148 On the verb āyūhati, encountered in 1:1, see n. 2. To have gone beyond (pāragata) is to have attained Nibbāna.
149 Spk: This young deva, it is said, had been a meditator in a previous life, but he had thick defilements and thus could suppress them only with much effort. Though he did the work of an ascetic, because his supporting conditions were weak he passed away and took rebirth in the deva world without having reached the plane of the noble ones. He came to the Blessed One’s presence to proclaim the difficulty of the ascetic life.
150 Spk: Although the noble path is neither impassable nor uneven (duggamo visamo), this is said because there are many impediments in the preliminary portion of the path.
151 At AN IV 449-51 the Venerable Ānanda gives a detailed explanation of the verse. Readings of the aorists in pādas b and c differ among the various eds., but without affecting the meaning. Spk explains that there are two kinds of confinement (sambādha): confinement by the five hindrances and confinement by the five cords of sensual pleasure, the former being intended here. The opening pleasure, the former being intended here. The opening (okāsa) is a name for jhāna. In the analysis given by Ānanda, however, confinement and the opening are explained sequentially: first the five cords of sensual pleasure are called confinement and the first jhāna the opening; then vitakka-vicāra are confinement and the second jhāna the opening; and so on, culminating in the destruction of the āsavas as the final opening.The withdrawn chief bull (paṭilīnanisabho): The Buddha was called a chief bull at 1:38. At AN II 41,29-32 a bhikkhu is said to be paṭilīna, “withdrawn,” when he has abandoned the conceit “I am.”
152 The “Dhamma for the attainment of Nibbāna” (dhammaṃ nibbānapattiyā) is presumably the Noble Eightfold Path. Spk-pṭ: This young deva had been an obtainer of the first jhāna in a previous existence. He spoke his verse to extol the Blessed One for obtaining the bliss of jhāna. The Buddha’s reply is intended to show that the first form-sphere jhāna is a mere fragment of the infinite and immeasurable qualities of a Buddha. By mindfulness (sati) he refers to the mindfulness of insight and of the noble path. Well concentrated (susamāhita) signifies both mundane and supramundane concentration.
153 Spk explains “religious sect” (tittha) as the sixty-two views (of the Brahmajāla Sutta, DN No. 1). If he founded a sect based on one of these views, how could he have been reborn in heaven? Because he affirmed the doctrine of kamma and did many virtuous deeds. When he was reborn in heaven, he recognized the emancipating quality of the Buddha’s dispensation and came into the Master’s presence in order to recite verses in praise of energy conformable with the dispensation.
154 In pāda a, parakkamma is an absolutive, not an imperative, and hence in sense should precede chinda sotaṃ. Parakkama, the corresponding noun, is the third member of a set of three terms denoting successive stages in the development of energy : ārambhadhātu , nikkamadhātu, parakkamadhātu; at 46:2, 46:51 they have been translated “the element of arousal, the element of endeavour, the element of exertion.”
155 Spk explains saṅkassaraṃ in pāda c as saṅkāya saritaṃ, “remembered with suspicion”: “It is subject to such doubt and suspicion, ‘He must have done this, he must have done that.’”
156 Candimā is a deva dwelling in the mansion of the moon; the word itself usually simply means the moon. Obviously his seizure by Rāhu represents the lunar eclipse.
157 Although both Rāhu and Vepacitti are described as “lords of the asuras” (asurinda), it seems that Vepacitti is the overlord and Rāhu a subordinate. Vepacitti is the perennial antagonist of Sakka, lord of the devas, as seen at 11:4, 11:5, 11:23, and 35:248.
158 Suriya (usually meaning simply the sun) is the deva dwelling in the mansion of the sun. Here the solar eclipse is being represented. Spk, after impressing us with Rāhu’s physical dimensions, offers some interesting insights into ancient Buddhist views about eclipses: When Rāhu sees the sun and moon shining brightly, he becomes jealous and enters their orbital paths, where he stands with mouth agape. It then seems as if the lunar and solar mansions have been plunged into the great hell, and the devas in those mansions all cry out simultaneously in terror. While Rāhu can cover the mansions with his hands, jaw, and tongue, and can even stuff his cheeks with them, he is unable to obstruct their motion. If he did make such an attempt they would split his head and come through the other side or pull him along and push him down [Spk-pṭ: because their motion is determined by the law of kamma and is extremely hard for anyone to stop directly].
