English
Jambudīpa is renowned. Eighty-two thousand, plunged into the great ocean; And risen up just as much, the Cakkavāḷa rock-mass; Encompassing all of that, standing as a world-element. There, the moon's orb is forty-nine yojanas, The sun's orb is fifty yojanas, The Tāvatiṃsa abode is ten thousand yojanas; Likewise the Asura abode, The great Avīci hell, and Jambudīpa. Aparagoyāna is seven thousand yojanas; Likewise Pubbavideha. Uttarakuru is eight thousand yojanas, Each great continent here is surrounded by five hundred small continents; All of that is one Cakkavāḷa, One world-element, In between them are the Lokantarika hells. Thus, infinite Cakkavāḷas, Infinite world-elements, The Blessed One, with infinite Buddha-knowledge, Knew, understood, penetrated. i. Thus, the world of opportunity is known to him in every way. Thus, because the world is known in every way, he is a Knower of the World. Because there is no one superior to him in his own qualities, there is no one higher than him, thus he is Unsurpassed. Indeed, he surpasses the entire world in the quality of virtue, in concentration… (and so on) … in wisdom… in liberation… in the quality of knowledge and vision of liberation. In the quality of virtue, he is incomparable, unequalled, peerless, without counterpart, without equal… (and so on) … in the quality of knowledge and vision of liberation. As it is said: “I do not see, monks, in the world with its devas, with its Māras… (and so on) … with its devas and humans, anyone more accomplished in virtue than myself.” This should be elaborated. Thus, the Aggappasāda Sutta and others and the verses like “I have no teacher” should be elaborated. He guides men to be tamed, thus he is a Guide of Men to be Tamed. It means he tames and trains. Here, “men to be tamed” are untamed beings fit to be tamed, be they animal-men, human-men, or non-human-men. Indeed, the Blessed One tamed animal-men such as the Naga king Apalāḷa, Cūḷodara, Mahodara, Aggisikha, Dhūmasikha, and the elephant Dhanapālaka, making them harmless, and establishing them in refuges and precepts. Human-men such as Saccaka the Nigaṇṭha’s son, the brahmin youth Ambaṭṭha, Pokkharasāti, Soṇadaṇḍa, Kūṭadanta, and others. Non-human-men such as Āḷavaka, Sūciloma, Kharaloma, the yakkhas, Sakka the king of devas, and others were tamed and trained by various methods of training. “Indeed, Kesi, I train a man to be tamed with gentleness, and with harshness, and with both gentleness and harshness.” This Sutta should be elaborated here. Or, by teaching the first jhānas to those with purified virtue and so on, and the path to higher stages to stream-enterers and so on, he tames even those already tamed. Or, “Unsurpassed Guide of Men to be Tamed” is a single meaning-phrase. For the Blessed One guides men to be tamed in such a way that sitting on a single seat, the eight directions are unhindered. they run. Therefore, he is called “the unsurpassed trainer of tamable men.” Here, the Sutta (M.N. 3.312) “Monks, a tamed elephant, driven by an elephant trainer, runs in one direction only,” should be elaborated. He instructs appropriately with regard to the good of this life, the good of the next life, and the ultimate good, thus he is the Teacher. And also, he is a Teacher like a caravan leader; the Blessed One is a caravan leader. “Just as a caravan leader leads the caravan across a wilderness, leads across a wilderness of robbers, leads across a wilderness of wild beasts, leads across a wilderness of famine, leads across a waterless wilderness, he leads them out, he brings them out, he brings them to safety, he brings them to a secure land; even so, the Blessed One, the Teacher, the caravan leader, leads beings across the wilderness, leads across the wilderness of birth,” and so on, the meaning here should be understood according to the explanation in the Great Exposition (Mahāni. 190). “Of gods and humans”— this is said with reference to the highest distinction of gods and humans, and with reference to those who are capable of being taught. But the Blessed One is a Teacher even by giving instruction to animals. For they too, by hearing the Dhamma from the Blessed One, attain the perfection of supporting conditions, and by that very perfection of supporting conditions, in the second or third existence, they become partakers of the path and its fruits. The frog-deva-son and others are examples here. It is said that when the Blessed One was teaching the Dhamma to the residents of Campā city on the bank of the Gaggarā pond, a certain frog took a sign in the Blessed One’s voice. A cowherd, leaning on a stick, stood pressing it down on its head. That frog immediately died and was reborn in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven in a golden palace twelve yojanas in size. And there, as if awakened from sleep, seeing himself surrounded by a host of celestial nymphs, he thought, “Alas, I too am reborn here! What deed did I do?” reflecting, he saw nothing else except the taking of a sign in the Blessed One’s voice. He immediately came with his palace and bowed his head at the feet of the Blessed One. The Blessed One, knowing, asked— “Who bows at my feet, with such power, like a lake, with a radiant splendor, illuminating all directions. I was a frog before, living in the water; While listening to your Dhamma, a cowherd killed me. The Blessed One taught him the Dhamma. At the end of the discourse, the Dhamma-realization of eighty-four thousand living beings took place. The devaputta, having established himself in the fruit of stream-entry, smiled and departed. Whatever is to be known, he is called Buddha because he has awakened to all of it, by means of the knowledge leading to liberation. Or, because he himself awakened to the four truths, and awakened other beings; for these and similar reasons, he is called Buddha. To explain this meaning, all the methods of exposition (Mahāniddesa 192) or the methods of analytical knowledge (Paṭisambhidāmagga 1.162) that state, "He is Buddha because he has awakened to the truths, he is Buddha because he awakens beings," should be elaborated. Bhagavā (Blessed One) is a term of respect and reverence for him, signifying his superior qualities and his eminence among beings. Therefore, the ancients said: The word Bhagavā is excellent, The word Bhagavā is supreme; He is worthy of respect and reverence, Therefore he is called Bhagavā. Indeed, names are of four kinds: conventional, indicative, causal, and spontaneously arisen. Spontaneously arisen means what is called "arbitrary" in worldly usage. Among these, "calf, tamed, ox" and so on are conventional. "Staff-bearer, umbrella-bearer, crest-wearer, elephant" and so on are indicative. "Possessor of the three knowledges, possessor of the six supernormal powers" and so on are causal. "Prosperity-increaser, wealth-increaser" and so on, which arise without regard to the meaning of the words, are spontaneously arisen. But this name, Bhagavā, is causal, not given by Mahāmāyā, nor by King Suddhodana, nor by eighty thousand relatives, nor by special deities like Sakka or Santusita. For it has been said by the Dhamma-general: "This name Bhagavā was not given by his mother... (etc.)... This is a name leading to liberation for the Buddhas, the Blessed Ones, obtained at the foot of the Bodhi tree, together with the attainment of omniscience." A true designation, namely, "Bhagavā." (Mahāni. 84). And this name is indicative of qualities, to make known those qualities, they recite this verse: "He shared, he resorted, he was fortunate, he divided; He broke, he was weighty, he was fortunate; By many methods, well-cultivated in himself; He who has gone to the end of existence, is therefore called Bhagavā." Here, the meaning of each of those words should be understood in the way stated in the Niddesa. But this is another method: "Fortunate, broken, endowed, and divided with excellences; He has eaten, he has gone forth, therefore he is Bhagavā in existences." Here, taking the grammatical characteristic of "addition of letters" or "transposition of letters," or taking the characteristic of "inclusion like pisodara," it should be understood that because he possesses fortune (bhāgya) which brings forth mundane and supramundane happiness, and has reached the perfection of giving, morality, etc., therefore, where "bhāgyavā" should be said, "bhagavā" is said. And because he broke greed, hatred, delusion, wrong attention, shamelessness, fearlessness of wrongdoing, anger, resentment, denigration, domineering, envy, avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, obstinacy, arrogance, conceit, excessive pride, intoxication, heedlessness, craving, ignorance, the three unwholesome roots, misconduct, defilements, stains, wrong perceptions, thoughts, proliferation, the four perversions, influxes, fetters, floods, yokes, wrong courses, the arising of craving, clinging, the five mental stakes, mental bonds, hindrances, delight in the skin, roots of contention, the body of craving, seven latent tendencies, the eight wrong views, the nine roots of craving, the ten unwholesome actions, wrong views, the one hundred and eight modes of craving's proliferation, all torments, fevers, and hundreds of thousands of defilements; or in brief, he broke the five defilements, the aggregates, death, and the Māra of the devas; therefore, because these dangers are broken (bhagga), where "bhaggavā" should be said, "bhagavā" is said. And here it is said: "His greed is broken, his hatred is broken, his delusion is broken, he is without influxes; His evil states are broken, therefore he is called Bhagavā." And by his being fortunate, possessing the marks of a hundred merits, the perfection of his physical body is revealed. By his having broken defilements, the perfection of his Dhamma... perfection of the body. Thus, the high regard of those who examine worldly things, the approachability by householders and renunciants,