The Connected Discourses of the Buddha

by Bhikkhu Bodhi

  This interpretation, adopted by several non-Theravāda schools of early Buddhism, seems to be confirmed by the Purisagati Sutta (AN IV 70-74), in which the simile of the flaming chip suggests that the seven types (including the three kinds of antarāparinibbāyī) are mutually exclusive and have been graded according to the sharpness of their faculties. Additional support comes from AN II 134,25-29, which explains the antarāparinibbāyī as one who has abandoned the fetter of rebirth (upapattisaṃyojana) without yet having abandoned the fetter of existence (bhavasaṃyojana). Though the Theravādin proponents argue against this interpretation of antarāparinibbāyī (e.g., at Kv 366), the evidence from the suttas leans strongly in its favour. For a detailed discussion, see Harvey, The Selfless Mind, pp. 98-108.

  AN II 155-56 draws an alternative distinction between the sasaṅkhāraparinibbāyī and the asaṅkhāraparinibbāyī: the former reaches arahantship through meditation on the “austere” meditation subjects such as the foulness of the body, the perception of the repulsiveness of food, discontent with the whole world, the perception of impermanence in all formations, and mindfulness of death; the latter, through the four jhānas.

  66 Spk: In this sutta the elder’s fruition enlightenment factors (phalabojjhaṅga) are discussed. For when he enters fruition attainment after making the enlightenment factor of mindfulness the key, the other six enlightenment factors follow along; and so for the others. Thus the elder spoke this sutta to show his own mastery over fruition attainment. The simile of the wardrobe just below is also at MN I 215,6-15, again spoken by Sāriputta.

  67 Itivādappamokkhānisaṃsañ c’ eva kathaṃ kathente upārambhānisaṃsañ ca. Woodward translates “debating on the profit of freedom from controversy and the profit of wrangling” (KS 5:60). Spk’s explanation of the phrase here is not completely clear to me, but at MN I 133,28-30 the Buddha uses the same terms to reproach certain monks who master the Dhamma upārambhānisaṃsā itivādappamokkhānisaṃsā. Ps II 106,35-107,4 explains: “They master the Dhamma (intent on) the benefit of ascribing errors to their opponents’ theses and on rescuing their own theses when their opponents ascribe errors to them.” The stock Nikāya description of debates provides a clear illustration of what is meant; see, e.g., 22:3 (III 12,5-13) and 56:9 (V 419,5-12).

  68 Vijjāvimuttiphalānisaṃso … Tathāgato viharati. Woodward translates vijjāvimutti as “release by knowledge,” assuming the compound is a subordinate tappurisa, but the expression vijjā ca vimutti ca (at V 52,19) implies it is actually a subordinate dvanda. See too V 329,9-16, where the seven enlightenment factors are said to fulfil two things, namely, vijjāvimutti.

  69 The best reading is the one given by the lemmas of Spk (Se): na maṅku hoti apatitthīnacitto adīnamānaso abyāpannacetaso . Be and Ee misread the second term as appatiṭṭhitacitto , whose meaning (“an unestablished mind”) is exactly the opposite of what is required. Ap(p)atitthīna is the negative past participle of patitthīyati (< Skt *prati-styai). Spk glosses: kilesavasena atthīnacitto, “with a mind not stiffened by defilements.” At AN I 124,6, II 203,17, and III 181,24 we find a series of terms that brings out the meaning well: abhisajjati kuppati vyāpajjati patitthīyati kopañ ca dosañ ca appaccayañ ca pātukaroti; “he becomes annoyed, irritated, bears ill will, is daunted, and shows irritation, hate, and animosity.”

  70 This sutta and the next two are included as protective discourses in the Sinhalese Maha Pirit Pota. Monks often recite them to patients.

  71 Spk: As the elder listened closely to this teaching on the development of the enlightenment factors, it is said, the thought occurred to him: “When I penetrated the truths on the seventh day of my going forth, these enlightenment factors became manifest” (see 16:11). Thinking, “The Master’s teaching is indeed emancipating!” his blood became clear, his bodily humours were purified, and the disease departed from his body like a drop of water fallen on a lotus leaf.

