The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

by Bhikkhu Nanamoli

  856 Rasaggasaggı̄. The Lakkhaṇa Sutta expands (DN 30.2.7/ iii.166): “Whatever he touches with the tip of his tongue he tastes in his throat, and the taste is dispersed everywhere.” It is difficult, however, to understand either how this quality could be considered a physical characteristic or how it could be perceived by others.

  857 This mark, the uṇhı̄sa, accounts for the protuberance commonly seen on the top of the head of Buddha images.

  858 This is the standard reflection on the proper use of almsfood, as at MN 2.14.

  859 The blessing (anumodanā) is a short talk following the meal, instructing the donors in some aspect of the Dhamma and expressing the wish that their meritorious kamma will bring them abundant fruit.

  860 I here follow BBS, which is fuller than SBJ and PTS. MA: This is the intention: “The excellent qualities I have not described are far more numerous than those I have described. The excellent qualities of Master Gotama are like the great earth and the great ocean; expounded in detail they are infinite and immeasurable, like space.”

  861 The Pali word for the tongue, jivhā, is of the feminine gender.

  862 What must be directly known (abhiññeyya) are the Four Noble Truths, what must be developed (bhāvetabba) is the Noble Eightfold Path, and what must be abandoned (pahātabba) are the defilements headed by craving. Here the context requires that the word “Buddha” be understood in the specific sense of a Fully Enlightened One (sammāsambuddha).

  863 Vedagū. This term and the following two—tevijja and sotthiya —seem to have represented ideal types among the brahmins; see too MN 39.24, 26, and 27. The sixth and seventh terms—kevalı̄ and muni—were probably ideal types among the non-Vedic ascetic orders. By his reply, the Buddha endows these terms with new meanings derived from his own spiritual system.

  864 Here and in the reply the word “Buddha” may signify simply one who is enlightened or awakened, in a sense applicable to any arahant, though Brahmāyu’s response also suggests it may be intended in the narrower sense of a Fully Enlightened One.

  865 MA offers an involved explanation of how the Buddha’s reply answers all eight of Brahmāyu’s questions.

  866 As at MN 56.18.

  SUTTA 92

  867 The text of this sutta has not been included in the PTS ed. of the Majjhima Nikāya, as it is identical with the sutta of the same name in the Sutta Nipāta, published in two different versions by the PTS. The bracketed page numbers here therefore refer to the more recent PTS ed. of Sn, edited by Dines Anderson and Helmer Smith.

  868 That is, Jambudı̄pa, the Indian subcontinent.

  SUTTA 93

  869 The argument in favour of this thesis is set forth at MN 90.10–12.

  870 MA: They speak thus intending to say: “Having studied the Three Vedas, you have trained in the mantras by which those who go forth undertake their going forth and the mantras they maintain after they have gone forth. You have practised their mode of conduct. Therefore, you will not be defeated. Victory will be yours.”

  871 This statement is intended to show that brahmins are born of women, just like other human beings, and there is thus no substance to their claim that they are born of Brahmā’s mouth.

  872 Yona is the Pali transliteration of Ionia. Kamboja is a region to the northwest of the Indian “Middle Country.”

  873 The argument of §§7–8 here is substantially identical with that of MN 84.

  874 MA identifies Devala the Dark, Asita Devala, with the Buddha in an earlier life. The Buddha undertakes this teaching to show: “In the past, when you were of a superior birth and I was of an inferior birth, you could not answer a question I asked you about an assertion concerning birth. So how can you do so now, when you are inferior and I have become a Buddha?”

  875 As in MN 38.26. See n. 411. Note that the dialogue just below establishes the meaning of gandhabba as the deceased being about to be reborn.

  876 MA: Pu˚˚a was the name of a servant of the seven seers; he would take a spoon, cook leaves, and serve them.

  SUTTA 94

  877 MA: He did this after recognising that a lengthy discussion would be required.

  878 The kahāpaṇa was the principal monetary unit of the time.

  879 During the Buddha’s last days, this city was still a small town known as Pāṭaligāma. At DN 16.1.28/iii.87, the Buddha predicts its future greatness. It eventually became the capital of Magadha. Its present-day descendent is the city of Patna, capital of the state of Bihar.

