English
'market' is a designation for a certain town. In that town, it is said, twenty thousand market entrances were divided. Thus, because of the abundance of markets, it came to be known as 'market' itself. Not far from that town, on the river bank, was a great forest grove, dense, shady, and a delightful piece of land. There the Blessed One resided. Keṇiya was his name. Jaṭila means an ascetic wearing matted hair. That great wealthy brahmin, in order to protect his wealth, undertook the ascetic's life, gave a present to the king, took a piece of land, built an hermitage there, engaged in trade with five hundred carts, and lived as a support for a thousand families. They say that in his hermitage there was a single palm tree that daily produced a golden fruit. By day he wore saffron robes and matted his hair, by night he enjoyed sensual pleasures. "Pavattāro" means "those who make known," "those who speak according to the tradition." "Yesaṃ" means "whose." "Mantapadaṃ" means "a word of mantra," a mantra is a word to be spoken in secret, excluding the sound of the mantra, because it is the cause of the attainment of various meanings; it is a Vedic saying. "Gītaṃ" means "chanted," chanted by the ten ancient brahmins like Aṭṭhaka and others, with the perfection of high and low tones. "Pavuttaṃ" means "spoken to others" according to the tradition, meaning "recited." "Samihitaṃ" means "collected," "heaped up," meaning it was gathered and kept according to the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, etc., and within those, according to mantras, brahmins, etc., and according to reciters and speakers. "Tadanugāyanti" means "the brahmins of today chant after them, recite after them, what was chanted by them before." "Tadanubhāsanti" means "they speak after that," this is a synonym for the previous one. "Bhāsitamanubhāsanti" means "they recite after what was spoken by them." "Vācitamanuvācenti" means "they recite after what was recited by them to others." "Seyyathidaṃ" means "who are they?" Aṭṭhaka and others are their names. They, endowed with divine vision, with knowledge of how beings fare according to their karma, with knowledge of past lives, and with knowledge of the method of brahminical mantra study in past eons, looked upon these things, and without harming others, compared them with the words of the Blessed One, Kassapa the Perfectly Enlightened, which were connected with the cycle of existence, and then composed the mantras in their texts. Others, in the time of King Okkāka and so on, The Brahmins who were born in the family having cast aside killing and the like, and having broken the three Vedas, acted contrary to the Buddha's word. "Cessation of night" means night, then ceased from that, thus ceased from night. Food after midday, until sunset, is called untimely food; ceased from that, thus ceased from untimely food. "Having prepared" means having prepared a drink well-made with ghee, honey, sugar, and the like, and with pepper. "Great indeed is the Sangha of monks, Keṇiya." Why did the Blessed One refuse again and again? Because of the satisfaction of the sectarians at the refusal. For some say that the sectarians are pleased when one who is invited refuses, thinking, "Oh, how content is this one, who does not accept even when invited!" But this is not the reason. There is no such deceit among Buddhas for the sake of requisites. Rather, seeing these one thousand two hundred and fifty monks, [he thought,] "He will prepare alms for only so many. And that Brahmin Sela himself will go forth with three hundred men. It is not proper to send the new monks elsewhere and go with these, or to send these elsewhere and go with the new monks. Even if I take all of them and go, the alms food will not be sufficient. Then, when the monks go for alms, people will grumble, 'Keṇiya, after so long, could not even give enough to sustain the ascetic Gotama!' And he himself will be remorseful." But if he refuses, [he thought,] "The ascetic Gotama again and again takes the name of Brahmins, saying, 'You are devoted to Brahmins.'" Thinking this, he will also wish to invite Brahmins. Then he will invite the Brahmins separately. Those invited by him, becoming monks, will eat. Thus his faith will be preserved. Therefore, he refused again and again. "Even though, good Gotama," by this he indicates this: "Good Gotama, what has happened? If I am devoted to Brahmins, let the good Gotama accept. I am able to give to Brahmins too, you..." "shaking." Apart from grain, fruit, and juice, they say even rice-washing water is grain juice. I allow, monks, sugarcane juice; here, unskimmed sugarcane juice is to be known as lasting for seven days. "With these verses" (M.N.A. 2.400) means with these verses agreeable to Keṇiya's mind. There, "sacrifices have the fire-offering as their chief" is said because without fire-worship, there are no sacrifices for brahmins; the meaning is, fire-offerings are supreme, the main part of offering