The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha

by Bhikkhu Nanamoli

  1135 See n.426.

  1136 MA: The five qualities mentioned are sufficient for rebirth into the sense-sphere realm, but for the higher modes of rebirth and the destruction of the taints, more is required. Basing oneself on the five qualities, if one attains the jhānas, one is reborn in the Brahma-world; if one attains the immaterial attainments, one is reborn in the immaterial world; if one develops insight and attains the fruit of non-returning, one is reborn in the Pure Abodes; and if one reaches the path of arahantship, one attains the destruction of the taints.

  SUTTA 121

  1137 Suññatāvihāra. The discourse will gradually make it clear that this refers to the fruition attainment of voidness (suññataphala-sam̄patti), the fruition attainment of arahantship that is entered by focusing upon the void aspect of Nibbāna. See n.458.

  1138 MA: He attends to the perception of forest dependent on the single forest itself, thinking: “This is a forest, this a tree, this a mountain, this a grove.” In the next sentence I read with BBS and SBJ adhimuccati, as against PTS vimuccati.

  1139 MA and MṬ explain the sense of this passage thus: The disturbance of defilements—attraction and repulsion—that arise through perception of people are not present here. But there is still the disturbance caused by the occurrence of gross states due to lack of the necessary tranquillity.

  1140 MA: He abandons the perception of forest and attends to the perception of earth because one cannot achieve any distinction in meditation through the perception of forest, neither access concentration nor full absorption. But earth can be used as the preliminary object for kasi˚a, on the basis of which one produces jhāna, develops insight, and attains arahantship.

  1141 Having used the perception of earth to attain the four jhānas, he extends the earth-kasi˚a and then removes the kasi˚a sign to attain the base of infinite space. See Vsm X, 6–7.

  1142 Animitta cetosamādhi. MA: This is the concentration of the mind in insight; it is called “signless” because it is devoid of the signs of permanence, etc.

  1143 See MN 52.4. MA calls this “counter-insight” (paṭivipassanā), i.e., the application of the principles of insight to the act of consciousness that exercises the function of insight. On the basis of this he attains arahantship.

  1144 Here the words “supreme and unsurpassed” (paramānuttarā) have been added. MA says that this is the arahant’s fruition attainment of voidness.

  SUTTA 122

  1145 This sutta together with its full commentary has been published in translation by Ñm as The Greater Discourse on Voidness.

  1146 MA: This was a dwelling built in Nigrodha’s Park by Kā˘akhemaka the Sakyan. Beds, chairs, mattresses, and mats were prepared, and they were so close together that the dwelling looked like the residence of a society of bhikkhus.

  1147 MA explains that this was merely a rhetorical question, since the Buddhas can know by direct knowledge whatever they wish to know. The Buddha asked this with the thought in mind: “As soon as these bhikkhus form into a society and delight in society, they will act in improper ways. I shall expound the Great Practice of Voidness which will be like a training rule [prohibiting delight in society].”

  1148 MA: Ven. Ānanda intended to say: “These bhikkhus are living this way not just because they delight in being busy, but on account of making robes.”

  1149 See MN 66.20 and n.678.

  1150 The former is deliverance through the jhānas and the immaterial attainments, the latter deliverance through the supramundane paths and fruits. See also MN 29.6 and n.348.

  1151 MA: The Buddha begins the present passage in order to ward off the criticism that while he enjoins his disciples to live in solitude, he himself is often surrounded by a large retinue. “Voidness” here is the fruition attainment of voidness; see n.1137.

  1152 MA explains voidness internally as that connected with one’s own five aggregates, voidness externally as that connected with the aggregates of others. The voidness spoken of here thus must be the temporary deliverance of mind reached through the insight contemplation of non-self, as explained at MN 43.33. When the insight into non-self is brought to the level of the path, it issues in the fruition experiencing Nibbāna by way of its aspect of voidness.

