The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
Page 216
370 Sakkāyanirodha, i.e., Nibbāna. This injunction is intended to turn the mind of the dying lay follower away from a rebirth in the brahmā world and direct it towards the attainment of Nibbāna.
371 I read with Be evaṃvimuttacittassa, as against Se evaṃvimucittattassa (probably a typographical error) and Ee evaṃvuttassa. But with Se I read vassasatavimuttacittena, as against Be and Ee āsavā vimuttacittena.
372 I read with Se and Ee vimuttiyā vimuttin ti, as against Be vimuttiyā vimuttan ti. The phrase vimuttiyā vimuttiṃ is also at AN III 34,6-7, again referring to arahantship. Spk: When one liberation is compared to the other, there is no difference to be described. When the path or fruit is penetrated, there is no difference between lay followers and bhikkhus.The Buddha’s statement thus indicates that the lay follower has become an arahant. Apart from the few instances of lay people who attained arahantship just before renouncing the household life (like Yasa at Vin I 17,1-3), this may be the only mention of a lay arahant in the Nikāyas, and in his case the attainment occurs on the verge of death. Mil 264-66 lays down the thesis that a lay person who attains arahantship either goes forth that day (i.e., becomes a monk or nun) or passes away into final Nibbāna.
373 Reading with Se asāmantapaññatāya, as against appamatta- in Be and Ee.
374 Paṭis II 189-202 quotes the passage in full and defines all the terms with the aid of the full conceptual apparatus of early Theravāda scholasticism.56. Saccasaṃyutta
375 As at 22:5; the next sutta as at 22:6.
376 Tasmātiha bhikkhave idaṃ dukkhan ti yogo karaṇīyo. Spk: Since a concentrated bhikkhu understands the Four Noble Truths as they really are, therefore you should make an exertion to become concentrated in order to understand the four truths as they really are. And since the round of existence increases for those who do not penetrate them, but stops increasing from the time they are penetrated, therefore you should make an exertion to understand them, thinking, “Let the round not increase for us.”
377 Reading with Se and Ee: Mā bhikkhave pāpakaṃ akusalaṃ cintaṃ cinteyyātha. Be has cittaṃ.
378 Mā bhikkhave viggāhikakathaṃ katheyyātha. As at 22:3 (III 12,6-12).
379 Mā bhikkhave anekavihitaṃ tiracchānakathaṃ katheyyātha. Tiracchānakathā is literally “animal talk,” but Spk explains it as talk that “runs horizontal” (tiracchānabhūtaṃ) to the paths leading to heaven and liberation.
380 What follows is the Buddha’s first sermon, recorded in the narration of his ministry at Vin I 10-12. The sutta is analysed at MN No. 141 and Vibh 99-105, and commented upon at Vism 498-510 (Ppn 16:32-83) and Vibh-a 93-122. For a detailed explanation according to the method of the commentaries, see Rewata Dhamma, The First Discourse of the Buddha.
381 I follow Be and Se here. Ee includes sokaparidevadukkhadomanass’ upāyāsā, which is found elsewhere in formal definitions of the first truth but lacking in most versions of the first sermon.
382 The three phases (tiparivaṭṭa) are: (i) the knowledge of each truth (saccañāṇa), e.g., “This is the noble truth of suffering”; (ii) the knowledge of the task to be accomplished regarding each truth (kiccañāṇa), e.g., “This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood”; and (iii) the knowledge of accomplishment regarding each truth (katañāṇa), e.g., “This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood.” The twelve modes (dvādasākāra) are obtained by applying the three phases to the four truths.
383 Spk explains dhammacakka by way of the knowledge of penetration (paṭivedhañāṇa) and the knowledge of teaching (desanāñāṇa); see II, n. 57. Until Koṇḍañña and the eighteen koṭis of brahmās were established in the fruit of stream-entry the Blessed One was still setting in motion (pavatteti nāma) the Wheel of the Dhamma; but when they were established in the fruit, then the Wheel had been set in motion (pavattitaṃ nāma).
384 Aparimāṇā vaṇṇā aparimāṇā byañjanā aparimāṇā saṅkāsanā. Spk says the three terms are synonyms, all meaning akkharā, but I think their connotations are slightly different.
