English
"the True Dhamma will endure for just five hundred years," and "the True Dhamma will endure for a thousand years." And this saying, Dhamma... It is only a wheel, not a wheel of authority. And the established boundaries, when they cease, cease and disappear due to two causes: Either by the destruction of the formal act which is the wheel of authority, or by the disappearance of the Dispensation. There, at the end of a thousand years, there is no destruction of the formal act. And the disappearance of the Dispensation, is determined in the future by the final Nibbāna of the relics. When the final Nibbāna of the relics occurs, all the wheel of authority ceases, it disappears. But the Wheel of Dhamma in the deva worlds will continue even until the time of future Buddhas, like the verses of Alavaka's questions. Moreover, Ananda, the Dhamma and Vinaya taught and laid down by me, that will be your Teacher after my passing. That Dhamma-Vinaya, which is the Teacher in the form of the Tipitaka, now stands illuminating and proclaiming the threefold Dispensation to the world. From the words spoken by the Buddha, for devas and humans, a great light of knowledge, uncommon to external people, now shines forth and continues. Having heard the eighty-four thousand Dhamma-sections taught by the Omniscient Knowledge, which now exist, in the beginningless samsara, in infinite world-systems, they know all the occurrences of the three worlds, and all the occurrences of Dhamma, by means of knowledge gained from hearing, following the Omniscient Knowledge. And for the sake of heaven in the future, and for the sake of the path, fruit, and Nibbāna, they undertake various meritorious deeds, they go forth (into homelessness). They master the study (of the Dhamma). They fulfill the practice. They develop meditation. All this is not merely a semblance of the Dispensation. It is truly the Dispensation. Why? Because of practicing according to the Dhamma, according to the Vinaya. And by this practice, it leads to the attainment of heaven, the path, the fruit, and Nibbāna in the future. Thus far, all the false words of the wrong-speakers are dispelled and destroyed. Commentary on the Homage Verses. 11. In the commentary on the second verse. By the phrase "Ādigāthāya" (of the first verse). "Taṃ taṃ payojanasahite" (with that and that purpose) means with that and that purpose. They. "Five meanings" means the meaning of the five aggregates. "Those Abhidhamma meanings" means those Abhidhamma meanings explained in the Abhidhammattha-pada. "There" means in the second verse of the three. "Not said" means that the negation was also said before. The connection is: "How could the Abhidhamma meanings have been said before?" Thus, having shown the chronological contradiction of the first among the three alternatives of meaning, he now says "and not" etc., to speak of the contradiction in terms of sound for the second and third. There, by "right at the beginning," he shows that any occasional reference is secondary. "Secondary words" are the preceding qualifying words in this single compound word "Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha." When "said in every way" is connected there, the meaning becomes: "In that Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha treatise, in those Abhidhamma words, it was said by me in every way." That is not appropriate. The meaning that "in that Abhidhamma, it was said by the Buddha, the Blessed One, in every way" is appropriate. The fault of referring to a secondary word certainly arises. Therefore, he says "if it is so" etc. There, "if it is so," as in the Aṭṭhasālinī, refers to the word Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha here. The word 'hi' illuminates the result clause. It is also appropriate as illuminating the acquired quality. "It is rejected" because the meaning "it was said by me in every way in that Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha word" is possible. Not only that fault arises. To show that there is another fault, he says "that indeed" etc. The connection is: "in the manner of inclusion and non-inclusion stated in the Dhātukathā." 12. In the commentary on the word 'paramattha'. A qualifying word is sometimes used for stating a fact, as in "a black crow," "a white crane." Sometimes it is used for excluding others, as in "a blue cloth," "a blue flower." Here, however, to show that it is for excluding others, he says "truths are indeed of two kinds" etc. That which is made known is a concept (paññatti). And the act of making known is accomplished by two factors: by the usage and by the acceptance of all people. "Atīti" means "those great people," and so on. The connection is: "Therefore, they are called conventional truths." "Because they are agreed upon" means because they are designated and accepted. In "truth of speech and truth of abstinence," truth of speech is truthful speech, free from falsehood. Truth of abstinence is right speech abstinence. This is called truth of speech simply by