to fire. For brahmins perform sacrifices preceded by fire-offering, saying "gods have fire as their chief." The Sāvitrī is called "the mouth of meters" because it is to be recited first by those chanting the Vedas; the meaning is, the Sāvitrī is the forerunner of the Veda, because the hearing of the Veda is preceded by it. The king is called "the mouth" because of the supremacy of humans. The ocean is called "the mouth" because it is the support for rivers entering it, and because it is the destination, a refuge. The moon is called "the mouth of constellations" because by its conjunction "today is Kattikā, today is Rohiṇī" is known, and because it outshines the constellations by giving light, and because of its special beauty compared to the constellations. The sun is called "the mouth of those that burn" because it is the foremost of those that burn, such as "lamp flames, fire flames, lightning bolts, thunderbolts," and so on. But because of the supremacy of those worthy of offerings, especially referring to the Saṅgha led by the Buddha at that time, it is said, "For those desiring merit, the Saṅgha is indeed the mouth of those who sacrifice." Thereby it shows that the Saṅgha is the source of merit, being the foremost recipient of offerings. The commentary on the story of Keṇiya the Ascetic is finished. Commentary on the story of Rojamalla 301. In the story of Roja, "the monastery" they said, referring to the Perfumed Chamber. "Not hurrying" means not rushing, placing his foot slowly at the measure of a foot, making a circle, without disturbing the well-swept sand resembling a bed of pearls, coral, and sinduvāra flowers. "Āḷindaṃ" means the porch. "Having cleared his throat" means having made a clearing-throat sound. Knock on the door. "Knock" means to knock slightly with the tip of the fingernail near the keyhole. Indeed, non-humans knock very high on the door. Animal-beings knock very low. Not knocking like that, humans knock in the middle, near the hole. This is called the custom of knocking on the door, they say, explaining it. "The Blessed One opened the door"— the Blessed One did not get up and open the door. Rather, he extended his hand, saying, "Let it open!" Then, thinking: "The Blessed One, for countless eons, giving gifts, has not performed the act of opening a door with his own hand," the door opened by itself. But because it was opened by the mind of the Blessed One, therefore, it is said, "The Blessed One opened the door." The commentary on the story of Rojamalla is finished. Commentary on the story of the Elder Monk 303. In the story of Ātumā, "a certain elder monk" refers to a monk named Subhadda, who was called "elder monk" because he had gone forth in old age. "Two boys" means two sons who were in the state of novice monks. "With a basket and a bag" means with a basket and a bag. "They collected" because people, seeing those boys, who spoke sweetly and were quick-witted, whether they wanted to give or not, would give. And when they had given, they would ask, "What will you take, dear ones?" They would say, "We have no need for anything else. Our father wishes to offer a gruel-offering when the Blessed One arrives." Hearing that, people, without calculating, would give everything they could carry. What they could not carry, they would send through others. Therefore, those boys collected much salt, oil, ghee, rice, and food. "Dwells in Ātumā" means dwells relying on Ātumā. "In the straw-house" means in a house made of straw. There, indeed, a large pile of straw had been made into something like a hall, by pulling out straw from within, suitable for monks to dwell in. The Blessed One then dwelt there. Then, when the Blessed One had come to Ātumā and entered the straw-house, Subhadda in the evening... He went to the village gate and invited the people: "Lay followers, I do not expect anything else from you. The oil and other things brought by my children are sufficient for the Sangha. Just give me some manual labor." "What shall we do, Venerable sir?" "Take this and this," he said, taking all the tools. He had ovens made at the monastery. Wearing a black robe and wrapping himself in a similar one, "Do this, do that," he said, supervising all night. Spending a hundred thousand, he had food-gruel and honey-balls prepared. Food-gruel is gruel to be drunk after first eating. Into it goes whatever is edible: ghee, honey, jaggery, fish, meat, flowers, fruit juices, and so on. It becomes fragrant perfume suitable for anointing the head of those who wish to play. Then the Blessed One, having attended to his body early in the morning, surrounded by the Sangha of bhikkhus, set out to wander for alms, towards the town of Ātuma. The people informed him: "The Blessed One is entering the village for alms. For whom have you prepared the gruel?" He, in those black robes he was wearing and wrapped in, taking a ladle and a spoon in one hand, like Brahmā, placing his right knee on the ground, and bowing, said: