English
he speaks of the path, which has reached its peak with insight. "From the taint of sensual desire" means from the taint of sensual desire. "Was liberated" by this, he shows the moment of fruition. For at the moment of the path, the mind is liberated; at the moment of fruition, it is liberated. "In the liberated, the knowledge 'it is liberated'" by this, he shows the knowledge of review. "Birth is destroyed," and so on, shows its ground. For with that knowledge, the Blessed One, reviewing, fully understood, "birth is destroyed," and so on. But which birth of the Blessed One is destroyed, and how did he fully understand it? It is said: Not his past birth, for it was already destroyed before; not his future birth, for there is no effort in the future; not his present birth, for it exists. But that birth, consisting of one, four, or five aggregates in one, four, or five realms of existence, which would arise due to the non-cultivation of the path, that, by the cultivation of the path, having attained the state of non-arising, is destroyed. He, having reviewed the defilements abandoned by the cultivation of the path, and knowing, "when defilements are absent, even existing kamma does not lead to rebirth in the future," fully understood it. "Lived" means dwelt, resided, done, practiced, completed. "The holy life" means the path of the holy life. For ordinary virtuous people, together with the seven trainees, are said to live the holy life, but one whose taints are destroyed has lived the life. Therefore, the Blessed One, reviewing his own living of the holy life, fully understood, "the holy life has been lived." "Done what was to be done" means by the four paths, comprehension, abandonment, realization, The sixteen kinds of tasks are completed, by way of developing postures and realization; this is the meaning. Ordinary people and noble aspirants perform this task. One whose defilements are destroyed has done what is to be done. Therefore, the Blessed One, reflecting on his own task, understood: "What was to be done has been done." "No more for this state of being," meaning, now again for this state of being, for such a state of sixteen tasks, or for the destruction of defilements, there is no task of developing the path for me. This he understood. Now, showing that attainment of the knowledge of the destruction of defilements, grasped by such knowledge of reflection, to the brahmin, he said, "This, O brahmin, is mine," and so forth. Therein, "knowledge" is the knowledge of the path of Arahantship. "Ignorance" is the ignorance that conceals the Four Noble Truths. The rest is as stated. But this is the distinction: "This, O brahmin, was my third breakthrough." Here, "This, O brahmin, was my third breakthrough for me, my third emergence, my third noble birth, having shattered the eggshell of ignorance that concealed the Four Noble Truths with the beak-like knowledge of the destruction of defilements, just as a chick, having shattered the eggshell with its beak or the tip of its claw, breaks through, emerges, and is reborn into the chicken lineage from that eggshell." By this, what is shown? For that chick, O brahmin, having shattered the eggshell and emerged from it, is born only once. But I, having broken the eggshell of ignorance that concealed past existences, was first born by the knowledge of recollection of past lives. Then, having shattered the eggshell of ignorance that concealed the passing away and rebirth of beings, I was born a second time by the knowledge of the divine eye. Again, having shattered the eggshell of ignorance that concealed the Four Noble Truths, I was born a third time by the knowledge of the destruction of defilements. Thus, by these three knowledges, I was born three times. "And that birth of mine is noble and perfectly pure," this he showed. And showing thus, by the knowledge of past lives, the knowledge of the past; by the divine eye, the knowledge of the present and future; by the destruction of defilements, all worldly and super-worldly... the highest qualities. Thus, by these three knowledges, having revealed all the qualities of omniscience, he showed his seniority and supremacy by noble birth to the brahmin. The discourse on the knowledge of the destruction of the taints is concluded. Discourse on the approval of the teaching 15. When this was said, the brahmin of Verañjā—thus, when the Buddha, out of compassion for the world, out of compassion for the brahmin, had spoken of his seniority and supremacy by noble birth, which ought to have been concealed, in a discourse on the Dhamma revealing the three knowledges—the brahmin of Verañjā, with a mind full of the thrill of joy, having understood that seniority and supremacy of the Buddha by noble birth, reproached himself, saying: “Alas, I, ignorant, said of such a one, the senior and supreme of all the world, endowed with all qualities, the