The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

by Bhikkhu Nanamoli

  306 Ālaya. It is difficult to find for this word a suitable English equivalent that has not already been assigned to a more frequently occurring Pali term. Horner renders it as “sensual pleasure,” which appropriates the usual rendering of kāma and may be too narrow. In Ms and in other published works Ñm translates it as “something to rely on,” which may draw upon a connotation of the word that is not the one intended here. MA explains ālaya as comprising both objective sense pleasures and the thoughts of craving concerned with them.

  307 MA raises the question why, when the Bodhisatta had long ago made an aspiration to reach Buddhahood in order to liberate others, his mind now inclined towards inaction. The reason, the commentator says, is that only now, after reaching enlightenment, did he become fully cognizant of the strength of the defilements in people’s minds and of the profundity of the Dhamma. Also, he wanted Brahmā to entreat him to teach so that beings who venerated Brahmā would recognise the precious value of the Dhamma and desire to listen to it.

  308 These five monks attended on the Bodhisatta during his period of self-mortification, convinced that he would attain enlightenment and teach them the Dhamma. However, when he abandoned his austerities and resumed taking solid food, they lost faith in him, accused him of reverting to luxury, and deserted him. See MN 36.33.

  309 Anantajina: perhaps this was an Ājı̄vakan epithet for the spiritually perfected individual.

  310 According to MA, Upaka thereafter fell in love with a hunter’s daughter and married her. When his marriage turned out to be an unhappy one, he returned to the Buddha, entered the Sangha, and became a non-returner. He was reborn in the Avı̄ha heaven, where he attained arahantship.

  311 Āvuso: a familiar term of address used among equals.

  312 See n.178.

  313 The change in address from “friend” to “venerable sir” (bhante) indicates that they have now accepted the Buddha’s claim and are prepared to regard him as their superior.

  314 At this point the Buddha preached to them his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dhamma, on the Four Noble Truths. Several days later, after they had all become stream-enterers, he taught them the Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta, The Characteristic of Non-self, upon hearing which they all attained arahantship. The complete narrative, found in the Mahāvagga (Vin i.7–14), is included in Ñā˚amoli, The Life of the Buddha, pp. 42–47.

  315 This section reverts to the theme of the noble and ignoble quests with which the Buddha’s discourse opened. It is intended to show that the adoption of the monastic life is no guarantee that one has embarked on the noble quest, for the ignoble quest makes inroads upon the monastic life as well.

  316 This refers to the use of the four requisites with reflection upon their proper purpose in the life of renunciation. See MN 2.13–16.

  317 See n.295.

  318 See n.296.

  SUTTA 27

  319 According to the chronicles of Sri Lanka, this was the first sutta preached by Mahinda Thera following his arrival in Sri Lanka.

  320 Vacchāyana is Pilotika’s clan name.

  321 Ñm had translated ekabhattika as “eating only in one part of the day,” following the commentary. According to the Vinaya the proper time for bhikkhus to eat is between dawn and noon. From noon until the next dawn only liquids are allowed.

  322 This formula is analysed at Vsm I, 53–59. Briefly, the signs (nimitta) are the most distinctive qualities of the object which, when grasped at unmindfully, can kindle defiled thoughts; the features (anubyañjana) are the details that may subsequently catch the attention when the first perceptual contact has not been followed up by restraint. “States of covetousness and grief” signifies the alternative reactions of desire and aversion, attraction and repulsion, towards sense objects.

  323 Covetousness (abhijjhā) here is synonymous with sensual desire (kāmacchandā), the first of the five hindrances.

  324 MA: He does not come to this conclusion about the Triple Gem because the jhānas and the (mundane) direct knowledges are held in common with those outside the Buddha’s Dispensation.

  325 This, according to MA, shows the moment of the path, and since at this point the noble disciple has still not completed his task, he has not yet come to a conclusion (na tveva niṭṭ̣haṁ gato hoti) about the Triple Gem; rather, he is in the process of coming to a conclusion (nị̣hȧ gacchati). The sutta employs a pun on the meaning of the expression “coming to a conclusion” that is as viable in English as in Pali.

  326 This shows the occasion when the disciple has attained the fruit of arahantship, and having completed all his tasks in every way, has come to the conclusion about the Triple Gem.

  SUTTA 28

  327 This discourse has been published separately with introduction and notes by Nyanaponika Thera, The Greater Discourse on the Elephant-Footprint Simile.

  328 The structure of this discourse may be outlined as follows: Ven. Sāriputta first enumerates the Four Noble Truths (§2). He then takes up the truth of suffering for analysis into its various aspects (§3). From among these, he selects the last and enumerates the five aggregates affected by clinging (§4). He next selects the first aggregate, that of material form (§5). Taking up each of the great elements in turn, he shows it to have two aspects—internal and external—the former being selected for detailed analysis, the latter only briefly mentioned for the sake of completeness and comparison (e.g., §§6–7). Each of the elements is expounded as a basis for insight meditation as well as for developing patience, faith, and equanimity (e.g., §§8–10). Having finished examining the elements, Ven. Sāriputta next takes up the aspects of the Four Noble Truths he earlier had put aside. He introduces derivative material form by way of the sense faculties and their objects (§27, etc.), which he then relates to the other four aggregates of the first noble truth. Finally he sets this whole complex of ideas in relation to the other three noble truths (§28, etc.).

