The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
Page 49
504 The verse is not found in Th proper, but occurs in the text of Th cited in ThA, though without comment. The idea expressed in pādas ab is at Th 1160-61, ascribed to Mahāmoggallāna.
505 At Sn II, 11 (pp. 58-59) both this verse and the next are included in the Buddha’s advice to his son Rāhula. The meditation on foulness (asubha) is the contemplation of the parts of the body, as at 51:20 (V 278,6-14), or the cemetery meditations, as at 46:57-61.
506 The signless (animitta), according to Spk, is insight (vipassanā ), so called because it strips away the “signs” of permanence, etc.
507 The entire sutta is at Sn III, 3 (pp. 78-79).
508 The Buddha’s statement seems partly redundant by making well spoken (subhāsita) one among four factors of well-spoken speech. Spk proposes a solution by first defining well-spoken speech in the wider sense as speech that brings benefit, and by then correlating the four factors of well-spoken speech with the four aspects of right speech—being truthful, conducive to harmony, gentle, and meaningful. Well-spoken speech in the narrower sense is identified with speech that promotes harmony. At AN III 243,27-244,6 well-spoken speech is defined by way of five different factors all external to itself: it is spoken at the proper time, is truthful, gently stated, beneficial, and spoken with a mind of lovingkindness.
509 See n. 227.
510 Spk: “‘Truth, indeed, is deathless speech’ (saccaṃ ve amatā vācā) means that the Buddha’s speech is similar to the Deathless because of its goodness (sādhubhāvena, Be; or its sweetness, if we read sādubhāvena with Se and Ee); or it is deathless because it is a condition for attaining Nibbāna the Deathless.” The former explanation indicates that the text is playing upon the two meanings of amata, “deathless” (= Nibbāna) and “ambrosia,” in Vedic mythology the drink of the immortal gods.Spk remarks on pādas cd: “Being established in truth they were established in the goal (or the good) of oneself and others; being established in the goal (the good), they were established in the Dhamma. Or else, sacca is to be taken as an adjective (= true) qualifying the goal and the Dhamma.”
Spk’s explanation presupposes that the three nouns—sacce, atthe, and dhamme—are proper locatives and āhu an aorist of honti (= ahū). Based on the work of Lüders, Norman suggests (at EV I, n. to 1229) that atthe and dhamme were originally nominatives in an Eastern dialect that had the nominative singular in -e, and were then mistaken for locatives in the process of “translation” into Pāli. I follow Norman in my rendering of the line. In the BHS version (Uv 8:14) the translation went in the opposite direction: into satyaṃ as a nominative and arthe and dharme as locatives.
511 Spk-pṭ: “Since the Buddha speaks for the sake of security (khemāya), his speech is ‘secure,’ as it is the cause for the arising of security. Thus it is the foremost speech.”
512 Spk paraphrases pāda c as if it contained an implicit verb hoti and treats pāda d as an independent sentence with paṭibhānaṃ as subject. It seems more fitting, however, to take nigghoso in pāda c as the subject of udīrayi and paṭibhānaṃ as its object, and I translate accordingly. Spk explains the simile: “The elder’s sweet voice, as he teaches the Dhamma, is like the voice of a myna bird when, having tasted a sweet ripe mango, it strikes up a breeze with its wings and emits a sweet sound.” Spk glosses the verb with uṭṭhahati, and paraphrases with an intransitive sense: “Inspired discourse rises up (from him) endlessly, like waves from the ocean.” This implies that Spk reads udiyyati , the Be reading of Th 1232.
513 The Uposatha is the Buddhist “observance day,” held in accordance with the phases of the moon. The major Uposathas occur on the full-moon and new-moon days, the fifteenth of the fortnight (except six times per year—two for each of the three seasons of the Indian calendar—when the Uposatha falls on the new-moon day of a shorter, fourteen-day fortnight). On these days the bhikkhus normally gather to recite the Pātimokkha, the code of monastic rules. At the end of the annual rains residence (vassāvāsa), however, the recital of the rules is replaced by a ceremony called the Pavāraṇā, the Invitation, at which each bhikkhu in order of seniority invites (pavāreti) the other bhikkhus in his fraternity to point out any misconduct on his part.
514 On the Buddha as the originator of the path, see 22:58.
515 The eulogy of Sāriputta is at 2:29; see too n. 184. The wheel-turning monarch (rājā cakkavattī) is the ideal world-ruler of Buddhist tradition; see DN III 59-63 and MN III 172-77.