385 Tathāni avitathāni anaññathāni. See 12:20 and II, n. 54. Spk: “Actual in the sense of not departing from the real nature of things; for suffering is stated to be just suffering. Unerring, because of the nonfalsification of its real nature; for suffering does not become nonsuffering. Not otherwise, because of not arriving at a different nature; for suffering does not arrive at the nature of the origin (of suffering), etc. The same method for the other truths.” I understand anaññatha in the simpler and more straightforward sense that the truths are “not otherwise” than the way things really are.
386 I use the title of Be and Se. The Ee title should be changed from Vijjā to Vajji (also for the next sutta). This sutta too is included in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, at DN II 90-91, and is also at Vin I 230,25-231,10.
387 The entire sutta with the verses is at It 104-6, the verses alone at Sn 724-27.
388 Cp. 12:23 (II 29,24-25) and 22:101 (III 152,26-27).
389 Spk: “Since they are actual, unerring, not otherwise, they are called the truths of the noble ones (ariyānaṃ saccāni); for the noble ones do not penetrate errors as noble truths.” An explanation of the expression “noble truths” (ariyasacca) at Vism 495 (Ppn 16:20-22) quotes 56:27 and 28, as well as 56:23.
390 The passage quoted is not found elsewhere in the Nikāyas but is cited at Vism 690,10-13 (Ppn 22:93) to prove that path knowledge performs four functions at a single moment. See Kv 220.
391 All these leaves are small and delicate. I follow Be for the name of the second type of leaf, saralapatta, which Liyanaratne (“South Asian Flora,” §170) renders as the long-leaved Indian pine.
392 I read with Se tālapakkaṃ. All the other texts, including SS, read tālapattaṃ, “a palm leaf,” which does not make good sense. Tālapakkaṃ is also at It 84,20.
393 Though palāsa usually means foliage, here it denotes a specific tree. Liyanaratne (§44) identifies this as a kind of kiṃsuka, but different, it seems, from the kiṃsuka mentioned at 35:245 (listed by Liyanaratne at §43). The English name for the palāsa is the Bengal kino tree or Dhak tree. The māluvā is a broad-leaved creeper, mentioned also at I, v. 810; see too I, n. 568.
394 Cp. 15:9, which says the stick might also fall on its middle.
395 Many of these expressions are also at 12:85-92.
396 Cp. 12:63 (II 100,10-25).
397 Reading with Se and Ee, sammādiṭṭhikass’ etaṃ. Be has tass’ etaṃ.
398 Indakhīla. PED defines this as a post or stake set at or before the city gate; also as a large slab of stone let into the ground at the entrance of a house.
399 As at AN IV 404,21-405,5.
400 Lokacintaṃ cintessāmi. Spk gives as an example: “Who created the sun and moon? The great earth? The ocean? Who begot beings? The mountains? Mangoes, palms, and coconuts?”
401 Spk: It is said that the asuras had applied the Sambari magic (see 11:23) and resolved that the man would see them mounted on their elephants and horses entering through slits in the lotus stalks. At AN II 80,22-24 it is said that speculating about the world leads to madness, yet here, strangely, it turns out that the man is not really mad after all.
402 This passage offers an interesting condensed version of dependent origination (paṭicca-samuppāda). Not understanding the Four Noble Truths is ignorance (avijjā; see 56:17). The phrase “they delight in (abhiramanti) volitional formations that lead to birth” implies craving, which gives rise to delight (rati, abhirati) when one’s craving is fulfilled. The phrase “they generate volitional formations that lead to birth (jātisaṃvattanike saṅkhāre abhisaṅkharonti)” clearly points to the volitional formations. And falling into “the precipice of birth, aging, and death” obviously corresponds to the last two links in the series. So we here find ignorance and craving, in conjunction with volitional formations, bringing new birth, aging, and death (undergone by consciousness together with name-and-form).
403 Mah
āpariḷāho nāma nirayo. The description is also at 35:135.
404 The title in Be and Se is Vāla, but Ee titles it Chiggaḷa 1.
405 Poṅkhānupoṅkhaṃ. Spk: He saw them shoot one arrow, then shoot another—called the “afterbutt” (anupoṅkhaṃ)—in such a way that the butt of the first arrow’s shaft was split, then shoot still another through the butt of the second arrow.