  72 They are recommended to the bhikkhus as “factors of nondecline” at DN II 79,8-23.

  73 Nibbedhabhāgiyaṃ … maggaṃ desessāmi. The reason the path is so described is given just below in the text.

  74 I have translated this passage according to its apparent sense, but it is hard to see how bahukataṃ in the previous sentence, used as an abstract noun, can have the same meaning as it does, in negative form, in abahukato here, an adjective set in apposition to ahaṃ. Spk glosses abahukato with akatabahumāno, “(I) was without much esteem,” but passes over bahukataṃ just above.

  75 Ukkujjāvakujjaṃ samparivattento. Spk says that arising is called surge (ukkujja) and fall is decline (avakujja). Thus he was exploring the aggregates by way of rise and fall (udayabbayavasena). His realization of the Four Noble Truths while contemplating rise and fall marks his attainment of the supramundane path.

  76 Dhammo ca me bhante abhisamito, maggo ca paṭiladdho. The regular past participle of abhisameti is abhisameta. Spk says that he has arrived at the Dhamma of insight (vipassanādhamma ) and gained the path of insight (vipassanāmagga), but these expressions invariably indicate the realization of the supramundane Dhamma and the gaining of the supramundane path. The text does not specify his level of attainment, but it would be at least that of stream-enterer, implied by making “the breakthrough to the Dhamma.” As he must still develop the path further, he could not be an arahant.

  77 We should read kusalā kusalabhāgiyā. The confused orthography in Ee has misled Woodward.

  78 The bracketed passage is in Se only, but is clearly necessary. Cp. AN I 253-56, III 16-19. Curiously, the sutta makes no mention of the seven factors of enlightenment. This silence suggests that this sutta and the following one originally formed a single textual unit. See 46:35 and the following two notes for a similar case in which certain textual traditions have preserved the unity.

  79 I follow Se. In Be and Ee, the next paragraph is counted as a separate sutta, but it is clear enough that the two are counterparts within a single text.

  80 Again I follow Se here, which introduces a break and counts this as a separate sutta, titled Anīvaraṇa Sutta. In Be and Ee, the following is treated as a continuation of the preceding sutta, despite the fact that their themes are completely distinct.

  81 These trees are all of the type known as strangling figs. On their behaviour I cannot do better than to quote from E.J.H. Corner’s Wayside Trees of Malaya, cited by Emeneau, “The Strangling Figs in Sanskrit Literature,” pp. 347-49:Fig-trees whose trunks are composed of a basket-work of interlacing and anastomosing roots are called strangling figs because normally they begin life on other trees and gradually squeeze them to death. Birds, squirrels, and monkeys, which eat the fruits, drop the seeds on the branches of the forest-trees, where they grow into epiphytic bushes that hold on by strong roots encircling the branches. From thence their roots spread down the trunk of the supporting tree to the ground, where they grow vigorously. Side-roots encircle the trunk, joining up with other side-roots where they touch, and aerial roots grow down into the soil from various heights…. [T]he supporting trunk becomes enveloped in a basket of fig-roots and the branches of the fig-bush begin to spread widely through the crown of its support. As the fig-roots and their supporting trunk increase in thickness they press upon each other, but the fig-roots, being the stronger, slowly crush the bark of the support against its wood, with the effect that the supporting trunk is gradually ringed, and its limbs begin to die back, its crown becoming stag-headed and uneven. A long struggle ensues between parasite and host, but if the fig-plant is vigorous it surely kills its support and finally stands in its place on a massive basket of roots.

  Two Jātaka stories (Nos. 370 and 412) use the strangling fig to drive home the lesson that one should never tolerate the slightest evil, for while evil may appear innocuous in its origins it eventually proves fatal.

  82 Tisso vidhā. See 45:162.

  83 The rājā cakkavattī, the ideal monarch of Buddhist literature; for details, see DN II 172-77, MN III 172-76.

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4 Sections (i) and (ii) here are identical with 46:2, but Spk, in commenting on the present sutta, adds a fresh passage on the additional conditions for the fulfilment of the seven enlightenment factors. Below I give merely the headings. The full passage is translated by Soma Thera in The Way of Mindfulness, pp. 174-90. The headings, with brief explanations, are also at Vism 132-34 (Ppn 4:54-62).

  85 Spk: Besides this, there are four other conditions for the arising of the mindfulness enlightenment factor: (i) mindfulness and clear comprehension in all activities; (ii) avoiding unmindful people; (iii) associating with mindful people; and (iv) right resolution (i.e., a mind that “slants, slopes, and inclines” towards the establishing of mindfulness).

  86 Spk: There are seven other conditions for its arising: (i) interrogation (about the meaning of the aggregates, elements, sense bases, etc.); (ii) personal cleanliness; (iii) balancing the faculties (see Vism 129-30; Ppn 4:45-49); (iv) reflecting on the sphere of deep knowledge; (v-vii) avoiding unwise people, associating with wise people, and right resolution.

  87 Spk: Eleven other conditions are: (i) reflecting on the fearfulness of the plane of misery; (ii) seeing the benefits in arousal of energy; (iii) reflecting that one is following the path taken by all the Buddhas, etc.; (iv) reflecting on the need to honour the gifts of alms; (v-viii) reflecting on the greatness of the heritage, of the Master, of the lineage, and of one’s fellow monks; (ix-xi) avoiding lazy people, associating with energetic people, and right resolution.

  88 Spk: Eleven other conditions are: (i-vii) recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha, virtue, generosity, the devas, and peace; (viii) avoiding coarse people; (ix) associating with refined people; (x) reflecting on inspiring suttas; and (xi) right resolution.

  89 Spk: Seven other conditions are: (i) nutritious food; (ii) a congenial climate; (iii) the right posture; (iv) effort at neutrality; (v-vii) avoiding restless people, associating with calm people, and right resolution.

  90 Spk: Ten other conditions are: (i) personal cleanliness; (ii) balancing the faculties; (iii) skill in the sign (i.e., the meditation object); (iv-vi) exerting, restraining, and gladdening the mind at the right time for each; (vii) looking on with equanimity at the right time; (viii-x) avoiding unconcentrated people, associating with concentrated people, and right resolution. (The commentaries to the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta add, as an eleventh factor, reflecting on the jhānas and the deliverances.)

  91 Spk: Five other conditions are: (i) a detached attitude towards beings; (ii) a detached attitude towards formations (i.e., inanimate objects); (iii-v) avoiding possessive people, associating with equanimous people, and right resolution. All the enlightenment factors, after arising, reach “fulfilment by development” (bhāvanāya pāripūri) through the path of arahantship.

  92 Anāhāro nīvaraṇānaṃ. Spk gives an elaborate explanation of how to debilitate each hindrance. Again, I give merely the headings below. The full passage is translated in Soma, The Way of Mindfulness, pp. 155-67; see too Nyanaponika, The Five Mental Hindrances.

  93 The sign of foulness (asubhanimitta), according to Spk, is one or another of the “ten foul objects,” i.e., a corpse in one of the ten stages of decomposition (see Vism 178-79; Ppn 6:1-11). In sutta usage, however, the perception of foulness (asubhasaññā) is explained as the contemplation of the thirty-one parts of the body (as at AN V 109,19-27, increased to thirty-two in Paṭis and the commentaries by the addition of the brain).Spk: Six things lead to the abandoning of sensual desire: (i) learning the foulness object, (ii) devotion to meditation on foulness; (iii) guarding the sense faculties; (iv) moderation in food; (v) good friendship; and (vi) suitable talk. Sensual desire, (temporarily) abandoned in these six ways, is fully abandoned by the path of arahantship. Spk-pṭ: This is said by taking sensual desire, according to the Abhidhamma method, to represent all greed (i.e., greed for existence as well as greed for sensual pleasures).