  SUTTA 95

  880 The opening passage of this sutta, down to §10, is virtually identical with the opening of the Soṇadaṇḍa Sutta (DN 4).

  881 MA: It was called thus because offerings were made there to the gods.

  882 Another wealthy brahmin who resided in Ukkaṭṭhā, a crown property given to him by King Pasenadi. At DN 2.21/i.110 he hears a discourse from the Buddha, attains stream-entry, and goes for refuge along with his family and retinue.

  883 These are the ancient rishis whom the brahmins regarded as the divinely inspired authors of the Vedic hymns.

  884 In Pali: saddhā, ruci, anussava, ākāraparivitakka, diṭṭhinijjhānakkhanti . Of these five grounds for arriving at a conviction, the first two seem to be primarily emotive, the third to be a blind acceptance of tradition, and the last two primarily rational or cognitive. The “two different ways” each may turn out are true and false.

  885 It is not proper for him to come to this conclusion because he has not personally ascertained the truth of his conviction but only accepts it on a ground that is not capable of yielding certainty.

  886 Saccānurakkhana: or, the safeguarding of truth, the protection of truth.

  887 Saccānubodha: or, the awakening to truth.

  888 The procedure for the discovery of truth recommended in this sutta appears to be an elaboration of the approach described in MN 47.

  889 Tūleti. MA: He investigates things in terms of impermanence, and so forth. This stage thus seems to be that of insight contemplation.

  890 Although applying the will (ussahati) appears similar to striving (padahati), the former may be understood as the exertion undertaken prior to insight contemplation, the latter as the exertion that brings insight up to the level of the supramundane path.

  891 MA: He realises Nibbāna with the mental body (of the path of stream-entry), and having penetrated the defilements, he sees Nibbāna with wisdom, making it clear and evident.

  892 While the discovery of truth in this context appears to signify the attainment of stream-entry, the final arrival at truth (saccānuppatti) seems to mean the full attainment of arahantship.

  893 See n.524.

  SUTTA 96

  894 MA: It had been an ancient practice among the brahmins to wander for alms even when they possessed great wealth.

  895 Although agriculture may seem a strange occupation for one described as a merchant, it should be understood that the vessas not only ran the urban business enterprises, but also owned and supervised agrarian undertakings.

  896 Ariyaṁ kho ahaṁ brāhmaṇa lokuttaraṁ dhammaṁ purisassa sandhanaṁ paññāpemi.

  897 Attabhāvassa abhinibbatti: literally, “wherever the reconception of his individuality takes place.”

  SUTTA 97

  898 Sati uttarakaraṇı̄ye. Ven. Sāriputta had left without giving him a teaching that would have enabled him to arrive at the supramundane path and become fixed in destination for enlightenment. Compared to this even rebirth in the Brahma-world is described as “inferior” (hı̄na).

  899 This remark has the force of a gentle reproach. The Buddha must have seen that Dhānañjāni had the potential to attain the supramundane path, since elsewhere (e.g., MN 99.24–27) he himself teaches only the way to the Brahma-world when that potential is lacking in his listener.

  SUTTA 98

  900 The text of this sutta has not been included in the PTS ed. of the Majjhima Nikāya, for the same reason given in n.867. The bracketed
page numbers refer to the Anderson-Smith ed. of Sn.

  901 Here the word “kamma” has to be understood as present action or deed, and not past action producing its present consequences.

  902 Sāmaññā. MA: Among animals the diversity in the shape of their bodily parts is determined by their species (yoni), but that (species differentiation) is not found in the individual bodies of brahmins and other classes of humans. Such being the case, the distinction between brahmins, khattiyas, etc., is purely a verbal designation; it is spoken of as mere conventional expression.