Omniscient One, ‘He does not perform acts of salutation, etc., to others’ – ‘Fie upon this ignorance!’” And having come to the conclusion, “This one is now senior in the world by being born first in noble birth, and supreme by being unequalled in all qualities,” he said to the Buddha: “Venerable Gotama is senior, Venerable Gotama is supreme.” And having said this, again approving that discourse on the Dhamma of the Buddha, he said, “Excellent, good Gotama, excellent, good Gotama,” and so on. Here, this word “abhikkanta” is seen in the sense of ending, beautiful, handsome, and approval. For instance, in “The night, venerable sir, is far spent; the first watch has passed, the assembly of monks has been long seated,” and so on (A.N. 8.20), it is seen in the sense of ending. In “This person is pleasing to me, more excellent and more refined than these four persons,” and so on (A.N. 4.100), in the sense of beautiful. “Who salutes my feet, shining with power and glory; With a handsome complexion, illuminating all directions?” – In these (Vv. 857), in the sense of handsome. In “Excellent, venerable sir,” and so on (D.N. 1.250), in the sense of approval. Here too, it is in the sense of approval. And since it is in the sense of approval, it should be understood that it means “Well done, well done, good Gotama.” “In fear, anger, praise, haste it is a word of wonder. In laughter, sorrow, and joy, the wise one repeats it. And by this characteristic, it should be understood that here, in the sense of joy and praise, it has been said twice. Or, "excellent" means extremely desirable, extremely pleasing, extremely beautiful. There, with one word "excellent," he praises the teaching, and with the other, his own joy. For this is the intention here: "Excellent, venerable Gotama, is this teaching of the venerable Gotama; excellent is my joy on account of this teaching of the venerable Gotama." Or, it is the Buddha's own words that praise by referring to two meanings each: the words of the venerable Gotama are excellent because they destroy defilements, excellent because they lead to the attainment of virtues; likewise, because they generate faith and generate wisdom; because they are meaningful and well-expressed; because their words are clear and their meaning profound; because they are pleasant to the ear and penetrate the heart; because they do not exalt oneself and do not disparage others; because they are cool with compassion and pure with wisdom; because they are delightful at first and bear scrutiny; because they are pleasant to hear and beneficial when examined—it should be connected in this way. Beyond that, he praises the teaching with four similes. There, "overturned" means placed face down, or born face down. "Would set upright" means would turn it face up. "Covered" means covered with grass, leaves, etc. "Would reveal" means would uncover. "To one bewildered" means to one who has lost his way. "Would show the path" means would take him by the hand and say, "This is the path." "In the darkness" means in the fourfold darkness of the new moon's fourteenth day, midnight, dense forest thickets, and cloud layers. This is the literal meaning of the words. But this is the intended connection: just as someone would set upright what was overturned, so by raising me, who was averse to the True Dhamma and established in false Dhamma, from false Dhamma; just as someone would reveal what was covered, so by revealing the teaching which was covered by the thicket of wrong views since the disappearance of the teaching of Kassapa the Buddha; just as someone would show the path to one bewildered, so by showing the wrong path by teaching me the path to heaven and liberation, I who am set on the path of desire; by holding up the lamp of teaching that destroys the darkness of delusion, which covers and prevents me from seeing the forms of the Triple Gem, the Buddha and so on, just as one would hold a lamp in the dark for one immersed in the darkness of delusion; because the Dhamma was thus proclaimed by the Venerable Gotama to me in these ways, the Dhamma was proclaimed in many ways. The discourse on the appreciation of the teaching is finished. The discourse on the expression of faith Having thus praised the teaching, with a mind full of faith in the Triple Gem through this teaching, expressing his faith, he said, "I go for refuge," and so on. Therein, "esāhaṃ" means "this I." "Bhavantaṃ gotamaṃ saraṇaṃ gacchāmīti" means "I go for refuge to the Venerable Gotama"; "the Venerable Gotama is my refuge, my ultimate resort, my father in distress, and the provider of my welfare"—with this intention, I go to, resort to, serve, and attend upon the Venerable Gotama, or thus I know and understand. For the root "gam" has the meaning of going, and "buddhi" (understanding) is also one of its meanings; therefore, "gacchāmi" also has the meaning of "I know and understand.