English
due to the Buddha's truly exalted fame, even having worshipped the Buddha, one also bows down, "and bows down" was said. Worshipping and bowing down is not just at any time, but at all times. To show this, "always" was said. Such an excellent teaching of such a noble man is to be known only by subtle wisdom, by the wise ones endowed with refined and subtle knowledge. To praise the excellent teaching, "to be known by the wise" was said. And here, by "worships" and "bows down," the cause of the acts of worship and homage, which is omniscience... Many worldly and transcendent qualities are revealed. Beginning with these qualities, because of the intention of all beings to venerate and pay homage. Among these, some by their nature, some by inference, elders like Sāriputta remember, venerate, and pay homage. Therefore it is said: "Remember the Fully Awakened One." Even some qualities are worthy of veneration, worthy of homage. Why then are all qualities revealed? By seeing all qualities, praise is shown in terms of the perfection of the cause, which is the knowledge of the cause, called the accumulation of requisites for awakening and the union with great compassion; the perfection of the result, which is the knowledge of the result, called the attainment of the physical body with its power and benefit, the intention and the ripening of the faculties; and the perfection of the teaching, which is the knowledge of teaching at the arrival of the ripening time for the sake of beings. Thereby, the practice for one's own welfare, and the practice for others' welfare, the coming and going without defilements, the non-arising of worldly conventions, and not transgressing them, the perfection of conduct, and the perfection of knowledge, self-mastery, and Dhamma-mastery, being a protector of the world and a protector of oneself, being a benefactor and grateful, not harming others, and not harming oneself, the Dhamma that makes one a Buddha, and the attainment of Buddhahood, saving others and saving oneself, the mind of compassion for beings, and the mind detached from things, are revealed. Therefore, in every way, the supreme worthiness of offerings, the state of being supremely venerable and worthy of homage, and the state of being a field of merit for acts of veneration and homage, are revealed. Therefore, the attainment of desired benefits for those who venerate and pay homage is revealed. Thus, all qualities are revealed. By the perfection of qualities such as being good in the beginning, it is excellent, foremost, supreme, and knowable by the wise due to its scope for subtle knowledge. Therefore, by the words "the excellent to be known," all qualities of the Dhamma, such as its well-proclaimed nature, are revealed. By the penetration of the Noble Truths, truly wise are those who eradicate defilements and delusion, transcending foolishness and so on. Therefore, individuals who have developed the transcendent path and realized the fruits of recluseship are specifically called "the discerning." For they are able to know the excellent teaching as described, without distortion, and to lead themselves and others to it. Therefore And those qualities of good practice, etc., praised in many suttas, those qualities of the Noble Sangha are also fully revealed by the word "by the wise." Thus, in the first verse of the Netti, by the phrase "this excellent teaching," the three teachings are encompassed. Therein, since the other two are means of attainment, and it is the root of all teachings, and the excellent teaching of study (pariyatti) is the subject of one's own Netti treatise, through its presentation, all the qualities of the Triple Gem are revealed by way of praise, by method. For all qualities shown by method are taken completely, not in their specific form. Therefore, even the Elder Sāriputta, the General of the Dhamma, foremost among the wise, devoted to discerning the Buddha's qualities, apart from the Blessed One, said: "Moreover, the lineage of the Dhamma is known to me" (Dī. Ni. 2.146), and by the Blessed One also, this verse was spoken: "Thus, Buddhas are inconceivable, the qualities of Buddhas are inconceivable; For those with faith in the inconceivable, the result is inconceivable." Therein, "Buddha-qualities" means the qualities of the Buddha. But our inability, even with lifelong great effort in expounding the qualities of the Triple Gem, to extract and show them in their specific form, should be understood by the wise beforehand. Thus – "That which the world reveres, and which the world-protector always bows to; This excellent teaching of his, should be known by the wise, of the best of men." Thus, the connection, etc., briefly explained in the verse spoken with elision of the 'niggahita', is concluded. "That which the world reveres, and which the world-protector always bows to; That excellent teaching of his, should be known by the wise, of the best of men." Others recite