  329 Upādinna, “clung-to,” is used in the Abhidhamma as a technical term applicable to bodily phenomena that are produced by kamma. Here, however, it is used in a more general sense as applicable to the entire body insofar as it is grasped as “mine” and misapprehended as a self. The phrase “whatever else” is intended to include the earth element comprised in those parts of the body not included in the above enumeration. According to the Abhidhamma analysis of matter, the four primary elements are inseparable, and thus each element is also included, though in a subordinate role, in the bodily phenomena listed under the other three elements.

  330 MA: This statement is made to underscore the insentient nature (acetanābhāva) of the internal earth element by yoking it to the external earth element, the insentient nature of which is much more easily discerned.

  331 According to ancient Indian cosmology the cyclical destruction of the world may be due to either water, fire, or wind. See Vsm XIII, 30–65.

  332 The notions “I,” “mine,” and “I am,” represent the three obsessions of identity view, craving, and conceit, respectively.

  333 MA explains that this passage, referring to a bhikkhu who practises meditation on the elements, is intended to show his strength of mind in applying his comprehension of things to undesirable objects arisen at the “door” of the ear. By contemplating the experience by way of conditionality and impermanence, he transforms the potentially provocative situation of being subjected to abuse into an opportunity for insight.

  334 Tassa dhātārammaṇam eva cittaṁ pakkhandati. This sentence can be construed in two alternative ways, depending on how the compound dhātārammaṇam is understood. Ven. Nyanaponika takes it as the object of the verb pakkhandati , and he understands dhātu here as “an impersonal element in general” capable of including sound, contact, feeling, etc. Thus he translates: “And his mind enters into that very object [taking it just as an impersonal] element.” Ñm reads the compound as an adjunct qualifying citta, and supplies the object of the verb in pare
nthesis. MA seems to support the former reading; Ṃ explicitly identifies dhātu as the earth element, thus supporting the latter reading. MA explains the phrase “acquires resolution” to mean that the meditator contemplates the situation by way of elements and thus has neither attachment nor aversion concerning it.

  335 MA: This passage is intended to show the strength of the meditating bhikkhu on an occasion when he is subjected to affliction by way of the body.

  336 See MN 21.20.

  337 MA: The recollection of the Buddha is undertaken here by recalling that the Blessed One spoke this simile of the saw, the recollection of the Dhamma by recalling the advice given in the simile of the saw, and the recollection of the Sangha by recalling the virtues of the bhikkhu who can endure such abuse without giving rise to a mind of hate. “Equanimity supported by the wholesome” (upekkhā̄ kusalanissitā) is the equanimity of insight, the sixfold equanimity of neither attraction nor aversion towards agreeable and disagreeable objects that appear at the six sense doors. Strictly speaking, the sixfold equanimity pertains only to the arahant, but it is here ascribed to the monk in training because his insight approximates to the perfect equanimity of the arahant.

  338 This is said to stress once again the egoless nature of the body. Ṃ: He shows that the four elements are only mere elements not belonging to a self; they are without a being, without a soul.

  339 This section is set forth, according to MA, to introduce the material form derived from the four great elements. Derived material form, according to the Abhidhamma analysis of matter, includes the five sense faculties (pasādaūpa) and the first four kinds of sense object, the tangible object being identified with the primary elements themselves. “Corresponding (conscious) engagement” (tajjo samannāhāro) is explained by MA as attention (manasikāra) arising in dependence on the eye and forms; it is identified with the “five-door adverting consciousness” (pañcadvārāvajjanacitta), which breaks off the flow of the life continuum (bhavanga) to initiate a process of cognition. Even when forms come into range of the eye, if attention is not engaged by the form because one is occupied with something else, there is still no manifestation of the “corresponding class of consciousness,” i.e., eye-consciousness.

  340 This section is set forth to show the Four Noble Truths by way of the sense doors. “What has thus come to be” (tathābhūta) is the entire complex of factors arisen by way of eye-consciousness. By analysing this complex into the five aggregates, Ven. Sāriputta shows that any occasion of sense experience is comprised within the truth of suffering.

  341 This statement has not been traced directly to the Buddha in any of the existing suttas in the Pali Canon. MA glosses, perhaps with too little sensitivity to the statement’s profounder implications: “One who sees dependent origination sees dependently arisen states (paṭicca samuppanne dhamme); one who sees dependently arisen states sees dependent origination.”

  342 The four terms—chanda, ālaya, anunaya, ajjhosāna—are synonyms for craving (taṇhā).

  343 Though only three of the Four Noble Truths are explicitly shown in the text, the fourth truth is implied. According to MA, it is the penetration of these three truths by the development of the eight factors of the path.

  344 MA identifies “mind” (mano) in this passage with the life-continuum consciousness (bhavangacitta).

  345 MA illustrates this case by the mind’s preoccupation with a familiar object when it does not notice the familiar details of that object. The “corresponding class of consciousness” here is mind-consciousness (manoviññāṇa), which takes non-sensuous objects as its sphere of cognition.