  903 MA: Up to this point the Buddha has criticised the assertion of Bhāradvāja that birth makes one a brahmin. Now he will uphold the assertion of Vāseṭṭha that action makes one a brahmin. For the ancient brahmins and other wise ones in the world would not recognise the brahminhood of one defective in livelihood, virtue, and conduct.

  904 Bhovādi. Bho, “sir,” was a mode of address used among the brahmins. From this point on the Buddha will identify the true brahmin with the arahant. Verses 27–54 here are identical with Dhp 396–423, except for an additional couplet in Dhp 423.

  905 MA: By the present volitional action which accomplishes the work of farming, etc.

  906 With this verse the word “kamma” undergoes a shift in meaning signalled by the term “dependent origination.” “Kamma” here no longer means simply present action determining one’s social status, but action in the special sense of a force binding beings to the round of existence. This same line of thought becomes even clearer in the next verse.

  907 This verse and the following one again refer to the arahant. Here, however, the contrast is not between the arahant as the one made holy by his actions and the born brahmin unworthy of his designation, but between the arahant as the one liberated from the bondage of action and result and all other beings who remain tied by their actions to the wheel of birth and death.

  SUTTA 99

  908 Todeyya was a wealthy brahmin, the overlord of Tudigāma, a village near Sāvatthı̄. MN 135 was also spoken to this same Subha.

  909 Vibhajjavādo kho aham ettha. Such statements account for the later designation of Buddhism as vibhajjavāda, “the doctrine of analysis.” As the context makes clear, the Buddha calls himself a vibhajjavādin, not because he analyses things into their constituents (as is popularly believed), but because he distinguishes the different implications of a question without answering one-sidedly.

  910 Obviously at the time trade was still in an early stage of development. The same statement could hardly be made today!

  911 As at MN 95.13.

  912 This statement must have been made before Pokkharasāti became a follower of the Buddha, as is mentioned at MN 95.9.

  913 Anukampājātika.

  914 This knowledge pertains to the third of the Tathāgata’s powers, knowing the ways to all destinations. See MN 12.12.

  915 MA explains limiting action (pam̄ṇakataṁ kammaṁ) as kamma pertaining to the sense sphere (kāmāvacara). It is contrasted with a limitless or immeasurable action, namely, the jhānas pertaining to the fine-material sphere or the immaterial sphere. In this case the brahmavihāras developed to the jhānic level are intended. When a jhāna pertaining to the fine-material sphere or the immaterial sphere is attained and mastered, a kamma pertaining to the sense sphere cannot overpower it and gain the opportunity to yield its own result. Rather, the kamma pertaining to the fine-material sphere or the immaterial sphere overpowers the sense-sphere kammas and produces its results. Obstructing the result of the sense-sphere kammas, the brahmavihāra that has been mastered leads to rebirth in the company of Brahmā.

  916 As at MN 27.2.

  SUTTA 100

  917 Dhānañjānı̄ was a stream-enterer. MA says that Sangārava was her husband’s younger brother.

  918 Diṭṭadhammābhiññāvosānapāramippattā ādibrahmacariyaṁ paṭijānanti. MA glosses: They claim to be the originators, creators, producers of a holy life, saying: “Having directly known here and now in this present existence and having reached the consummation, we have attained Nibbāna, called ‘perfection’ because it is the transcendence of everything.”

  919 It is puzzling that the reasoners and investigators (takkı̄, vı̄maṁsı̄) are here said to rely on the basis of mere faith (saddhāmattakena). Elsewhere faith and reasoning are contrasted as two different grounds of conviction (MN 95.14), and “mere faith” seems more closely allied with reliance on oral tradition than with reasoning and investigation.

  920 Sāmaṁ yeva dhammaṁ abhiññāya. This phrase emphasises direct personal realisation as the foundation for promulgating a holy life.

