English
” The Blessed One said, “By practicing without attachment.” How so? – “Knowledge is from the root of transmigration, And that knowledge is abandoned by knowledge; When there is life, that exists, And that is in the means of life. “Therefore, the wise one for knowledge, Should protect his own life; And the virtue that is the means of knowledge, He should carefully maintain. “And just as life in the world, Does not exist when the body is broken; Even so, for one whose virtue is broken, There is no arising of knowledge. “Therefore, by the mindful one protecting Life and virtue for the sake of knowledge; Neither sensual pleasures should be indulged in, Nor the destruction of the body. “For by falling into greed for sensual pleasures, not to the village, The foolish, unwealthy one goes to weariness; He who approaches the supreme middle path, He quickly attains supreme liberation. Having heard this word of the Fortunate One, That sage, having gained wisdom born of hearing, Entering into knowledge born of thought, Cutting off this question, he asked: "Abandoning the terrible foundation of penetration, How is that asceticism, you; Tell me, that indeed is the bhikkhu's way, And it leads to dispassion for the truth of suffering; By the mere sight of suffering, That is the cause of fault." Having heard the sage's word, Koṇḍañña, Rising up, delighted, he suddenly said: "Declare to me, O Blessed One, How a bhikkhu sees the truth of suffering." The cultivation of wisdom perfected by thought, and the attainment of wisdom perfected by meditation, should be known by these, thus the Blessed One is said to have spoken this discourse. Why did the Blessed One not elaborate on Koṇḍañña's previous declaration of the truths, but rather spoke of his own attained sequence? "I do not teach the tradition of anyone, but rather, I have attained it myself" – to show this. There, by "in teachings unheard before," he shows these two meanings: "This teaching was not heard by me from Āḷāra or Udaka, but rather, knowledge arose in me concerning things unheard before" – thus he reveals the power of the middle path. And also, since one who practices thus sees the noble truths even without the instruction of others, "why do you not see them by my instruction?" 15. "Eye" and so on, these five terms are synonyms for knowledge. For knowledge, by illuminating the truths, it is the eye; by knowing things as they are, it is knowledge. By knowing in various ways, it is wisdom. By piercing defilements, and by knowing, it is understanding. By destroying that which obscures the truths, and by revealing the ultimate point of them, it should be known as light. There, by the first round, he shows the wisdom of establishing the truths without confusing them with each other; by the second, the wisdom of discerning what is to be done concerning them; by the third, the function of knowledge in the truths. shows the station. 16. "Yāvakīvañcāti" by these two words, "yāva" is said, just as in "iti cittamano" and so on. Freedom from defilements is "akuppā vimutti" because it is unshakeable by lust and so on. "Veyyākaraṇa" is a discourse on the Dhamma. For it is called "veyyākaraṇa" because it explains and clarifies the Dhamma. In "virajaṃ vītamalaṃ," "virajaṃ" is due to the absence of the doctrine of uneven causes. "Vītamalaṃ" is due to the absence of the doctrine of no cause. "Virajaṃ" is due to the abandonment of the eternalist view. "Vītamalaṃ" is due to the abandonment of the annihilationist view. "Virajaṃ" is due to the abandonment of mental defilements. "Vītamalaṃ" is due to the abandonment of latent tendencies. "Dhammacakkhu" is the mere seeing of phenomena, that there is no being, no soul, no doer, no feeler there; therefore it is said, "Whatever is of the nature to arise, all that is of the nature to cease." This is said to show the manner of the arising of that Dhamma-eye. For it arises by taking cessation as its object, and by way of its function, it penetrates the conditioned. 17. Here, "Dhammacakka" refers to the knowledge of the discourse, and the knowledge of penetration is also obtained. Why do the devas make their sound heard here? They say the reasons here are: because they have obtained light by dispelling the darkness of various wrong views, because they have attained reassurance by overcoming the fear of the lower realms, and because they are stirred by joy and delight at seeing the celestial abodes of the devas. Some say that the manifestation of the great sound of the earth trembling happens by the very nature of things. Others say the earth trembles due to the devas' desire to play, due to the gathering of many hosts of devas, and due to the emission of the Buddha's bodily radiance. 