406 Spk glosses durabhisambhavataraṃ with dukkarataraṃ. On the splitting of the hair, I follow Be, which reads sattadhā, supported by Spk (both Be and Se). Se and Ee of text have satadhā, “a hundred strands.”Spk: Having split one hair into seven strands, they fix one strand to an eggplant and another to the tip of the arrowhead; then, standing at a distance of an usabha (about 200 feet), they pierce the strand fixed to the arrowhead through the strand fixed to the eggplant.
407 Lokantarikā aghā asaṃvutā andhakārakā andhakāratiṃsā. The expression occurs at DN II 12,11, MN III 120,9, and AN II 130,26-27. Spk does not comment, but Sv, Ps, and Mp to the above consistently explain: “Between every three spiral world-spheres (cakkavāḷa) there is one world-interstice, like the space between three cart wheels set down so that they touch. That is a ‘world-interstice hell,’ measuring 8,000 yojanas (= appx. 80,000 kilometres). It is ‘vacant’ (agha), i.e., always open (niccavivaṭa); and ‘abysmal’ (asaṃvutā), i.e., without an underlying support, and so dark even eye-consciousness cannot arise.”
408 Ee titles this sutta Chiggaḷa 2, but in Se it is simply called Chiggala (and the next, Chiggala 2); in Be, the two are respectively called the Paṭhama- and Dutiya-chiggaḷayuga Sutta. The simile of the blind turtle and the yoke is also at MN III 169,9-22, which is partly elaborated as in the following sutta.
409 Adhiccam idaṃ. The statement has to be taken as rhetorical rather than philosophical in intent. At the doctrinal level, all three occurrences mentioned here come about through precise causes and conditions, not by chance.
410 Cp. 13:11.
411 Cp. 13:10.
412 56:51-60 are parallel to 13:1-10, but wherever the earlier series reads n’eva satimaṃ kalaṃ upeti na sahassimaṃ kalaṃ upeti na satasahassimaṃ kalaṃ upeti … upanidhāya, the present one reads saṅkham pi na upeti upanidham pi na upeti kalabhāgam pi na upeti … upanidhāya.
413 The titles are as in Be and Se, though raw grain itself (āmakadhañña ) is mentioned only at 56:84.
414 This is also at AN I 35,12-14, but without the connection to the Four Noble Truths. Similarly, the theme of 56:62 is at AN I 35,15-18; of 56:63, at AN I 35,24-26; and of 56:65, at AN I 35,10-11.
415 In 56:71-77, the comparisons are based on the first seven courses of wholesome action (kusalakammapatha). With celibacy replacing abstention from sexual misconduct (in the third sutta), these are also the first seven guidelines to conduct in the Nikāya account of the bhikkhu’s discipline (see, e.g., DN I 63,20-64,14).
416 In 56:78-101, the minor training rules of the bhikkhu’s discipline are the basis of comparison (see, e.g., DN I 64,16-32).
Concordances
1. VERSE PARALLELS
A. Internal
For Part I, the left-hand column gives the sutta number; the middle column, the verse numbers of this translation (following Ee2); the right-hand column, the verse numbers for parallels in Part I, and the volume, page, and line numbers for parallels in the other parts. For Parts II-V, the left-hand column gives the sutta number; the middle column, the volume, page, and line numbers; the right-hand column, the verse numbers for parallels in Part I, and the volume, page, and line numbers for parallels in the other parts. When a sutta has been abridged to the exclusion of the verses, in the right-hand column the verse numbers or sutta numbers are followed by an asterisk. Brackets around a number indicate that the parallelism is only approximate. Verses repeated within the same sutta have not been collated.
