English
In the early morning, the Elderess said to the young bhikkhunīs, "The village is too quiet, investigate it." They went and, knowing that everyone had left, returned and informed the Elderess. Hearing this, she said, "Do not worry about their departure; focus on your own studies, inquiries, and wise attention." Then, at the time for alms-round, she dressed and, with twelve others, stood at the foot of a banyan tree at the village gate. The deity dwelling in the tree gave alms-food to all twelve bhikkhunīs and said, "Venerable ladies, do not go elsewhere; always come here." Now, the Elderess had a younger brother named Elder Nāga. He thought, "The danger is great, it cannot be endured; I will go to the other shore." He left his dwelling place with twelve others, and, thinking "I will go after seeing the Elderess," he came to Bhātaragāma. The Elderess, hearing "The Elders have arrived," went to them and asked, "What is it, venerable sirs?" He told her the situation. She said, "Stay in the monastery for one day today, and you may leave tomorrow." The Elders came to the monastery. The next day, the Elderess, having collected alms at the foot of the tree, approached the Elder and said, "Please partake of this alms-food." The Elder said, "It will suffice, Elderess," and remained silent. "The alms-food is righteous, dear one; partake without scruple." "It will suffice, Elderess." She took the bowl and threw it into the air. The bowl remained suspended in the air. The Elder said, "Even if it stays seventy palm-trees high, it is still bhikkhunī food, Elderess!" Then he said, "Danger does not always exist." “If, when the fear has subsided, I am speaking of the noble lineage, and my mind is reproaching me, saying, ‘Alas, the alms-food of the bhikkhunis was eaten and passed over,’ I will not be able to restrain myself. Be heedful, O elder nuns!” and he set out on the road. The tree deity, thinking, “If the elder eats the alms-food from the hand of the elder nun, I will not turn him back. If he does not eat it, I will turn him back,” stood there. Seeing the elder go, she descended from the tree, and saying, “Give me the bowl, venerable sir,” took the bowl, led the elder back to the foot of the tree, arranged a seat, gave him the alms-food, made him promise to perform the meal duties, and attended to twelve bhikkhunis and twelve bhikkhus for seven years. This is the story of the deity becoming zealous. In this case, the elder nun was one who fulfilled the conciliatory duties. “They are not broken,” means they are unbroken. To show their unbroken nature, it is said, “whose,” and so on. Here, the beginning and end of the precepts of the fully ordained are to be understood in the order of their recitation. Therefore, it is said, “in the seven,” and so on. For the precepts of the unordained, the beginning and end can also be obtained in the order of their undertaking. “Like a torn cloth at the end” means like a cloth torn at the edge or at the end. This is a dissimilar example because “unbroken” is emphasized. Thus are the other examples. “Broken” means having a break, or broken. The same method applies to “perforated,” and so on. The connection is “like a cow with a dissimilar color.” “Mottled” means having a mixed color, half or a third of a dissimilar color. “Speckled” means interspersed with dissimilar colored spots. This is the distinction between them. “Because it makes one free” means because it frees one from the slavery of craving and makes one free. The freeing of morality from the slavery of craving is the bringing about of its nature as a support for liberation. Thus, its nature as a support for liberation is shown. And by “because it makes one free,” this is a derivation by the elision of the latter part of the compound, meaning “those that make one free are free.” shows and makes clear. And because the person endowed with them is free, self-controlled, and his own master, therefore they are called freedom. Being perfectly pure, they are praised, commended by the wise. The wise are mentioned because the praise of the unwise is immeasurable. They are untainted by craving and views, meaning they are not tainted by the craving-taint, thinking, "By this virtue, I shall become a deva or one of the devas," nor by the view-taint, thinking, "By this virtue, having become a deva, I shall be permanent, stable, eternal there." Alternatively, the meaning here should be understood thus: They are untainted because no one can taint or disgrace one by pointing out any of the four failures, saying, "This one is a slave to your virtues," or "You have previously fallen into this particular failure." Virtue leads to the attainment of concentration through a progression beginning with non-regret, therefore it is said, "conducive to concentration." Conducive to concentration means having concentration as their purpose. Equality is commonality. Virtue's commonality is the commonality of virtue, due to its