  SUTTA 29

  346 After Devadatta had unsuccessfully attempted to kill the Buddha and usurp control of the Sangha, he broke away from the Buddha and tried to establish his own sect with himself at the head. See Ñā˚amoli, The Life of the Buddha, pp. 266–69.

  347 “Knowledge and vision” (ñāṇdassana) here refers to the divine eye (MA), the ability to see subtle forms invisible to normal vision.

  348 This translation follows BBS and SBJ, which read asamayavimokkhaṁ in the preceding sentence and asamayavimuttiyā in this sentence. The PTS ed., on which both Horner and Ñm based their translations, is evidently mistaken in reading samaya in the two compounds andṭhānaṁ instead of āṭṭhānaṁ. MA cites thePaṭisambhidāmagga (ii.40) for a definition of asamayavimokkha (lit., non-temporary or “perpetual” liberation) as the four paths, four fruits, and Nibbāna, and of samayavimokkha (temporary liberation) as the four jhānas and four formless attainments. See also MN 122.4.

  349 “Unshakeable deliverance of mind” is the fruit of arahantship (MA). Thus “perpetual liberation”—as including all four paths and fruits—has a wider range of meaning than “unshakeable deliverance of mind,” which alone is declared to be the goal of the holy life.

  SUTTA 30

  350 These six teachers, the Buddha’s senior contemporaries, all stood outside the fold of orthodox Brahmanism, and their doctrines are indicative of the speculative audacity of the Buddha’s age. The six are often mentioned together in the Canon. Their teachings, as understood by the Buddhist community, are stated at DN 2.17–32/ii.52–59.

  351 Precisely the same question is posed to the Buddha on the eve of his Parinibbāna by the wanderer Subhadda at DN 16.5.26–27/ii.150–52.

  352 It is this sentence, used in place of the sentence beginning “He becomes intoxicated…,” that distinguishes these passages of this sutta from the corresponding passages of the preceding sutta.

  353 Although the jhānas may also have been included in the attainment of concentration set forth in §10, and knowledge and vision was described as higher than the attainment of concentration, the jhānas now become higher than knowledge and vision because they are being treated as the basis for the attainment of cessation and the destruction of the taints (in §21).

  SUTTA 31

  354 Ven. Anuruddha was the Buddha’s cousin; Vens. Nandiya and Kimbila were Anuruddha’s friends and constant companions.

  355 These are three of the “six principles of cordiality” explained at MN 48.6.

  356 MA identifies this yakkha as a celestial king (devarāja) included among the twenty-eight commanders of the yakkhas mentioned at DN 32.10/iii.205.

  SUTTA 32

  357 The four assemblies are those of bhikkhus, bhikkhunı̄s, men lay followers, and women lay followers. The seven underlying tendencies are enumerated at MN 18.8. Ven. ̄nanda was declared by the Buddha to be the pre-eminent disciple among those who had learned much, and his discourses are said to have delighted the four assemblies (DN 16.5.16/ii.145).

  358 Yathā sakaṁ paṭibhānaṁ. This phrase might also be rendered “according to his own intuition” or “according to his own ideal.” Ñm renders “as it occurs to him”; Horner, “according to his own capacity.”

  359 Ven. Revata was declared the pre-eminent disciple among those who are meditators.

  360 Ven. Anuruddha was the pre-eminent disciple among those who possessed the divine eye.

  361 Mahā Kassapa was the pre-eminent disciple among those who observed the ascetic practices.

  362 Abhidhamma. Though the word cannot refer here to the Piṭaka of that name—obviously the product of a phase of Buddhist thought later than the Nikāyas—it may well indicate a systematic and analytical approach to the doctrine that served as the original nucleus of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. In a careful study of the contexts in which the word “Abhidhamma” occurs in the Sutta Piṭakas of several early recensions, the Japanese Pali scholar Fumimaro Watanabe concludes that the Buddha’s own disciples formed the conception of Abhidhamma as an elementary philosophical study that attempted to define, analyse, and classify dhammas and to explore their mutual relations. See his Philosophy and its Development in the Nikāyas and Abhidhamma, pp. 34–36.

  363 While the replies of the disciples hold up as the ideal a bhikkhu who has already achieved proficiency in a particular sphere of th
e renunciant life, the Buddha’s reply, by focusing on a bhikkhu still striving for the goal, underscores the ultimate purpose of the holy life itself.

  SUTTA 33

  364 See MN 129.2, 27.

  365 The Codes (mātikā) are probably the rules of the Pātimokkha abstracted from their explanatory matrix, as well as lists of the primary doctrinal categories used for expounding the Dhamma. For more on the mātikās see Watanabe, Philosophy and its Development in the Nikāyas and Abhidhamma, pp. 42–45.

  366 See n.89.

  367 At SN 47:6/v.148 the four foundations of mindfulness are called the proper pasture (gocara) of a bhikkhu, in the sense of being the proper sphere of his activity.

  SUTTA 34

  368 See n.273.

  SUTTA 35