Part I: Sagāthāvagga
SUTTA VERSE PARALLEL
1:3 3-4 310-11
1:4 5-6 359-60
1:9 15-16 127-28
1:11 20-21 775-76
21c-f [609]
1:12 22-23 461-62
1:15 28-29 789-90
1:17 34 IV 179,1-4
1:20 49 105
50 135
1:21 51-52 301-2
1:22 54 623
1:23 55-58 625-28
58ab 175ab
1:26 65-67 259-61
1:29 74-75 361-62
1:31 78-84 320-26
1:32 85 95
87 146, 335
1:33 95 85
1:34 104 [118]
105 49
1:36 118 [104]
1:38 127-28 15-16
1:40 135 50
1:43 144-46 333-35
146 87
1:48 156-59 312-15
159 II 277,3-4
1:50 170-82 340-52*
175ab 58ab
1:58 198 236c, 237
1:71 223-24 257-58, 613-14, 939-40
1:73 227-28 846-47
1:76 237 198b-f
2:2 256 294
2:3 257-58 223-24, 613-14, 939-40
2:4 259-61 65-67
2:13 294 256
2:16 301-2 51-52
2:19 310-11 3-4
2:20 312-15 156-59
2:21 320-26 78-84
2:23 333-35 144-46
2:25 353-56 791-94
2:27 359-60 5-6
2:28 361-62 74-75
3:2 383 433
3:4 387 [417]
388 418, 432
3:6 390 [391]
3:7 391 [390]
3:17 411 413
3:18 413 311
3:20 417 [387]
418 388, 432
3:23 433 383
3:25 442cd V 217,15-16
4:2 449 450
4:3 450 449
4:8 461-62 22-23
4:19 484-85 500-1
4:20 487 488
4:21 488 487
4:24 498 509
500-1 484-85
4:25 509 498
6:1 560 919
6:9 588-91 592-595*
6:11 596 II 284,26-27
6:12 597 II 241,30-33
6:15 609 [21c-f, 776c-f]; II 193,13-16
7:1 613-14 223-24, 257-58, 939-40
7:2 616-618 620-22*, 880-82, 889-91*
7:4 623 54
7:6 625-628 55-58
7:8 634 677
636-37 641-42*, 667-68*
7:9 646 705
7:13 677 634
7:21 705 646
9:6 775-76 20-21
9:12 789-90 28-29
9:13 791-94 353-56
10:12 846-47 227-28
11:1 858-62 863-67*
11:4 874-82 883-91
880-82 616-618, 620-22*, 889-91*
11:5 883-91 874-82
11:11 904-5 906-7*, 908-9*
11:14 910-12 V 384,23-28, 405,9-14
11:17 919 560
11:18 924-25 [930-31], [937-38]
11:19 930-31 [924-25], [937-38]
11:20 937-38 [924-25], [930-31]
11:21 939-40 223-24, 257-58, 613-14
Part II: Nidānavagga
SUTTA TEXT PARALLEL
15:20 II 193,13-16 609
17:35 241,30-33 597
21:3 277,3-4 159
21:11 284,26-27 596
Part IV: Saḷāyatanavagga
SUTTA TEXT PARALLEL
35:240 IV 179,1-4 34
36:3 206,1-5 IV 218,21-25
206,3-5 IV 207,20-22
36:5 207,20-22 IV 206,3-5
36:12 218,21-25 IV 206,1-5
Part V: Mahāvagga
SUTTA TEXT PARALLEL
45:34 V 24,17-27 V 82,1-2*
47:18 168,12-15 V 186,11-14
47:43 186,11-14 V 168,12-15
48:41 217,15-16 442cd
55:26 384,23-28 910-12; V 405,9-14
55:41 400,20-27 V 401,16-23
55:51 405,9-14 910-12; V 384,23-28
B. External
This concordance makes no claim to com
pleteness as the only non-canonical Pāli texts that have been collated are Nett, Peṭ, Mil, and Vism, while only a few texts in Skt and BHS have been drawn upon. No attempt has been made to trace parallels to individual pādas. Parallels from Pāli sources which only approximate to the corresponding verses of SN are set in brackets; parallels from non-Pāli sources almost always differ from the Pāli and thus have not been bracketed. When a string of SN verses is indexed, the complete string is given first followed by individual verses and subordinate strings for which the parallels do not correspond in all respects to those for the complete string. SN verses that repeat verses indexed earlier have not been indexed separately, but their external parallels can be determined by first consulting the concordance of internal parallels and then tracing the relevant verse numbers in the present table. Parallels taken from Enomoto’s Comprehensive Study of the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama are signalled by an asterisk (see Bibliography).
Part I: Sagāthāvagga
SUTTA VERSE PARALLEL
1:1 1 Nidd I 437
1:3 3 AN I 155
3ab, 4ab Ja IV 398
1:4 5ab, 6ab Ja IV 487
1:5 8 Dhp 370; Th 15, 633; Nett 170;
G-Dhp 78
1:6 9ab Ja III 404