  94 Spk: The liberation of the mind through lovingkindness (mettācetovimutti) is absorption (= jhāna). Six things lead to abandoning ill will: (i) learning the lovingkindness object; (ii) devotion to meditation on lovingkindness; (iii) reflecting on one’s responsibility for one’s own actions; (iv) frequent consideration; (v) good friendship; and (vi) suitable talk. Ill will is fully abandoned by the path of nonreturning.

  95 On the three elements of energy, see n. 60. Spk: Six things lead to the abandoning of sloth and torpor: (i) avoidance of overeating; (ii) change of postures; (iii) attending to the perception of light (see 51:20; V 278,29-32); (iv) dwelling out in the open; (v) good friendship; and (vi) suitable talk. Sloth and torpor are fully abandoned by the path of arahantship.

  96 Spk: Six things lead to the abandoning of restlessness and remorse: (i) much learning; (ii) investigation; (iii) familiarity with the Vinaya; (iv) association with mature people; (v) good friendship; and (vi) suitable talk. Restlessness is abandoned by the path of arahantship, remorse by the path of nonreturning.

  97 Spk: Six things lead to the abandoning of doubt: (i) much learning; (ii) investigation; (iii) familiarity with the Vinaya; (iv) resoluteness; (v) good friendship; and (vi) suitable talk. Doubt is fully abandoned by the path of stream-entry.

  98 Spk says that the teachers of other sects do not have any original teachings on the five hindrances and the seven enlightenment factors. When they teach their own disciples they plagiarize the Buddha’s teachings on these topics. Gethin points out, however, that the sutta itself does not go as far as the commentary but only stresses the differences between the two modes of teaching (Buddhist Path to Awakening, p. 180).

  99 Spk: Sensual desire “for the internal” is desire for one’s own five aggregates; “for the external,” desire for the aggregates of others (and also, no doubt, for inanimate objects).Similarly below, ill will towards the internal might be understood as anger directed towards oneself, ill will towards the external as anger directed to other beings and to external conditions. The distinction between sloth and torpor is drawn at Vism 469 (Ppn 14:167): Sloth (thina) has the characteristic of “lack of driving power,” the function of removing energy, and manifestation as “sinking of the mind.” Torpor (middha) has the characteristic of unwieldiness, the function of smothering, and manifestation as nodding and sleep. Sloth can thus be understood as mental dullness, torpor as drowsiness. Restlessness (uddhacca) is disquietude or agitation, remorse (kukkucca) regret over faults of commission and omission. Doubt about the internal, according to Spk, is uncertainty regarding one’s own five aggregates (whether they are truly impermanent, etc.); doubt about the external is the “great doubt” (mahāvicikicchā) about eight matters (the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha, and the training; the past, present, and future; and dependent origination).

  100 The bifurcation of each enlightenment factor is also found at Vibh 228, modelled on the present sutta.

  101 The former is the rapture of the first jhāna, the latter the rapture of the second jhāna.

  102 Spk explains tranquillity of body (kāyappassaddhi) as the tranquillizing of distress in the three aggregates (feeling, perception, volitional formations), tranquillity of mind (cittappassaddhi ) as the tranquillizing of distress in the aggregate of consciousness. But see n. 61 above.

  103 The former is the concentration of the first jhāna and the access to it; the latter, the concentration of the second jhāna and higher stages.

  104 Quoted at Vism 130-31, 133 (Ppn 4:51, 57). Cp. AN III 375,18-22, which compares the balancing of the faculties to the tuning of a lute: for the pitch to be right the strings must be neither too tight nor too loose.

  105 Spk: It is desirable everywhere, like salt and a versatile prime minister. Just as salt enhances the flavour of all curries, and just as a versatile prime minister accomplishes all the tasks of state, so the restraining of the excited mind and the exerting of the sluggish mind are all achieved by mindfulness, and without mindfulness this could not be done. See too Vism 130,15-20 (Ppn 4:49).