159 Pajaṃ mama. Spk: It is said that on the day the Buddha spoke the Mahāsamaya Sutta (DN No. 20) the two young devas Candimā and Suriya attained the fruit of stream-entry. Hence the Blessed One says “my child,” meaning “he is my (spiritual) son.” C.Rh.D’s conjecture (at KS 1:72, n. 2) that the Buddha speaks thus with reference to his own (legendary) solar descent seems unlikely.
160 Spk glosses kacche va in pāda b by kacche viya, “like an armpit” [Spk-pṭ: in the sense of a cramped place]. Spk: Kaccha (used metaphorically) means either a cramped mountain pass (pabbatakaccha) or a constriction in a river (nadīkaccha).
161 Spk: With flaws discarded (raṇañjahā): with defilements discarded (kilesañjahā). In MLDB, in the translation of MN No. 139, araṇa is rendered “nonconflict” or “without conflict,” and sa-raṇa “with conflict.” However, while in both Pāli and Sanskrit raṇa can mean battle or conflict, the Pāli commentators consistently gloss it with raja-kilesa, “dust, defilement.” Thus Ps V 32 has sa-raṇo ti sarajo sakileso, araṇo ti arajo nikkileso. See too v. 585c and n. 398.
162 I adopt Se and Ee2 Veṇhu over Be and Ee1 Veṇḍu; the reading Veṇṇu in SS may, however, be the historical form. The name is the Pāli equivalent of Skt Viṣṇu; perhaps this young deva is a prototype of the Hindu deity.
163 The reading of pāda c is uncertain: Be and Se read yuñjaṃ (a modified plural participle?), Ee1 & 2 yuñja, and SS yajja. VĀT suggests an absolutive yujja.
164 The question and the reply are found, with several differences, at Sn 173-75. I read pāda a with Se, Ee2, and Sn 173 ko sū ’dha, as against kathaṃ su in Be and Ee1; the Skt cited at Ybhūś 10:1 has ka etam oghaṃ tarati (Enomoto, CSCS, p. 52). Spk explains pāda c of the question: below it is without support (appatiṭṭhe), above it is without a hold (anālambe in text, anālambane in gloss). The Pāli words patiṭṭhā and ālambana (or ārammaṇa) have doctrinally important nuances; see n. 2 above and 12:38-40 and 22:53-54.
165 In pāda c, I read with Ee1 and SS nandībhavaparikkhīṇo, as against Be, Se, and Ee2 nandīrāgaparikkhīṇo (in both text and Spk). Spk’s gloss on nandīrāga here (tayo kammābhisaṅkhārā ) corresponds so closely to its gloss on nandībhava in v. 2 (see n. 8) that we might well suppose the original text available to the commentator read -bhava- rather than -rāga-. Sn 175 also reads -bhava-, as does the version of the verse cited at Nett 146,22.Spk: By the mention of sensual perception (kāmasaññā) the five lower fetters are implied; by the fetter of form (rūpasaṃyojana ), the five higher fetters; by delight in existence, the three kinds of kammic volitional formations (demeritorious, meritorious, imperturbable—see 12:51). Thus one who has abandoned the ten fetters and the three kinds of kammic formations does not sink in the deep, in the great flood. Or else: sensual perception implies sense-sphere existence; the fetter of form, form-sphere existence; and formless-sphere existence is implied by the former two. Delight in existence denotes the three kinds of kammic formations. Thus one who does not generate the three kinds of volitional formations regarding the three realms of existence does not sink in the deep.
166 Spk: This young deva had been playing in the Nandana Grove together with his retinue of a thousand nymphs. Five hundred nymphs had climbed up a tree and were singing and throwing down flowers when they suddenly expired and were immediately reborn in the Avı̄ci hell. When the young deva realized they were missing and discovered th
ey had been reborn in hell, he examined his own vital force and saw that he himself and the other five hundred nymphs were due to die in seven days and to take rebirth in hell. Hence, in utter fear, he came to the Buddha seeking consolation.The story (along with the verses) is also related in the two commentaries to the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (Sv III 750,3-27; Ps I 235,16-236,3). Despite the commentaries, however, I prefer to regard the young deva’s question as an expression of the deep anxiety perpetually at the core of the human (and celestial) situation.