516 On the triple knowledge (tevijjā) and the six direct knowledges (chaḷabhiññā), see n. 395. Those liberated in both ways (ubhatobhāgavimutta) are arahants who attain arahantship along with mastery over the formless meditative attainments. Those liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutta) are arahants who attain the goal without mastering the formless meditations; for formal definitions see MN I 477,25-478,1, and 12:70 (II 123,26-124,2).
517 On the wheel-turning monarch see n. 515. Spk explains that the Buddha is the victor in battle (vijitasaṅgāmaṃ) because he has won the battle against lust, hatred, and delusion, and because he has triumphed over the army of Māra. He is the caravan leader (satthāvāha) because he leads beings across the desert of saṃsāra on the chariot of the Noble Eightfold Path.
518 Spk: Nibbāna is called “inaccessible to fear” (akutobhayaṃ, lit. “no fear from anywhere”) because there is no fear from any quarter in Nibbāna, or because there is no fear from any quarter for one who has attained Nibbāna. More typically, akutobhaya is used as a personal epithet of the Buddha or an arahant, as at Dhp 196, Th 289, and Thı̄ 333; see EV I, n. to 289. Even in the present case we cannot be certain that the expression is not used in apposition to the Buddha rather than to Nibbāna, as both are accusative singulars, but I follow Spk.
519 On nāga see n. 84. Spk explains the ambiguous expression isīnaṃ isisattamo as “the seventh seer of the seers beginning with Vipassı̄,” referring to the lineage of the seven Buddhas. Spk-pṭ offers, besides this explanation, an alternative based on sattama as the superlative of sant: “He is the best, the highest, the supreme (sattamo uttaro [sic: read uttamo?] seṭṭho) of seers including paccekabuddhas, Buddhist disciples, and outside seers.” I agree with Norman that this second alternative is more likely to be correct; see EV I, n. to 1240.
520 The contrast is between pubbe parivitakkitā and ṭhānaso paṭibhanti. Spk explains that the Buddha asked this question because other bhikkhus had been criticizing Vaṅgı̄sa, thinking that he neglected study and meditation and passed all his time composing verses. The Master wanted to make them recognize the excellence of his spontaneous ingenuity (paṭibhānasampatti).
521 Spk: The deviant course of Māra’s path (ummaggapathaṃ Mārassa) refers to the emergence of the hundreds of defilements, called a path because they are the path into the round of existence.On barrenness of mind (khila) see n. 500. In pāda d, I read asitaṃ bhāgaso pavibhajjaṃ, with Se and Ee1 & 2. Be reads pavibhajaṃ. Spk glosses as vibhajantaṃ, an accusative present participle, but Norman suggests pavibhajjaṃ may be an absolutive with -ṃ added, and Spk mentions a v.l. pavibhajja, a clear absolutive. Spk paraphrases: “who analyses the Dhamma by way of such groups as the establishments of mindfulness,” etc. The explanation sounds contrived, but it is difficult to determine the original meaning.
522 In pāda c, Be reads tasmiṃ ce in text, while Ee2 has tasmiṃ ca, which Spk (Be) reads in the lemma (but not in the text); the latter is the reading at Th 1243. Norman, on metrical grounds, suggests amending the latter to tamhi ca or tasmi[ṃ] ca. Se and Ee1 have tasmiṃ te, which Spk (Se) has in the lemma. Spk glosses with tasmiṃ tena akkhāte amate (Be and Se concur). Since here the aorist akkhāsi can be taken as either second person or third person, I translate on the supposition that the second person is intended, which is consistent with carasi in the previous verse. Th 1242 has carati, which justifies the translation of the parallel verse in that work as a third person. I also take te to be the enclit
ic for tayā rather than tena. I understand the clause to be a true locative rather than a locative absolute and take “the Deathless” here to be a contraction of “the path to the Deathless,” alluded to in pāda b. This has the support of Spk-pṭ, which says: amate akkhāte ti amatāvahe dhamme desite, “‘In that Deathless declared’ means in that Dhamma taught (by you) which brings the Deathless.”
