English
There, common people fear four fears: fear of bad destinations, fear of the round, fear of defilements, fear of reproach. Among them, the bad destination itself is fear, the fear of bad destinations, in the sense of being feared. The same method applies to the rest. There, the common person, 'If you do evil, the four woeful states are like hungry pythons standing with their mouths open, how will you be, experiencing suffering in them?' fearing the fear of bad destinations, does not do evil. But the round of beginningless samsara itself is called the fear of the round. All unwholesome things are called the fear of defilements. But blame is called the fear of reproach. Fearing even those, the common person does not do evil. But the three trainees, the Stream-enterer, Once-returner, and Non-returner, having transcended bad destinations, fearing the remaining three fears, do not do evil. Trainees established on the path are called restrained by fear, either in terms of arrival or because fear is not completely cut off. The arahant, however, Even in these four fears, he fears not one. For he is utterly rid of fear; Therefore, he is called one who has transcended fear. But does he not fear reproach? He does not fear. But it is fitting to say that he guards against reproach, Like the arahant elder in Doṇuppala pond village. 12. In the exposition of the incapable of attaining: Incapable of attaining the right order, Means incapable of attaining the order of rightness. By the obstruction of karma, Means by the fivefold karma of immediate retribution. By the obstruction of defilements, Means by fixed wrong view. By the obstruction of result, Means by rebirth without cause, or with two causes. Faithless, Means lacking faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Without aspiration, Means lacking aspiration to do good. Excluding these, the inhabitants of the other three continents besides Jambudīpa should be understood. For among them, humans are said to have entered a state of lacking aspiration. Dull of wisdom, Means lacking the wisdom of the life-continuum. Incapable, Means without the support for attaining the path and its fruit. Order, Means the order of the path, the order of rightness. To step into, Means these are incapable of stepping into, entering, and being established in the order known as rightness in wholesome qualities. 13. The exposition of the capable of attaining should be understood in the manner opposite to what has been said. Thus, in this pair, those persons who commit the five deeds of immediate retribution, And those who hold fixed wrong views, And those who have taken rebirth without cause or with two causes, And those who do not have faith in the Buddha and so on, And those who have no aspiration to do good, And those who have incomplete wisdom of the life-continuum, And those who have no support for the paths and fruits, All of them are incapable of stepping into the order of rightness, The opposite are said to be capable. 14. In the exposition of the determined and undetermined: Of immediate retribution, Means those associated with karma of immediate retribution. Holding wrong views, Means those associated with fixed wrong views. All of these are named determined, Because they are determined for hell. But the eight noble persons are named determined, Because they are determined for the attainment of rightness, And for the sake of the higher and higher paths and fruits, And for the sake of final liberation without residue. But the remaining persons have unfixed destinies. Just as a stick thrown into the air, It is not known whether it will fall by the tip, or by the middle, or by the root; even so, because there is no certainty that they will be reborn in such and such a destiny, they are to be known as uncertain. But the fixed destiny that is stated for the inhabitants of Uttarakuru, is not due to a fixed Dhamma. For only those with fixed Dhamma, such as wrongness and rightness, are called fixed. And this designation of persons as fixed is spoken of in terms of that. 15. In the designation of those on the path – those endowed with the path are persons established on the path. For they, having undertaken the path for the sake of fruition, are called those on the path. Those endowed with fruition are those endowed with fruition because of their association with the attainment of fruition. For from the attainment of fruition onwards, even if they have not attained the fruition attainment, they are indeed considered to be established in fruition. 16. In the designation of those with equal heads – without prior, without subsequent, means not before, not after, in a single blow, that is the meaning. Pariyādāna means exhaustion. This is called, this person is called one with equal heads. But this one is of three kinds – one with equal posture, one with equal disease, one with equal life. Therein, one who, while walking, establishes insight and attains arahantship and while walking attains final Nibbāna, like the Elder Paduma; one who, while standing, establishes insight and attains arahantship and while standing attains final Nibbāna, like the Elder Tissa, who lived at Koṭapabbata Monastery; one who, while sitting, establishes insight and attains arahantship and while sitting attains final Nibbāna; one who, while lying down, establishes insight and attains arahantship and while lying down attains final Nibbāna – this is called one with equal posture. But one who, having encountered a disease, establishes insight within that disease itself, and attains arahantship and attains final Nibbāna with that very disease – this is called one with equal disease. What is called one with equal life? "Head means thirteen heads – the head of encumbrance and craving, the head of bondage and conceit, the head of clinging and view, the head of distraction and agitation, the head of defilement and ignorance, the head of conviction and faith, the head of exertion and energy, the head of mindfulness and mindfulness, the head of non-distraction and concentration. Adhi, and the head of insight is wisdom, The head of continuity is the life faculty, The head of range is liberation, And the head of formations is cessation. There, ignorance, the head of defilements, Is exhausted by the path of arahantship. The life faculty, the head of continuity, Is exhausted by the death consciousness. The consciousness exhausting ignorance Cannot exhaust the life faculty. The consciousness exhausting the life faculty Cannot exhaust ignorance. The consciousness exhausting ignorance is one thing, The consciousness exhausting the life faculty is another. He whose two heads go to equal exhaustion, Is called one with equal heads in life. How does this become equal? By equality of turn. For in whatever turn there is emergence from the path – Five reflections in the path of stream-entry, Five in the path of once-returning, Five in the path of non-returning, Four in the path of arahantship – Having established himself in nineteen reflections of knowledge, He sinks into the life-continuum and then attains final Nibbāna. By this equality of turn, This exhaustion of both heads is said to be equal. Therefore, this person is called one with equal heads in life. And this is what is intended here. 17. In the explanation of one who remains for an aeon – One who remains is one who remains for an aeon, One who remains for an aeon has it, therefore one who remains for an aeon. Meaning, he is capable of establishing the aeon. The time would be the time for burning. Not yet, that is, until this person endowed with the path Realizes the fruit of stream-entry, Not yet would the aeon burn. Even burning, it would remain without burning. For the destruction of an aeon is a great change, A great application, The great destruction of the world due to the burning of a hundred thousand million world-systems. Even this great destruction would remain, he says. But while the Dispensation endures, There is no such thing as the destruction of an aeon. In the destruction of an aeon, there is no Dispensation. For the destruction of an aeon occurs in a past aeon. Even so, the Teacher, to show the absence of obstacles, Brought forth this reason – "Even this might happen, But there can be no obstacle to the fruit of one endowed with the path." What is to be done? How long does this person, establishing a kappa, maintain it? At the moment of the arising of the path, when the life-continuum is turning back, mind-door adverting arises. Then three predispositions, one abandoning-lineage consciousness, one path consciousness, two fruition consciousnesses, and five reviewing knowledges—for this much time does one maintain it. In this matter, they also illustrated it with an external simile of a newcomer: If a solid rock of a league, tied with a triple-braided rope, were suspended over the head of one endowed with the stream-entry path, and with one braid cut, it would hang by two; with two cut, it would hang by one; and even with that one cut, it would stand in the sky like a mass of clouds, but it would not cause an obstruction to the fruition immediately following the path of that person. This explanation is limited; the former is greater. Not only one established in the stream-entry path establishes a kappa, but the others endowed with the paths also establish it. Therefore, the Blessed One, having gathered together all that was taken up and not taken up, together with the persons of the round seat, established this tradition: "All persons endowed with the paths are of established kappa." 18. In the exposition of the Noble Ones: They are noble because they are remote from defilements. They are noble because they are worthy of reverence by the world with its deities. The meaning of "noble" is the meaning of purity; therefore, they are noble because of their purity. The rest are ignoble because of their impurity. 19. In the exposition of the trainees: