246. For example, Ud-a 1: 10, Sn-a 1:11, Vv-a 83.
247. See the discussion in Thanissaro, 2007, Vol. 1, p. 559-60.
248. This passage occurs several times in the Dīgha Nikāya, at DN 3, DN 14, DN 26, and DN 30.
249. AN 5: 131. The explanations of the terms are taken from the commentary.
250. See Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer, 1976, which looks at how the cakkavatti ideal influenced the Buddhist kings of South-East Asia.
251. Panāḷi—usually refers to a water pipe. The exact meaning here is obscure. I am taking the word as plural which fits the context.
252. Gold, silver, pearls, rubies, lapis-lazuli, coral and diamond.
253. This is conjectural. The Pali has ghaṭaka-maṇika. These words can refer to different kinds of pots and ghaṭaka can also refer to a kind of architectural capital which goes on top of a pillar.
254. A special kind of very fine gold.
255. Another reading found in some versions has the flowers held up by spears, two spears per parasol, one on each side. This depends on whether one key word is sata “hundred” or satti “spear”. See Karunaratne 1969.
256. Sīhamukhā—which might also be interpreted as “lion's mouths”.
257. Akāsagaṅgāga—“the space Ganges”, the Milky Way. This whole paragraph is very difficult to interpret, in particular the arrangement of the various elements. Later iconography often showed the Wheel being supported by two lions with strings of pearls or flowers coming from their mouths. See Karunaratne 1969.
258. Dhammacakka = “Dhamma Wheel”. An unusual use of this term, which usually refers to the purely metaphorical Wheel turned by the Buddha by his teaching.
259. Vimāna—abode of a deva, a mansion endowed with the power of flight.
260. The “balcony” is called sīhapañjara (“lion's cage”) in Pali. The subcommentary describes it as being on an upper floor of the palace and used when the king wants to address his subjects.
261. This passage from the sutta, DN 17.
262. Bhavaṃ cakkaratanan-ti.
263. i.e. infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants.
264. Akkhāhata—lit. a “proclamation"
265. These speeches taken from the sutta, DN 17. The king's advice to his vassals are the five precepts (slightly rephrased) plus one more phrase; yathābhuttañca bhuñjathā. As Maurice Walshe notes, “the meaning is doubtful.” He translates the phrase as “be moderate in eating” and cites Warder's translation as “rule (collect taxes) in moderation.” See Walshe, LDB note 472, p. 577. I take it to mean that the vassal kings are given permission to continue to enjoy the fruits of their rulership.
266. Two tribes of powerful, magical elephants. See § 3:2,2.
267. The definition of the seven supports is from the sub-commentary. Maurice Walshe wrongly translates sattappatiṭṭho iddhimā as “of sevenfold strength”. LDB p. 281.
268. A hattha is a fore-arm length, i.e. a cubit. Four hattha would be five feet or about a metre and a half.
269. DN-a 17. Vepulla is a mountain near Rājagaha.
270. Veḷuriya might also mean lapis-lazuli.
271. Here, deva is uses as a respectful mode of address.
272. Paṇḍito viyatto medhāvī paṭibalo.
273. AN 7:62. The same is stated for the legendary teacher Sunetta at AN 7: 66.
274. Khuddakanagarake ujjaṅgalanagarake sākhānagarake, translated by Maurice Walshe poetically as “this miserable little town of wattle-and-daub, right in the jungle in the back of beyond!” LDB, p. 266.
275. DN 17, the Mahāsudassana Sutta.
276. The commentary to this passage expands the mention of women to say that “those who want to be with women can get that.” This implies that a kind of state brothel is meant.
277. Vaggu ca rajanīyo ca khamanīyo ca madanīyo ca.
278. Dhuttā and soṇḍā.
279. Lit. “house-holders”. I take them to be a kind of palace staff because their chief is said to be the gahapatiratana, the “Householder Treasure” who serves as a kind of finance minister.
280. A koṭi is a numerical value equal to ten million, so the king had eight hundred and forty billion garments! See appendix on units of measurement.
281. Sīhaseyya—this is the posture assumed by the Buddha at the time of his parinibbāna.
282. Here used as a common term of address to royalty.
283. DN 17. This translation is somewhat abridged.
284. Ibid. The numbers 84 (7x9) and 84,000 occurs not only here, but in many other contexts beginning with the Vedic religion and continuing in Buddhism, Jainism and later Hinduism. See Shah, undated.