523 [He] saw the transcendence of all stations (sabbaṭṭhitīnam atikkamam addasa). Spk: “He saw Nibbāna, the transcendence of all the standpoints of views and of all the stations of consciousness.” Six standpoints of views (diṭṭhiṭṭhāna) are mentioned at MN I 135,27-136,2; eight at Paṭis I 138,14-26). Four stations of consciousness (viññāṇaṭṭhiti) are at DN III 228,6-13, seven at DN III 253,9-20; see too 22:54.Spk: The chief matter (agga) is the supreme Dhamma; or if the v.l. agge is adopted, the meaning is: at the beginning, first of all. The five (dasaddhānaṃ, lit. “half of ten”) are the bhikkhus of the group of five (i.e., the first five disciples). Thus the meaning is: He taught the chief Dhamma to the five bhikkhus, or he taught the five bhikkhus at the beginning (of his ministry).
524 The elder’s first name is spelled Aññāsi in Be and Ee1; here I follow Se and Ee2. He was one of the first five disciples and the very first to obtain comprehension of the Dhamma; it was for this reason that he was given the name “Aññā” (or “Aññāsi”), which means “understanding” (or “understood”). See 56:11 (V 424,8-11). According to Spk, the “very long absence” was twelve years, during which he dwelt on the bank of the Mandākini Lotus Pond in the Chaddanta Forest in the Himalayas, a dwelling place favoured by paccekabuddhas. He was fond of seclusion and thus rarely joined the community.
525 Enlightened in succession to the Buddha (buddhānubuddho). Spk: First the Teacher awakened to the Four Noble Truths and after him the Elder Koṇḍañña awakened to them. The pleasant dwellings (sukhavihārā) are the “pleasant dwellings in this present life” (diṭṭthadhammasukhavihārā), i.e., the jhānas and fruition attainment; the seclusions (vivekā) are the three seclusions (of body through physical solitude, of mind through jhāna, and seclusion from the acquisitions by destruction of all defilements). Buddhānubuddhasāvakā is used in a more general sense in 16:5 (II 203, 7) with reference to the old generation of enlightened monks.
526 In pāda c we should read buddhadāyādo with Be, Se, and Ee2, as against Ee1 buddhasāvako. Spk states that although only four abhiññās are mentioned, the elder possessed all six. He had come to take leave of the Buddha as he realized the time for his parinibbāna was approaching. After this meeting he returned to the Himalayas and passed away in his hut. The elephants were the first to mourn his death and honoured him by escorting his body in procession across the Himalayas. Then the devas built a casket for the body and passed it up through the various celestial realms so the devas and brahmās could pay final homage to him, after which the casket was returned to earth for the cremation. The remains were brought to the Buddha, who placed them in a cetiya, “and even today, it is said, that cetiya still stands.”
527 In all eds. of SN and Th 1251 the text here reads sabbaṅgasampannaṃ in pāda a and anekākārasampannaṃ in pāda c, both accusative singulars set in apposition to the Buddha. This reading is doubtlessly ancient, for it is commented on as such by both Spk and Th-a. It is puzzling, however, that after having been described as “perfect in all respects” the Buddha should then be described as “perfect in many qualities”—almost as if his excellence is being diminished. I have accepted VĀT’s ingenious solution to this problem: amending the compound in pāda c to a nominative plural, anekākārasampannā, which then becomes a description, altogether apt, of the triple-knowledge arahants attending on the Buddha. These are the subject of payirūpāsanti, while Gotamaṃ remains the object, still qualified as sabbaṅgasampannaṃ. Note that at Th 1158c anekākārasampanne is used with reference to Sāriputta on the occasion of his parinibbāna; significantly, that verse mirrors v . 610 (SN I 158 = DN II 157), recited at the Buddha’s parinibbāna, extolling the Master as sabbākāravarūpete , “perfect in all excellent qualities.”
528 Vv. 753-57 are considerably more compressed than the partly parallel verses at Th 1253-67. For a concise comparison of the two versions, see Ireland, Vaṅgīsa, pp. 7-8.
529 Kāveyyamattā, “drunk on poetry,” occurs at v. 470a. Spk relates here the story of Vaṅgı̄sa’s first meeting with the Buddha, also found at Dhp-a IV 226-28; see BL 3:334-36. According to this story, Vaṅgı̄sa had been a wandering brahmin who earned his living by tapping the skulls of dead men and declaring their place of rebirth. When he met the Buddha, the Master presented him with several skulls, including the skull of an arahant. Vaṅgı̄sa could guess correctly the rebirth of the deceased owners of the other skulls, but when he came to the arahant he was baffled. He entered the Saṅgha for the purpose of learning how to determine an arahant’s realm of rebirth, but soon thereafter discarded this aim when he realized the holy life was lived for a nobler purpose.