18. The meaning is the distinction of going forth and full ordination. Here, the word "iti" indicates the end of the statement concerning the sign of obtaining that "ehi bhikkhu" ordination. For his state as a bhikkhu ended with that. "Svākkhāto" and so on is a statement showing the purpose of the invitation "ehi." The connection of words is: "The Blessed One said 'Ehi bhikkhu,' and he also said 'The Dhamma is well-proclaimed, practice...pe... for action.'" Here, "cara brahmacariyaṃ" refers to the remaining three paths of holy life. Achieve the noble. For what purpose? For the complete ending of suffering, that is the meaning. Because it was accomplished by this word of the Blessed One, "Come, monk," it is called "Come-Monk Ordination" by way of a figurative cause. And that ordination was for that venerable one for life, that is the meaning. Therefore, for that ordination, there is no break by renunciation of training and so on, nor is there a need for another ordination. These two meanings are shown in the commentary. For one ordained by any one of the four among the eight ordinations: the Come-Monk ordination, the acceptance of advice, the answering of questions, the acceptance of the weighty rules, there is no break in between, nor is there a need for another ordination. For others, there is. But other schools say: "The ordination of Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas, which is called 'descent into the fixed order,' and the ordination by 'ñatti-catuttha kamma' (four-part formal act), divided into two ways according to the requirement of ten or five groups, make ten kinds of ordination." What then, in essence, is ordination? It is the internal continuum, the five aggregates pervaded by the intention to endure that, which is non-training, produced by the act of attaining that. What then is pervading? It is the state of being free from the transgression of qualities contrary to it. By the attainment of that, by way of that pervading, it is sometimes said, "endowed with." Just as it is said: "Monks, one endowed with greed is incapable of developing the four foundations of mindfulness," and so on. Here other schools say: "There is a mental concomitant that is a conditioned phenomenon belonging to the aggregate of formations, which is called the attainment of the aforementioned ordination. As long as there is no break in the continuous arising of that in succession, one is ordained. Otherwise, at the moment another phenomenon arises from it, the ordained one would risk becoming unordained." They should be told: "Bring forth a Sutta." If they were to say: "The noble attainment and endowment of those ten non-training qualities, which are abandoned," and so on... not suttas." If so, the fault of being endowed with non-existent things and other beings would accrue to them. For what reason? Because of the origin in the suttas. As it is said – "A Wheel-turning Monarch, monks, is endowed with seven jewels." (Dī. Ni. 3.199-200, similar in meaning) and so on. Mastery is expressed there by the word "endowed." If it is said, "Is there mastery, free will, over those beneficial jewels?" Here mastery is expressed by the word "endowed," elsewhere it is reckoned as attainment; that is a different teaching. What is the special reason here? There is none, therefore ordination is just as described. This same method should be applied to going forth and so on. 19. Although for Venerable Vappa on the first day... and for Venerable Assaji on the fourth day, thus on various days, the Eye of Dhamma arose individually, nevertheless, it should be understood that due to the common instruction, Vappa and Bhaddiya, and Mahānāma and Assaji are mentioned together here. 20. "Form, monks, is not-self" – why does it reveal the characteristic of not-self right from the start? Because the other two characteristics were evident even when they were ordinary people. For they, agitated by seeing the impermanence of agreeable sensual pleasures, went forth; thus the characteristic of impermanence was partially evident to them. And for those who had gone forth, physical suffering from self-mortification, and that being a cause for mental suffering, mental suffering was also evident. Therefore, avoiding both of those, he began to reveal only the characteristic of not-self. And in revealing it, he began to reveal it with the characteristic of suffering, saying, "If, monks, this form were self," and so on. For what reason? Because the characteristic of suffering was much more evident to them than the characteristic of impermanence. For they, being devoted to the practice of self-mortification and having that as their main reliance, the characteristic of suffering was very evident. Therefore, having first revealed the characteristic of not-self by means of that which was very evident, he then proceeded to reveal it by both (impermanence and suffering) saying, "What do you think, monks, is form permanent or impermanent?" is. Is it proper? Is it fitting? "This is mine" is the grasp of craving. "I am this" is the grasp of conceit. "This is my self" is the grasp of wrong view. Here, the grasp of craving is to be understood as the 108 modes of the proliferation of craving,