167 In pāda c, I read kicchesu with Be, Se, and Ee2, as against kiccesu (duties) in Ee1 and certain SS. Kicchesu is better supported by the comment inSpk: imesu uppannānuppannesu dukkhesu, “these sufferings both arisen and unarisen.”
168 I read pāda a with Be: nāññatra bojjhā tapasā. The reading bojjhaṅga-tapasā, in Se and Ee1 & 2, may have crept into the text from the commentarial paraphrase in Spk, which is most intelligible in the Be reading: Nāññatra bojjhā tapasā ti bojjhaṅgabhāvanañ ca tapoguṇañ ca aññatra muñcitvā sotthiṃ na passāmi. Spk-pṭ lends further support to this reading by glossing bojjhā with bodhito and explaining it as an ablative. The Skt version cited at Ybhūś 5:2 has jñānatapaso (Enomoto, CSCS, p. 8).Spk: Even though the development of the enlightenment factors is mentioned first and restraint of the sense faculties afterwards, sense restraint should be understood first. For when this is mentioned, the fourfold purification of virtue is implied (see Vism 15 , 29-1 6 , 16; Ppn 1:4 2 ). Established on this, a bhikkhu undertakes the ascetic practices, here called austerity (tapa), enters a forest, and by developing a meditation subject he develops the enlightenment factors together with insight. Then the noble path arises in him with Nibbāna as its object; the latter is what is meant by relinquishing all (sabbanissagga). [Spk-pṭ: For here everything comprised in formations is relinquished.] Thus the Blessed One turned the discourse into one on the Four Noble Truths, at the end of which the young deva was established in the fruit of stream-entry.
Spk-pṭ: Though here only his own attainment of distinction is mentioned, it should be understood that the five hundred nymphs were also established in the fruit of stream-entry; for that is said in the commentary to the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Neither Spk nor Spk-pṭ comments on the single prose line that follows the verse (in Be: idam avoca, pa, tatth’ eva antaradhāyī ti). Perhaps the young deva had acquired such a compelling sense of urgency that he quickly returned to the deva world to practise in accordance with the Buddha’s instructions. The Skt version has an additional verse, which reads in translation:After a long time at last I see
A brahmin who is fully quenched,
Who has gone beyond all enmity and fear
(sarvavairabhayātītaṃ),
Who has crossed over attachment to the world.
(Ybhūś 5:3; Enomoto, CSCS, p. 8)
169 The texts show variations between anagho, anigho, and anīgho in pāda a of vv. 305-7. Ee2 uses anigho throughout.
170 The verse differs from v. 1 in pāda c only.
171 Yāvatakaṃ kho Ānanda takkāya pattabbaṃ anuppattaṃ taṃ tayā. Lit., “Whatever can be reached by reasoning, Ānanda, that you have arrived at.” Spk: The Buddha had spoken about the visit of the young deva without disclosing his name in order to show the great might of the Elder Ānanda’s inferential intelligence.
172 Spk does not comment on the name of this young deva, who may be an early prototype of the Hindu god Śiva.
173 I follow Se, which adds a terminal ti after the third verse and ascribes the next three verses to the Buddha. No change of speaker is indicated in Be or Ee1.
174 Vv. 330-31 are quoted at Mil 66-67. In v. 330c I read with Be, Se, and Ee2 sākaṭikacintāya; mantā in pāda d must be the nominative of the agent noun mantar. In v. 331a I follow Se and Ee1 & 2, which read panthaṃ, as against Be maṭṭhaṃ; Mil (Ee and Se) reads nāma (a corruption?). Spk glosses pāda d: akkhachinno va jhāyatī ti akkhachinno avajhāyati, which suggests that va is not the emphatic indeclinable but a verbal prefix. Spk, however, takes the va in v. 332d to represent viya. On maccumukha (in v. 332c) as “the mouth of Death” rather than “the face of Death,” see Ja IV 271,7, Ja V 479,29, and Vism 233,21-22 (Ppn 8:20).
175 Spk: koci = katthaci. Koci in this sense is probably a contraction of kvaci.
176 Spk: Restless (uddhatā): of a restless temperament because of perceiving what is unallowable and blameworthy as allowable and blameless (according to the Vinaya), and the converse. Puffed up (unnaḷā): full of hollow conceit like an erect (pithless) reed. Personally vain (capalā): by adorning their bowls and robes, etc. Mukharā = mukhakharā (“mouth-rough”): of rough speech. Rambling in their talk (vikiṇṇavācā): of uncontrolled speech, chattering away pointlessly all day long. Muddle-minded (muṭṭhassatino): with lost mindfulness, devoid of mindfulness, forgetful of whatever they have done. Without clear comprehension (asampajānā): without wisdom. Unconcentrated (asamāhitā): devoid of access and absorption concentration, like a ship cast about by a fierce current. Scatter-brained (vibbhantacittā , lit. “with wandering minds”): like foolish deer on a road. Loose in their sense faculties (pākatindriyā): with open faculties due to lack of restraint, just as when they were laymen.
177 Spk: The young deva realized that his exhortation would not be effective if he approached each monk individually, and thus he approached them when they had assembled for the Uposatha day observance (see n. 513).
178 Spk: Through infatuation by defilements [Spk-pṭ: by craving], they are infatuated with the daughters-in-law, etc., in the homes of others.
179 In pāda b, I read vadāmahaṃ, with Be, Se, and Ee2, as against Ee1 vandāmahaṃ. Ee1 has the former reading in the parallel v. 794b.Spk: As dead bodies, thrown into the charnel ground, are eaten by various predators and even their relatives do not protect them or guard them, so such men are rejected, without protector, in that they do not get any instruction or advice from their preceptors and teachers. They are just like the dead.
180 Spk: Rohitassa posed his question about the end of the world with reference to the stellar world-sphere (cakkavāḷa-loka ), but the Blessed One answered with reference to the world of formations (saṅkhāra-loka).
181 This stock description of the archer is also at 20:6 (II 265,27-266,2). Spk: Daḷhadhammo = daḷhadhanu; possessed of a bow of the maximum size (uttamappamāṇena dhanunā samannāgato). A plural daḷhadhammino occurs below at v. 708b. At EV I, n. to 1210, Norman proposes that this form must have been borrowed from a dialect where -nv- > -mm- instead of -nn-. MW lists two Skt words meaning “with firm bows,” dṛḍhadhanvan and dṛḍhadhanvin . We might assume it is the former that appears in Pāli as daḷhadhamma, the latter as daḷhadhammin; see too n. 488. A similar development affected the homonym dhanvan (= desert); see n. 264.
182 Spk glosses loka with dukkhasacca and each of the other terms by way of the other three noble truths. Thus the Buddha shows: “I do not make known these four truths in external things like grass and wood, but right here in this body composed of the four great elements.”This pithy utterance of the Buddha, which may well be the most profound proposition in the history of human thought, is elucidated at 35:116 by the Venerable Ānanda, who explains that in the Noble One’s Discipline “the world” is “that in the world by which one is a perceiver and conceiver of the world,” i.e., the six sense bases. From Ānanda’s explanation we can draw out the following implications: The world with which the Buddha’s teaching is principally concerned is “the world of experience,” and even the objective world is of interest only to the extent that it serves as the necessary external condition for experience. The world is identified with the six sense bases because the latter are the necessary internal condition for experience and thus for the presence of a world. As long as the six sense bases persist, a world will always be spread out before us as the objective range of perception and cognition. Thus
one cannot reach the end of the world by travelling, for wherever one goes one inevitably brings along the six sense bases, which necessarily disclose a world extended on all sides. Nevertheless, by reversing the direction of the search it is possible to reach the end of the world. For if the world ultimately stems from the six sense bases, then by bringing an end to the sense bases it is possible to arrive at the end of the world.
Now the six sense bases are themselves conditioned, having arisen from a chain of conditions rooted in one’s own ignorance and craving (see 12:44 = 35:107). Thus by removing ignorance and craving the re-arising of the six sense bases can be prevented, and therewith the manifestation of the world is terminated. This end of the world cannot be reached by travelling, but it can be arrived at by cultivating the Noble Eightfold Path. Perfect development of the path brings about the eradication of ignorance and craving, and with their removal the underlying ground is removed for the renewed emergence of the six senses, and therewith for the reappearance of a world. For a long philosophical commentary on this sutta by Ñāṇananda, see SN-Anth 2:70-85.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha Page 40