abstaining from verbal misconduct like falsehood. "Because it is a basis" means because it is a foundation. They are called conventional truths because they are agreed upon (sammuti) and because they are a basis for truths (sacca). "Truth established by convention" is also appropriate for conventional truth. "Practicing rightly" means practicing rightly by saying: "No living being should be harmed," "May all beings be free from enmity," and so on. "All worldly attainments" are all worldly attainments that are the fruit and result of meritorious actions like giving and morality. All "factors for enlightenment" are perfections like the perfection of giving, the perfection of morality, and so on. "They accomplish" means they achieve. "Practicing wrongly" means practicing wrongly through misconduct, wrong livelihood, and so on. "Such a great conventional truth" means that one should not violate conventional truth, thinking, "I only accept ultimate truth." It shows that one who violates it will be deprived of all attainments. And how does one violate it? One who holds the view that "There is no being," "There is no transmigration of a being," "There is no wholesome or unwholesome kamma that produces existence," stands in the view of annihilation. He is deprived of all attainments. He becomes one who fills the lower realms. "It makes one grasp what exists" means it makes one grasp the objects of perversions of perception, mind, and views. Therefore, it says, "self-view," and so on. "Such a perverted conventional truth" means that one should firmly grasp conventional truth itself and not violate ultimate truth. One who violates it is not freed from those views. And how does one violate it? By seeing self in aggregates or outside aggregates. Taking lives, and believing those self-lives are annihilated after death, one stands in the view of annihilation. And believing those self-lives, being eternal through existences, wander and transmigrate from existence to existence, one stands in the view of eternality. "They do not contradict," they do not produce the opposite. "But that" is indeed intrinsic truth. Merely based on the difference in experience, feeling is called pleasant. Not because it is pleasant in all respects is feeling called pleasant. "All feeling is indeed suffering" is the primary meaning. Therein, the difference in experience is threefold. Experience from pleasure, or from displeasure, or from neutrality. "Indeed suffering" is indeed suffering in the sense of fear. And in the sense of fear, in the sense of being feared by those who see the danger of saṃsāra. Whose result is pleasant, those are pleasant-resultant. Wholesome actions of the three planes. By "considered wholesome," it indicates that even in ultimate truth, these designations rely on conventional usage. "With defilements" is the state of being accompanied by defilements. "Corrupting" is the state of being conjoined with corrupting phenomena. The state of being attainable by floods, yokes, and clingings is "being subject to floods, yokes, and clingings." The superior self is internal. External material phenomena in a tree are called the self of the tree in the sense of its essence. Material phenomena in a branch are called the self of the branch in the sense of its essence. But material and immaterial phenomena included in the continuum of beings, by reason of being firmly grasped by craving, in the sense of being a self superior to the external self, become the conventional designation "internal." Therefore it is said, "and the internal triad," etc. And the path to the cessation of suffering— thus this tetrad is called the Noble Truth, is the connection. "This very one" is this very tetrad. By "unwavering," it indicates the meaning of "Noble." Of phenomena of the three planes, the pleasantness is indeed wavering. Why? Because they are impermanent phenomena. Taking those phenomena as pleasant, making them one's internal part, one soon attains suffering. Knowing those phenomena as suffering, being liberated from them, there is no again attaining suffering. This is the method in the remaining noble truths. In the phrase "among them" and so on, among the two truths, where it is said there are two kinds of truths. "Therefore it is said" and so on, is a statement of acquired quality. In "that which is without another designation," "another designation" means, relying on the combination of eight elements, a pot-shape is perceived, a cloth-shape is perceived. That shape, without its own nature, is accomplished by another designation. There is an action called "sustaining and thinking." Which is called "mind." It is not accomplished by another designation. It is accomplished by its own nature. This is the method for the action of contact, for the action of feeling, and so on. To show this meaning, he said "that which is without another designation" and so on. "Having conceived by mind" means, by the mind-consciousness mind, making a non-existent shape existent. "Having made it with a body" means,