  1153 MA: He gives attention to an imperturbable immaterial meditative attainment.

  1154 MA: This refers to the jhāna that was used as the basis for insight. If, after emerging from the basic jhāna, his mind does not enter into voidness through insight contemplation on his own aggregates or those of others, and he also cannot attain the imperturbable immaterial attainment, he should return to the same basic jhāna that he originally developed and attend to it again and again.

  1155 According to MA, up to this point the Buddha has shown the training for the attainment of the first two paths, those of stream-entry and once-returning. He now speaks the present passage (§§14–15) to point out the insight needed to attain the path of non-returning, which culminates in the abandoning of sensual desire.

  1156 This passage (§§16–17) points out the insight needed to attain the path of arahantship, which culminates in the abandoning of the conceit “I am.”

  1157 Ācariyūpaddava, antevāsūpaddava, brahmacariyūpaddava. Upaddava may also be rendered as disaster, calamity. MA explains that the Buddha speaks the present passage to show the danger in solitude when one does not fulfil the proper purpose of solitary living. The “teacher” is a teacher outside the Buddha’s Dispensation.

  1158 MA: The going forth into homelessness outside the Dispensation brings small gain, so one who falls away from that falls away only from mundane attainment; he meets with no great suffering, as one who falls from the back of a donkey merely becomes covered with dust. But the going forth in the Buddha’s Dispensation brings great gain—the paths, fruits, and Nibbāna. Thus one who falls away from this meets great suffering, like one who falls from the back of an elephant.

  1159 The contrast in this simile is between the way the potter treats the raw damp clay and the way he treats the baked pots produced from the clay. MA paraphrases: “After advising once I shall not be silent; I shall advise and instruct by repeatedly admonishing you. Just as the potter tests the baked pots, puts aside those that are cracked, split, or faulty, and keeps only those that pass the test, so I shall advise and instruct by repeatedly testing you. Those among you who are sound, having reached the paths and fruits, will stand the test.” MA adds that the mundane virtuous qualities are also intended as a criterion of soundness.

  SUTTA 123

  1160 This ability is exemplified by DN 14, which provides detailed information about the six Buddhas preceding Gotama.

  1161 This refers to the Bodhisatta’s rebirth in the Tusita heaven, which followed his preceding human existence as Vessantara and preceded his birth in the human world as Siddhattha Gotama.

  1162 MA: Between every three world systems there is an interspace measuring 8,000 yojanas; it is like the space between three cartwheels or almsbowls touching one another. The beings who live there have taken rebirth there because of committing some heavy, terrible offence against their parents or righteous recluses and brahmins, or because of some habitual evil deed like killing animals, etc.

  1163 MA: The four deities were the Four Great Kings (the presiding deities of the heaven of the Four Great Kings).

  1164 MA: This happened, not through a defect in the birth, but through the expiration of her lifespan; for the place (in the womb) occupied by the Bodhisatta, like the inner chamber of a cetiya, is not to be used by others.

  1165 MA explains each aspect of this event as a foretoken of the Buddha’s later attainments. Thus, his standing with his feet (p̄da) firmly on the ground was a foretoken of his attaining the four bases for spiritual power (iddhip̄da); his facing the north, of his going above and beyond the multitude; his seven steps, of his acquiring the seven enlightenment factors; the white parasol, of his acquiring the parasol of deliverance; his surveying the quarters,
of his acquiring the unobstructed knowledge of omniscience; his uttering the words of the Leader of the Herd, of his setting in motion the irreversible Wheel of the Dhamma; his statement “This is my last birth,” of his passing away into the Nibbāna element with no residue remaining (of the factors of existence).

  1166 This statement seems to be the Buddha’s way of calling attention to the quality he regarded as the true wonder and marvel.

  SUTTA 124

  1167 According to MA, Ven. Bakkula became a monk in his eightieth year, which would make him 160 at the time this sutta takes place. He was declared by the Buddha to be the foremost disciple with respect to good health.

  1168 MA says that the passages here enclosed in brackets were added by the elders who compiled the Dhamma.

  1169 This passage and those to follow show Ven. Bakkula as an observer of the ascetic practices. The kaṭhina time is the period following the three-month rains residence when bhikkhus make new robes from the cloth they have received.

  1170 MA says that after he went forth, he was an ordinary man for seven days, but on the eighth day he attained arahantship together with the analytical knowledges (paṭisambhidā).

  1171 MA: Ven. Bakkula himself did not give the ordination (which would have been a violation of his mode of practice) but arranged for other bhikkhus to give it.

  1172 MA: Ven. Bakkula had considered that all his life he had never made himself a burden to the other bhikkhus, and he did not want his body to be a burden after his death. Thus he entered into meditation on the heat element and attained final Nibbāna by causing his entire body to be consumed by the blaze. Only the relics remained.

  1173 MA says that this sutta was recited at the second compilation of the Dhamma, held about a hundred years after the Buddha’s passing away.

  SUTTA 125

  1174 MA identifies Prince Jayasena as a son of King Bimbisāra.

  1175 The simile as at MN 90.11.

  1176 Note that here the four foundations of mindfulness are expounded in the place usually reserved for the four jhānas.

  1177 I translate on the basis of BBS and SBJ (supported by a 1937 Sinhala edition) rather than PTS. Both BBS and SBJ abridge the passage; where PTS reads kāyūpasaṁhitaṁ and dhammūpasaṁhitaṁ , these two eds. read kāmūpasaṁhitaṁ in both places, a significant difference. I am told that the Chinese translation of the Madhyama Āgama (the Skt counterpart of MN) has a reading that corresponds to that of BBS and SBJ. The Chinese version mentions all four jhānas.

  SUTTA 126

  1178 MA says that Ven. Bhūmija was the uncle of Prince Jayasena.

  1179 Āsaṁ karitvā: if one makes a wish, if one raises a hope or expectation. The recluses and brahmins who held this view must have been the sceptics or the annihilationists.

  SUTTA 127

  1180 Appamāṇā cetovimutti, mahaggatā cetovimutti. At MN 43.31, as here, the immeasurable deliverance of mind is explained as the four brahmavihāras. Since the formula for each brahmavihāra includes the word “exalted,” Pañcakanga was apparently misled into supposing that the two deliverances were the same in meaning.

  1181 MA: He covers an area the size of one tree root with his kasi˚a sign, and he abides resolved upon that kasi˚a sign, pervading it with the exalted jhāna. The same method of explanation applies to the following cases.

  1182 MA: This teaching is undertaken to show the kinds of rebirth that result from the attainment of the exalted deliverance.

  1183 MA explains that there are no separate realms of gods called those of “Defiled Radiance” and those of “Pure Radiance.” Both are subdivisions within the two realms—the gods of Limited Radiance and the gods of Immeasurable Radiance. Rebirth among the gods of Limited Radiance is determined by the attainment of the (second) jhāna with a limited kasi˚asign, rebirth among the gods of Immeasurable Radiance by the attainment of the same jhāna with an extended kasi˚a sign. Rebirth with defiled radiance is for those who have not mastered the jhāna and purified it of obstructive states; rebirth with pure radiance is for those who have acquired this mastery and purification.

  1184 A pun is involved here. In Pali the verb jhāyati means both to burn and to meditate, though the two meanings are derived from different Sanskrit verbs: kshāyati is to burn, dhyāyati to meditate.

  1185 Abhiya’s words, it seems, are discourteous because they inquire very bluntly into the personal experience of Ven. Anuruddha. MA says that while fulfilling the perfections (pāramı̄s) in past lives, Anuruddha had gone forth as a recluse, reached the meditative attainments, and passed three hundred existences without interruption in the Brahma-world. Hence his reply.

