nati too is a synonym for taṇhā. The reading at Th 1214 is avanatho, which expresses virtually the same idea as nibbanatho.
493 Kiñci should be brought into pāda b (as at Th 1215) and connected semantically with yam in pāda a. Spk explains jagatogadhaṃ in pāda b as what exists within the earth, e.g., in the realm of the nāgas, but I take the expression in a wider sense, supported by Th-a III 190,4-5, which glosses: “Whatever is mundane, conditioned, included in the three realms of existence.” “Everything impermanent decays (parijīyati sabbam aniccaṃ)”—this, says Spk, was “the elder’s great insight” (mahāvipassanā).
494 Spk identifies the upadhi in pāda a as the “acquisitions” of the aggregates, defilements, and volitional formations; see n. 21. No explanation is given for the exclusion of “acquisitions as sensual pleasures” (kāmūpadhi) which the context seems to allow, indeed even to require. In commenting on pāda b, Spk says paṭigha, “the sensed,” comprises odour and taste, while muta, “the felt,” denotes the tactile object. Th-a III 190,15-20 inverts the explanation: paṭigha is glossed as phoṭṭhabba, and muta as gandha-rasa. The familiar tetrad is diṭṭha, suta, muta, and viññāta (see 35:95; IV 73,4-7); the commentaries explain muta as comprising odour, taste, and the tactile object, and viññāta as mental objects. Norman translates muta as thought (its original sense), implying that this tetrad corresponds to the more familiar one, with paṭigha assuming the usual role of muta and the latter serving in place of viññāta. In deference to Spk and Th-a, I prefer to translate the present tetrad in a way that comprises only the five external sense bases and thus as signifying the five cords of sensual pleasure.
495 The readings of pāda ab vary among the different eds. I prefer that of Ee2: Atha saṭṭhisitā savitakkā/Puthū janatāya adhammaniviṭṭhā. The metre is irregular Vegavatı̄.The verse is obscure and evidently challenged the ingenuity of the commentators. Spk paraphrases: “Then many unrighteous thoughts attached to the six sense objects have settled upon the people” (atha cha ārammaṇanissitā puthū adhammavitakkā janatāya niviṭṭhā). This explanation is flawed in two respects: (i) it construes the subject as vitakkā, thoughts, when the Pāli reads savitakkā, a bahubbīhi compound denoting persons with thoughts; if we take sa here to represent Skt sva rather than saha, savitakkā means those who are led by (or full of) their own thoughts; (ii) it explains saṭṭhi as cha, six, when it properly means sixty. Th-a III 190,28-31 mentions the opinion held by some commentators that saṭṭhisitā is an allusion to the sixty-two views of the Brahmajāla Sutta, and the verse does in fact echo the closing simile of that sutta (DN I 45,25-27): “Just as all large sea creatures are caught in the fisherman’s net, so all these speculative thinkers are trapped within this net of sixty-two cases; here they are caught whenever they emerge” (te imeh’ eva dvāsaṭṭhiyā vatthūhi antojālīkatā ettha sitā va ummujjamānā ummujjanti). In pāda c, vaggagatassa should be resolved vaggagato assa. Spk takes the line to mean that one should not join the faction of defilements (kilesavagga), but I understand it literally. In fact, at Sn 371b we find vaggagatesu na vaggasāri dhīro, “Among those who are factious, the wise one does not follow a faction.” Pj II 365,20-24 explains this by reference to the sixty-two speculative views, thus linking it to the present verse. See in this connection GD, p. 217, n. to 371.
Pāda d reads no pana duṭṭhullabhānī sa bhikkhu, which Spk-pṭ explains as an injunction not to speak words connected with sensuality (kāmapaṭisaṃyuttakathā). Th 1217 reads here duṭṭhullagāhī, “one should not grasp what is corrupt,” which Th-a explains as referring to the grasping of corrupt views.
496 Spk identifies “the peaceful state” (of pāda c) with Nibbāna and paraphrases pāda d thus: “Fully quenched by the full quenching of defilements in dependence on Nibbāna, he awaits the time of his parinibbāna [Spk-pṭ: the time of the Nibbāna element without residue] ” (nibbāna paṭicca kilesaparinibbānena parinibbuto parinibbānakālaṃ [anupādisesanibbānakālaṃ] āgameti).
497 Spk states that he prided himself on his learning; however, paṭibhāna is used to mean skill in verbal expression and thus probably refers here specifically to Vaṅgı̄sa’s poetic talent.
498 Asesaṃ should be moved from pāda c into pāda b. Spk explains “pathway of conceit” (mānapathaṃ) as the object of conceit and the states coexistent with conceit, but it may be just a metaphorical expression for conduct governed by conceit. Spk says he addressed himself as “Gotama” (the Buddha’s clan name) because he is a disciple of the Buddha Gotama, but this is hard to accept; see v. 721 just below where Ānanda is so addressed because he actually was a member of the Gotama clan. I do not know of any other instance of monks addressing themselves (or others) as “Gotama” simply on the ground that they are disciples of the Buddha Gotama.In the next verse we should twice read mānahatā in place of Ee1 mānagatā. Th-a glosses mānena hataguṇā, “with good qualities destroyed by conceit.”
499 Spk explains maggajino in pāda b as a “path-conqueror,” i.e., “one who has conquered defilements by the path,” but I follow Norman’s suggestion (at GD, p. 164, n. to 84) that the word is a variant of maggaññu (< Skt mārgajña), formed by resolution with an epenthetic (svarabhakti) vowel rather than by assimilation.
500 Th-a glosses akhilo in pāda a with pañcacetokhilarahito, “devoid of the five kinds of mental barrenness,” with reference to MN I 101,9-27. The five are doubt and perplexity about the Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, and training, and anger towards one’s co-religionists. This seems preferable to interpreting the word by way of the three khila—greed, hatred, and delusion (see n. 84)—as the five cetokhila are said to be obstacles to “ardour, exertion, persistence, and striving” and their elimination is thus a prerequisite for strenuous effort.In pāda d, vijjāyantakaro is a syntactical compound, here with the first member an instrumental or ablative; see n. 68. The verse lacks a finite verb, but Th-a says that the verse was spoken by way of self-admonition, and I have therefore supplied imperatives to convey this effect. The verse can be seen as describing a progression: “First be rid of the five obstacles to striving, then be strenuous. By effort abandon the five hindrances and attain purity of mind through concentration. On this basis, develop insight into nonself and abandon conceit. Thereby you will eradicate the taints by knowledge, make an end to suffering, and dwell in the peace of Nibbāna.”
501 Spk: Once, when the Venerable Ānanda was invited to the royal palace to teach the Dhamma to the womenfolk, he brought along Vaṅgı̄sa, then newly ordained, as his companion. When Vaṅgı̄sa saw the women, beautifully attired in their best ornaments, lust infested his mind, and at the first opportunity he revealed his distress to Ānanda. Vism 38 (Ppn 1:103), which cites the verses (though in a different sequence), relates that Vaṅgı̄sa had become overpowered by lust when he caught sight of a woman on his
alms round soon after going forth. A Skt version of the same story, with the verses, is cited in Enomoto, CSCS, pp. 44-45.
502 He addresses Ānanda as “Gotama” because Ānanda was a member of the Gotama clan. Here there is surely a word play on nibbāpana (and on nibbāpehi in v. 723c) as meaning both the extinguishing of a fire and the attainment of Nibbāna.
503 Vv . 722 and 724-25, though spoken by Ānanda, are included among Vaṅgı̄sa’s verses as Th 1224-26. The “inversion of perception” (saññāya vipariyesā) is fourfold: perceiving permanence, happiness, selfhood, and beauty in what is actually impermanent, suffering, nonself, and foul; see AN II 52,4-7.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha Page 48