this verse. Its connective meaning is also as stated. But the syntactical meaning is special. For there, the world with its protectors reveres and bows to that excellent teaching of the Teacher, the best of men, which is worthy of praise, or indeed, is praise itself. That which is worthy of reverence and worthy of bowing to, of that Teacher, the world-protector, should be understood only by the wise. This is the excellent teaching, which should be understood by taking it from the Netti-pakaraṇa. The method of understanding is as stated below. There is also a special meaning in the analysis of words. In this interpretation, those who protect the world are called world-protectors (lokapālā), such as the four great kings mentioned before. The Blessed One is also called a world-protector (lokapāla) because he protects the entire world together with these world-protectors, being the chief leader of the world. He is referred to by the pronoun "taṃ" in "tassā" (of him). Therefore, the meaning taken is: "of that world-protector, the Teacher, the best of men." If so, the world-protector, being secondary and subordinate, is distinguished from the primary world and then removed. How can he be referred to by the pronoun "taṃ"? Even though he is a qualifier of the world, due to his relation as the generator and master with respect to the excellent teaching, he is treated as primary and thus referred to. The Blessed One is taken as the master of the excellent teaching. How can the Blessed One, the master of the excellent teaching, venerate the excellent teaching? This is not a contradiction. For the Buddhas, the Blessed Ones, are reverers of the Dhamma; they always dwell revering the Dhamma. Indeed, the Buddhas' reverence for the Dhamma and their dwelling in reverence is stated as: "What if I... should dwell revering, respecting, honoring, and worshipping that very Dhamma, making it my support?" (A.N. 4.21). Therefore, it should be seen that the world-protector, the Blessed One, venerates the excellent teaching. If this is the case, let the meaning "the world-protector, the Blessed One, venerates the excellent teaching" be appropriate. How is "the world-protector, the Blessed One, bows down to the excellent teaching" appropriate? It is indeed appropriate, because the meaning of the word "namassatī" (bows down) can also be obtained as "inclined, leaning towards it" through reverence. For the Blessed One, due to his reverence for the Dhamma, always dwells inclined and leaning towards the Dhamma. This is also stated: "By which I always dwell," and so on. The rest here should be understood either by the method stated below or by the method stated in the commentaries, and therefore we do not elaborate. Thus, in the first verse, by the word "sāsanavara" (excellent teaching), all three kinds of teaching are included, and among them, the teaching of study... First, to define the scope of his own Netti treatise, he says, "Twelve terms," and so on. Or, in the first verse, the excellent Teaching, the scope of the Netti treatise, was shown by the teacher along with praise of the Triple Gem. Since it might be asked, "Is that excellent Teaching entirely the scope of the Netti treatise, or only the Pariyatti Teaching?" he shows that it is only the Sutta, which is the Pariyatti Teaching, by saying, "Twelve terms, Sutta," and so on. Here, "excellent Teaching," though said generally, means that the Pariyatti Sutta itself should be taken as the excellent Teaching. Since it might be asked, "How many kinds is that?" "Twelve terms" is said. In brief, it means twelve kinds by division. To show that even though it is twelve kinds by division, it is only two kinds in terms of expression-terms and meaning-terms, it is said, "All that is expression and meaning." Since it might be asked, "In these two, is only one of them in its essence the scope of the Netti treatise, or both?" to show both, it is said, "That should be known as both." In the connection of word and what is expressed, the expression and meaning in which the term "Sutta" is used, both of these in their essence should be known as the scope of the Netti treatise. Since it might be asked, "How should it be known?" "What is the meaning? Which is the expression?" is said. This is what is said: The Sutta, which is all the Pariyatti, twelve kinds by the division of six expression-terms and six meaning-terms, and two kinds by way of expression-terms and meaning-terms, should be known as the excellent Teaching, the scope of my Netti treatise. Having asked about its essence, the meaning-term and the expression-term should be known in their essence. Thus, having shown in the first verse that the Sutta, called "excellent Teaching," is the Pariyatti, and that it should be known by way of meaning-terms and expression-terms, now, to show the Netti treatise as a method for analyzing that Sutta, by dividing it into terms and meanings, he says, "Sixteen modes," and so on.