530 If this verse seems narrowly monastic in focus, its counterpart Th 1256-57 corrects the imbalance by mentioning all four classes of disciples:Indeed, for the good of many
The Tathāgatas arise,
For the women and men
Who practise their teaching.
For their sake indeed
The sage attained enlightenment,
For the bhikkhus and bhikkhunı̄s
Who have reached and seen the fixed course.
Pāda dreads : ye niyāmagataddasā. Spk glosses: ye niyāmagatā c’ eva niyāmadasā ca; “who have reached the fixed course and seen the fixed course.” Spk-pṭ: “The bhikkhus and bhikkhunı̄s who are noble disciples of the Buddha have ‘reached the fixed course’ by abiding in the fruit and have ‘seen the fixed course’ by abiding in the path.” Niyāma here no doubt represents sammattaniyāma, “the fixed course of rightness,” i.e., the supramundane path; see 25:1-10 and III, n. 268.
531 Spk: Although the divine ear is not mentioned it should be included. Thus he was a great disciple who had attained the six abhiññās.9. Vanasaṃyutta
532 In pāda c, since vinayassu is a middle voice, second person imperative, jano, though nominative, may function as a vocative lengthened to fit the metre. Spk seems to support this with its gloss: tvaṃ jano aññasmiṃ jane chandarāgaṃ vinayassu; “you, a person, remove desire and lust for other people.” The sentiment of this verse is echoed by Th 149-50.
533 I read pādas ab with Ee1: Aratiṃ pajahāsi so sato/Bhavāsi sataṃ taṃ sārayāmase. Norman understands the metre as irregular Vaitālı̄ya (personal communication). Be has the same but without the so in pāda a. The so is probably a third person demonstrative used with a second person verb, a construction already encountered at v. 647c; see n. 454. VĀT prefers a reading found among SS, Aratiṃ pajahāsi sato bhavāsi/Bhavataṃ sataṃ taṃ sārayāmase, but since Spk and Spk-pṭ do not comment on bhavataṃ it seems this word was not in the texts available to the commentators; Ee2 reads as above but omits bhavataṃ . The verbs pajahāsi and bhavāsi, which Spk glosses with the imperatives pajaha and bhava, conform to the criteria of the subjunctive, rare and archaic in Pāli (see Geiger, Pāli Grammar, §123). Se reads the last verb as sādayāmase, but sārayāmase in the other eds. makes better sense as the subjunctive causative of sarati, to remember > to remind (see Geiger, Pāli Grammar, §126).Pāda b is particularly obscure and the commentators seem to have been unsure how to handle it. Spk offers two alternative interpretations of sataṃ taṃ sārayāmase: “‘Let us also remind you, a mindful one, a wise one [Spk-pṭ: to dispel worldly thoughts whenever they arise]’; or, ‘Let us remind you of the Dhamma of the good ones [Spk-pṭ: of the Dhamma of the good persons for the removal of defilements]’ (satimantaṃ paṇḍitaṃ taṃ mayam pi [yathāuppannaṃ vitakkaṃ vinodanāya] sārayāma, sataṃ vā dhammaṃ [sappurisānaṃ ilesavigama
nadhammaṃ] mayaṃ tam sārayāma).” I have bypassed both alternatives and adopted VĀT′s suggestion that “you” is implicit and taṃ is “that,” representing the way of the good. In pāda c we should read duttaro over Ee1 duruttamo.
534 Spk: It is said that this bhikkhu was an arahant. After returning from a distant alms round he was fatigued and lay down to rest, but he did not actually fall asleep (even though the text says he did!). Thinking that he was lethargic and was neglecting his meditation practice, the devatā came to reprove him.
535 Spk is unsure whether to ascribe the verses that follow to the devatā or to the bhikkhu and therefore proposes two alternative interpretations. All four printed eds. indicate a change of voice before this verse, and thus I translate on the assumption that the bhikkhu is the speaker. Further, Spk takes the implicit subject of tape to be divāsoppaṃ, and explains the sense, “Why should sleeping by day trouble an arahant bhikkhu?”; but as the optative tape can be either second or third person singular, it seems more fitting to take the implicit subject to be the devatā, addressed by the elder in the second person, “Why (should you) trouble…?”