  921 MA says that Sangārava had the idea that the Buddha spoke thus without actual knowledge, and he therefore accuses the Buddha of false speech. The sequence of ideas in this passage is difficult to follow and it is likely that the text is corrupt. K.R. Norman has proposed a reconstruction of this portion of the dialogue, but it is hard to follow him in details. See Norman, Collected Papers, 2:1–8.

  SUTTA 101

  922 This doctrine, which is here ascribed to the Jains, is also taken up for criticism by the Buddha at SN 36:21/ iv.230–31 and AN 3:61/i.173–74. The Buddha’s teaching recognises the existence of feeling that is not the result of past action but a concomitant of present action, and also admits feeling that is neither kammically active nor kammic result.

  923 From here until §5, “That being so…,” also at MN 14.17–19. The statement of the Niga˚ṭha Nātaputta, which at MN 14.17 introduces the Niga˚ṭhas’ position, here comes afterwards, at §10, as the Niga˚ṭhas’ justification for their assertion.

  924 As at MN 95.14.

  925 It is not fitting for them to make that declaration because their “intense exertion,” i.e., their ascetic practice, is the cause for their painful feelings, as the Buddha states in §15.

  926 This is a technical expression for an action that is to ripen in this present life.

  927 MA: “An action [whose result] is to be experienced in a matured [personality]” is a synonym for an action [whose result] is to be experienced here and now. “An action [whose result] is to be experienced in an unmatured personality” is a synonym for action [whose result] is to be experienced in the next life. But a specification is made as follows: any action that yields its result in the same life is one to be experienced here and now, but only an action that produces its result within seven days is called one to be experienced in a matured personality.

  928 This is an action that does not gain the opportunity to yield its result and thereby becomes defunct.

  929 Issaranimmānahetu. This doctrine of the theists is criticised by the Buddha at AN 3:61/i.174.

  930 Sangatibhāvahetu. This alludes to the doctrine of Makkhali Gosāla, criticised at length at MN 60.21 and AN 3:61/ i.175.

  931 Abhijātihetu. This also refers to a tenet of Makkhali Gosāla.

  932 This is a formulation of the Buddha’s Middle Way, which avoids the extreme of self-mortification without falling into the other extreme of infatuation with sensual pleasure.

  933 MA explains the source of suffering to be craving, so called because it is the root of the suffering comprised in the five aggregates. The passage shows two alternative approaches toward overcoming craving—one employing energetic striving, the other detached equanimity. The “fading away” of the source is identified by MA with the supramundane path. The passage is said to illustrate the practice of one who progresses on a pleasant path with quick direct knowledge(sukhapaṭipadā khippābhiññā̄).

  934 This passage is brought forth to show the Buddha’s reason for permitting his monks to undertake the ascetic practices (dhutanga): the moderate use of austerities is conducive to overcoming the defilements; but they are not undertaken to wear away old kamma and to purify the soul, as the Jains and other ascetic sects believed. MA says that this passage illustrates the practice of one who progresses on a difficult path with sluggish dir
ect knowledge dukkhapaṭipadā (̣̄ dandh̄bhiññā).

  SUTTA 102

  935 This sutta is a “middle length” counterpart of the longer Brahmajāla Sutta, included in the Dı̄gha Nikāya and published in translation with its commentaries in Bodhi, Discourse on the All-Embracing Net of Views. Detailed explanations for almost all the views mentioned in this sutta will be found in the Introduction and Part Two of that work. There exists a Tibetan translation of the Pan̄catraya Sūtra, the counterpart of this text belonging to the Mūlasarvāstivāda school, whose collections were preserved in Skt. This text is discussed by Peter Skilling at Mahāsūtras II, pp. 469–511. Skilling highlights the interesting contrasts between this version of the text and the Pali version.

  936 Skilling points out that in the Tibetan Pan̄catraya, assertions of Nirvā˚a here and now are not comprised under views about the future but constitute a separate category. The Brahmajāla Sutta places assertions of supreme Nibb̄na here and now among views about the future, but the arrangement in the Tibetan counterpart seems to be more logical.