complete fourfold purity, without any division, like a piece of pure gold. One who has attained that, who has arrived at it, is "one who has attained virtue's commonality." Therefore it is said, "one whose virtue has attained commonality," meaning one whose virtue has attained commonality through the accomplishment of virtue, one whose conduct is similar. Indeed, the virtue of stream-enterers and others is the same as the virtue of other stream-enterers and others, whether they dwell in the midst of the ocean or in the deva-world; there is no difference in path-virtue. Although there might be no difference in the fourfold pure virtue even of ordinary people, that is not absolute, so it is not intended here. But path-virtue is absolute and definite, and it is with reference to that that "those virtues" and so on are stated. "That which goes" means that which is evident to both me and you. "View" means the right view of the path. "Faultless" means cleansed of faults, meaning having eradicated evil qualities like greed and so on. "Leads out" means it escapes from the suffering of saṃsāra, it goes out. Indeed, it itself leads out the person endowed with that path. It is said to lead out from the suffering of the cycle of existence. That which is the Teacher's instruction, he does that, thus he is a doer, meaning, one who practices as instructed. One who has attained sameness of view, means one who has come to have the same view through the penetration of truth. The description of the section on various questions is finished. The description of the section on the six origins of offenses 276. "With the first origin of offense," and so on, everything can be understood by following the Pāli text which proceeds by way of exposition, explanation, and so forth. The division of pacification. The description of the section on the categories of disputes 293. In "greed is the forerunner," and so on, because they dispute due to greed, it is said, "greed is the forerunner." Similarly in the remaining cases. "Grounds" means causes. "Ground" is that where they stand. Who stand? Disputes and so on. "Basis" is that where they dwell. "Foundation" is that where they arise. Because those endowed with skillful, unskillful, and indeterminate minds dispute, it is said, "nine causes." "Twelve roots" means the twelve roots such as "he is angry, he is resentful." 294-295. These same twelve, together with body and speech, are called "fourteen roots." In "the seven heaps of offenses are grounds," it should be understood that for one who commits an offense and conceals it, the offenses committed previously are the grounds for that offense. Because it is said, "there is no skillful offense-dispute," six causes are stated for offense-disputes, being unskillful and indeterminate. A skillful mind, however, is a factor, not a cause. 296. In "the four acts are grounds," the Pāli text that proceeds by way of showing what should be done, such as "it should be done thus," is called an act. The action of those who perform according to the established Pāli text is called a business-dispute. Declarations, declarations with a second declaration, and declarations with a fourth declaration arise from a declaration. An announcement-act arises from an announcement. Thus it is said, "either from a declaration or from an announcement." A business-dispute is settled, meaning it is accomplished, by one pacification. Because they are to be settled by these, it is said, "common to a dispute-dispute." The description of the section on those pertaining to them 298. Of a dispute-dispute It is related to that part, so it is on that side for the settlement of the dispute. Description of the Common Section of Settlements 299. Asking whether all settlements, being united, can or cannot settle a single dispute, it is said: “Settlements are common to settlement, settlements are not common to settlement.” It is said that settlement by majority does not occur without the presence-discipline, so it is said: “Settlement by majority is common to the presence-discipline.” It is said that there is no need for settlement by majority in settling by mindfulness-discipline, etc., so it is said: “It is not common to mindfulness-discipline… and so on.” The same method applies to the rest. The same method applies to the section on related parts. Description of the Discipline Section 302. Since the term ‘discipline’ is found for all settlements, the discipline section is extracted with “discipline is presence-discipline,” etc. “Perhaps it is not presence-discipline” here implies the other settlements like mindfulness-discipline, etc., excluding presence-discipline. The same method applies to the rest. Description of the Wholesome Section 303. They say that when something is acknowledged in the presence of the Saṅgha, that acknowledgment is called ‘presence of the Saṅgha’. Referring to the mind of that acknowledgment, it is said: “Presence-discipline is wholesome,” etc.