285. His story is told in DN 26.
286. Other than Daḷhanemi, none of these kings are named in the texts.
287. See § 2:5 & 2.6.
288. for Mahāpanāda see Jāt 489.
289. Jāt-nid 1. This offering was said to have been emulated by King Aśoka who gave the whole of Jambudipa (i.e. India) to the Saṅgha and redeemed it with four hundred thousand gold pieces. See Strong 2014:287.
290. Jāt-nid 1. Malalasekera states in the DPPN entry “cakkavatti” that cakkavatis always arise in dark kappas during which no Buddha appears. These two counter-examples prove that must be an error. “One trillion bhikkhus”—the text gives the number as koṭi-satasahassa, a hundred thousand koṭi. Admittedly koṭi as a numerical term is somewhat flexible but is usually taken to mean ten million.
291. Mahābodhimaṇḍa—“the great circle of awakening” is the spot near Bodhgaya where all the Buddhas sit and attain full awakening.
292. Asaṅkhyeyya. This word is also used to indicate a fixed period of time, one of the four phases of a mahākappa. However in this case the noun kappa is absent so I am inclined to interpret it literally.
293. Deva was a common form of address to a monarch; ironically used here by an actual deva addressing a human being.
294. Pariṇāyakaratana—one of the seven treasures, not as Cowell translates “his eldest son”, Cowell 1995, Vol. II, p. 217.
295. Sn-a 2:13 gives the genealogy, see also DPPN under Okkāka. For Mahāsammata see DN 27.
296. DN-a 15. DPPN identifies the countries as follows: Kuru was “district around Thānesar, with its capital Indapatta, near the modern Delhi”, Videha was a “kingdom bordered on the Ganges, (across from) Magadha”, and Aparanta “comprises the territory of Northern Gujarat, Kāthiāwar, Kachch and Sindh ”.
297. Pp 2, “What persons are at peace? The paccekabuddha and the tathāgata's arahant disciples. What person is at peace and pacifies others? The Buddha".
298. The paccekabuddha is sometimes referred to as paccekasambuddha. See for example DN 16 and MN 26.
299. Generally, when the word “Buddha” appears unmodified, it is referring to a sammāsambuddha.
300. See for example Dhp-a 1:7, 2:1, 10:11. See also Kloppenborg 1983 for a thorough discussion of paccekabuddhas.
301. Sn 1:3. See Kloppenborg 1983 for a discussion.
302. AN-a 1:237. Saṃsedajā usually refers to the mode of birth of such things as maggots which arise from decay. It is hard to imagine exactly what it might mean in this context.
303. The white parasol, setacchatta, was an emblem of sovereignty. The commentary says it was held aloft by devas who were invisible to the onlookers.
304. Āsabhiṃ, lit. “bull-like”.
305. See for example, Jāt 72, Jāt 132, Jāt 148, Jāt 547, etc.
306. Mil 4:1,2 (eng. v1, p142). See also the long passage from the Visuddhimagga commentary which Ñāṇamoli has translated as note 7 to chapter 7 of The Path of Purification.
307. Bhikkhu Bodhi, NDB, note 662.
308. AN 10:21 and MN 12 list the ten powers. AN 6: 64 has an abbreviated list of six and AN 5: 11 has a quite different list of five. The definitions are taken from the Abhidhamma Vibhaṅga 16,10.
309. Vism 13.16—an asaṅkheyyā in this context may mean a multiple of mahāka
ppas, as in the Abhidharmakośa system.
310. The “inter-world hells”. See § 3:3,20.
311. Ten lunar months is meant which would be closer to nine months in our calendar.
312. Devas of the “Pure Abodes” who are ānagami. See § 3:6,17.
313. Following PED definition. GGB has “black antelope hide".
314. DN 14 and commentary.
315. Ap-a-nid. See also GGB p. 303.
316. From the Buddhavaṃsa commentary, in GGB p. 227-28.
317. Kv 18: 1. In the Pali commentaries the Buddha did occasionally make use of a nimitta body for special purposes. See DN-a 20 and Dhp 14:2.
318. DN 16. Another of the Kathāvatthu dialogues refutes the view that the Buddha's excrement smelt like perfume. Kv 18: 4.
319. See for instance the list of the five gati in DN 33.
320. DN 12—“Wrong view leads to one of two destinies, either niraya or an animal birth.”.
321. See introduction.
322. MN-a 9. The text goes on through the various classes of human society and then the various grades of devas.
323. Bhikkhu Bodhi, CMA, p. 40.
324. Spelled in DPPN as Pārileyya.
325. Śāl or shala tree, Shorea robusta. See Dhammika 2018:179.
326. Although the text does not specify, it can be assumed that the fruits were those kinds specifically allowed in the Vinaya as medicines, otherwise they would not be allowed for eating in the afternoon. see Vin Mv 6.
327. From the sub-commentary. See Thanissaro, 2007, Vol. I, p. 324 f.
328. See Jāt-nid 1 for the story of Sumedha. For a detailed description of the theory of bodhisattahood see GGB.
329. Jāt. 172 where he was a lion cub sired by the Bodhisatta
330. vānara is sometimes used interchangeably with the other two terms within a single story, see Jāt 20, 268, 273
331. Adhiṭṭhāna is one of the ten pārami, spiritual qualities which are to be perfected by a Bodhisatta as a prerequisite of Buddhahood.
332. Dr. Bryan Levman, private correspondence.
333. Jāt 273—this Jātaka is not translated into English in the PTS collection. For a translation, see Dhammika 2008. Dhammika also identifies makkaṭa with macaque.
334. Jāt 295. The commentary glosses anto with hīna, “low, inferior, base, despicable” and lāmako “inferior, low, sinful”.
335. The dark hell between world-systems, see § 3:3,20.
336. Jāt 148. A similar story is told of a jackal birth of Moggallāna in Jāt 490.
337. Jāt 42, 274, 275, 375 and 395.
338. Disākāka lit. “direction crow”. These birds were released from the ship to find land, the sailors taking note of the direction in which they flew. See Vism 21.65.
339. “Twice-born,” dija is a punning reference to both birds, who are born when the egg is laid and again when it is hatched, and to brahmins who are born the second time when initiated.
340. Jāt 384. A very similar story involving a jackal who preys on a colony of rats by pretending to a false piety is told in Jāt 128.
341. Deva—a mode of address to kings.
342. See DPPN for “Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta”.
343. Jāt 32 where the lion is elected catuppadā rāja, “king of the four-footed”. Elsewhere the lion is called migarāja, “king of beasts”, see for ex. AN 4:33.
344. Jāt 143, 152, 172, 188, 335, and 397 are all variations of this motif.
345. See Jāt 152 where the sound of the lion's roaring frightens a jackal to death. See also SN 22:78 “The lion is the king of beasts, his roar terrifies all animals".
346. Samma no doubt meant as an ironic insult.
347. According to the Three Worlds According to King Ruang, tr. Reynolds, p. 87, the lion is so swift that he can utter a roar. then leap a distance of three yojanas to stand and listen to his own roar as it follows after!
348. Jāt 322 story of the present.
349. SN-a 12:22. The text goes on to say that the Buddha has the physical strength of ten chaddanta elephants!
350. A hattha is a unit of measure similar to the old english “cubit” measuring about one-half a meter. This would make the elephant about 44 m high and 60 m long.
351. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/110610-highest-flying-birds-geese-himalaya-mountains-animals/
352. Mt Yugandhara is first and highest of the ring mountains which encircle Mt Sineru. It is 42,000 yojanas high and at the level of the sun's passage through the sky.
353. Jāt 476. There is a mistranslation in the PTS edition by W.H.D. Rouse. He says this goose was conceived “without natural cause” which is a misunderstanding of the abhidhamma term ahetuka explained above. In this context it merely means he was born as an animal. Cowell, 1995, Vol. 4, p. 132.
354. This belies the plainer reading of the text which is that the Buddha is implying that Ānanda does not fully understand the depth of the teaching.
355. Not to be confused with the Buddha's disciple of the same name.
356. See the chapter on yakkhas in § 3:4,2 for a discussion of the multiple uses of this word.
357. Although nāga as elephant is usually quite distinct from nāga as serpent, there is the case of Sakka's magical elephant Erāvaṇa who is referred to among the nāgas in the Mahasamaya Sutta, DN 20.
358. There is also an ethnic group of South India known as Nāgas, and while they have some mythological connection with the serpent-nāgas, this is not something we need concern ourselves with, as it does not come up in the Pali sources.
359. According to the commentary to this passage, he will also assume a snake's form at the time of rebirth, while shedding his skin and at the moment of death.
360. In actual geography the Yamuna empties into the Ganges.
361. The name is spelled Pannaka in the DPPN.
362. Supaṇṇas are the enemies of nāgas and the wind made by their wings is one of their principal weapons.
363. Same two Jātakas.
364. The same individual who later betrays Bhūridatta to the snake-charmer for the price of a jewel. It should be noted that in general brahmins are not portrayed in a favourable light in the Jātakas.
365. Cowell mistranslates ñātake as “actors” and this is followed in the DPPN. This makes no sense either according to the dictionary meaning, or the context.
366. The Abhidharmakośa makes brief mention of eight great nāgas who live for an antarakappa and sustain the Earth. There is nothing like this in the Pali sources. AK 3:5, p.472-3.
367. Dhp-a 21:1. The Buddha also created many more nimitta Buddhas to visit the pavilions in the sky set up by the devas.
368. Supaṇṇa occurs 82 times in the Jātakas, garuḷa only 14. The latter form is almost unknown outside the Jātakas.
369. See for example Jāt 210 where it refers to a small bird. The commentarial gloss explains that all birds may be called garuḷa as a form of respectful address.
370. The incident with the banyan tree in Jātaka 543 is specifically mentioned in the text as having occurred before this secret was lost; hence the nāga was seized by the head, leaving his tail free to grapple with branches.
371. H.S. Gehman.
372. Bhikkhu Bodhi.
373. PED entry “peta”, see also Bhikkhu Bodhi trans of AN, NDB, note 2169
374. See SN 25:1 for one among very many instances.
375. DN-a 15. A hattha is the distance between the elbow and the end of the fingers, about sixteen inches.
376. duggato yamalokiko—translation is Gehman's.
377. Mucana prutitus according to the PED.
378. SN 19, suttas 1,2,3,4,13,14 & 16.
379. See § 3:4,2.
380. In Pali, there is a different word for head-hair and body-hair; kesa and loma respectively.
381. See for ex. DN 14, SN 2:25, Sn 4:6.
382. Pv 1:5. The canonical verses are also found at Khp 7.
383. For tree-devas, see § 3:5,3.
384. Gethin, Tales of the Departed, Intro. p. xi in “Minor Anthologies IV”, PTS.
385. See chap. on Cātumahārājika Devas in § 3:5,6.
386. MN 130. For Yama, see § 3:3,11.
387. For this last point see AN 10: 177.
388. Except where otherwise noted, these points are taken from Pv-a 1:1.
389. See Ud-a 2:8 and Sn-a 2:2.
390. MN-a122. The peta-cities are two or three gavutas big, there are four gavutas in a yojana.
391. See Pv-a 1:10, Pv-a 2:7 & Pv-a 4:3. In the last case, it seems his ultimate fate was not averted, but his sufferings as a peta were, in the interval, diminished.
392. See Pv-a 2:9, where it is not at all clear whether the being is a peta or a deva.
393. Vimānas will be described in § 3:5,12.
394. Jāt 439. More will be said of these vimānapetīs of the sea in the chapter on niraya, see § 3:3,22.
395. See for instance AN 1:43and MN 12.
396. The theory of kamma is complex and nuanced, and the presentation in the suttas is somewhat different from that in the abhidhamma. It is beyond the scope of this book to enter more deeply into this topic. Interested readers are referred to “Good, Evil and Beyond” by P.A. Payutto for a good short survey.
397. AN 5: 145. The five precepts forbid killing, stealing, adultery, speaking falsehood and drinking liquor.
398. Jāt 541, AN 4:3, AN 10:89 are among the very many examples.
399. See Sn 2:7, SN 3:9 and AN 7:47 for examples.
400. See Path of Purification, p. 202, note 15.
401. Paraphrased from Dhp-a 1: 12 and see GGB p. 895.
402. Jāt. 72, 222, 313 and 457.
403. Mil 4:1, 1, eng. v1 p141.See Horner's notes 3-6 for references.
404. See SN 3:20 & SN 6:10 & SN 19:1 & SN 19:21.
405. The Suttanipāta also has a version of the Kokālika Sutta. The conclusion of the verse portion states that “the wise have calculated the number of sesame seeds and count the length of one paduma as a nahuta (10,000) times five koṭi (10,000,000) plus 1200 koṭi more.” This comes out to 5.12 hundred billions. This stanza does not follow naturally upon the preceding ones and may be a late addition. Sn 3: 10.
406. MN-a 11. The passage adds that the teachers might also be reborn as lions and the students as the beasts on which they prey.
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