  SUTTA 128

  1186 The opening of this sutta is the same as that of MN 48.

  1187 This verse and the three to follow are also at Dhp 3–6. The last three verses are at Dhp 328–30.

  1188 The passage at §§8–15 is nearly identical with MN 31.3–10. From the sequel, however, it is clear that the present sutta is set at an earlier time, for in MN 31 all three bhikkhus have reached arahantship while here they are still striving for the goal.

  1189 It is here that the present sutta continues differently from MN 31. MA explains light (obh̄sa) as the preliminary light, which Ṃ glosses as the light produced by the access to jhāna. Ṃ adds that one who gains the fourth jhāna develops the light-kasi˚a as the preliminary to arousing the divine eye. The “vision of forms” (dassanȧ rūpānaṁ) is the seeing of forms with the divine eye. Ven. Anuruddha was later declared by the Buddha to be the foremost disciple in the exercise of the divine eye.

  1190 Nimittaṁ paṭivijjhitabbaāṁ Lit. “You should penetrate that sign.”

  1191 See MN 52.15.

  1192 MA paraphrases: “While I was attending to a single type of form, longing arose. Thinking ‘I will attend to different kinds of forms,’ sometimes I directed my attention towards the heavenly world, sometimes towards the human world. As I attended to different kinds of forms, perception of diversity arose in me.”

  1193 Atinijjhāyitattaṁ rūpānaṁ. MA: “When perception of diversity arose, I thought I would attend to one type of form, whether agreeable or disagreeable. As I did so, excessive meditation upon forms arose in me.”

  1194 Cittassa upakkileso. The same term is used at MN 7.3, though here it means imperfections in the development of concentration. Hence the expression has been rendered slightly differently in the two cases.

  1195 The “three ways” seem to be the first three types of concentration mentioned in the next paragraph, also spoken of as a triad at DN 33.1.10/iii.219. Of these, the first is the first jhāna and the third covers the three higher jhānas of the usual fourfold scheme. The second type of concentration has no place in the fourfold scheme, but appears as the second jhāna in a fivefold division of jhānas expounded in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. This second jhāna of the fivefold scheme is attained by those who cannot overcome applied thought and sustained thought simultaneously but must eliminate them successively.

  1196 MA: The concentration with rapture is the two lower jhānas; without rapture, the two higher jhānas; accompanied by enjoyment (s̄ta), the three lower jh̄nas; accompanied by equanimity, the fourth jhāna. PTS omits sātasahagato pi samādhi bhāvito ahosi, found in the other eds.

  1197 MA says that the Buddha developed these concentrations in the last watch of the night on the night of his enlightenment while sitting at the foot of the Bodhi tree.

  SUTTA 129

  1198 As at MN 13.14.

  1199 The following simile is employed at SN 12:63/ii.100 to illustrate the nutriment of consciousness (viññāṇāhāra).

  1200 And he will—at MN 130.17–27.

  1201 MA: That is, the fool engages in the three types of misconduct, because of which he is reborn in hell. By the residue of that kamma, when he comes back to the human state he is reborn in a low family. Having again engaged in the three types of misconduct, he is again reborn in hell.
r />   1202 Although the Pali does not contain the negative particle na, it seems to be required here to yield the intended meaning, and it does appear in the parallel clauses of the following paragraph.

  1203 See MN 91.5. The legend of the Wheel-turning Monarch is treated more extensively in DN 17 and DN 26.

  1204 See n.809.

  1205 MA: That is, the wise man engages in the three types of good conduct, because of which he is reborn in heaven. Returning to the human world, he is reborn in a good family with wealth and beauty. He engages in the three types of good conduct and is again reborn in heaven. It should be noted that the “complete perfection of the wise man’s grade” is entirely mundane and takes no account of the more excellent stages along the path to liberation.

  SUTTA 130

  1206 Yama is the god of death. MA says that he is a king of spirits possessing a celestial mansion. Sometimes he lives in his celestial mansion enjoying celestial pleasures, sometimes he experiences the result of kamma; he is a righteous king. MA adds that there are in fact four Yamas, one at each of four gates (of hell?).