SUTTA 26

[^297]: This title follows the PTS and SBJ eds. of MN. The BBS ed. of MN, and both the PTS and BBS eds. of MA, refer to this discourse as the Pāsarāsi Sutta, The Heap of Snares, with reference to the simile in §§32-33.

[^298]: MA points out that the second jhāna and one's basic meditation subject are both called "noble silence" (ariyo tuṇhībhāvo). Those who cannot attain the second jhāna are advised to maintain noble silence by attending to their basic meditation subject.

[^299]: Upadhi: The root meaning is foundation, basis, ground (PED). In the commentaries various kinds of upadhi are enumerated, among them the five aggregates, objects of sensual pleasure, defilements, and kamma. Nm renders the term consistently throughout as "essentials of existence," which often obscures its clear contextual meaning. I have tried to capture the several connotations of the word by rendering it "objects of attachment" where its objective meaning is prominent (as it is here) and as "attachment" where its subjective meaning is prominent. At MN 26.19 Nibbāna is called "the relinquishing of all attachments" (sabb'ūpadhipatinissagga), with both meanings intended.

[^300]: Gold and silver are excluded from the things subject to sickness, death, and sorrow, but they are subject to defilement, according to MA, because they can be alloyed with metals of lesser worth.

[^301]: MA: He taught him the seven attainments (of serenity meditation) ending in the base of nothingness, the third of the four immaterial attainments. Though these attainments are spiritually exalted, they are still mundane and not in themselves directly conducive to Nibbāna.

[^302]: That is, it leads to rebirth in the plane of existence called the base of nothingness, the objective counterpart of the seventh meditative attainment. Here the lifespan is supposed to be 60,000 aeons, but when that has elapsed one must pass away and return to a lower world. Thus one who attains this is still not free from birth and death but is caught in the trap of Māra (MA). Horner misses the point that rebirth is the issue by translating "only as far as reaching the plane of no-thing" (MLS 1:209).

[^303]: Both Horner in MLS and $\tilde{N} m$ in Ms err in their translations of the account of the Bodhisatta's meeting with Uddaka Rāmaputta by assuming that Uddaka is identical with Rāma. However, as his name indicates, Uddaka was the son (putta) of Rāma, either biological or spiritual. Rāma himself must have already passed away before the Bodhisatta arrived on the scene. It should be noted that all references to Rāma are in the past tense and the third person, and that Uddaka in the end places the Bodhisatta in the position of teacher. Though the text does not allow for definite conclusions, this suggests that he himself had not yet reached the fourth immaterial attainment.

[^304]: MN 36, which includes the account of the Bodhisatta's meetings with Ālāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, continues from this point with the story of the extreme ascetic practices that brought him to the verge of death and of his subsequent discovery of the Middle Way that led to enlightenment.

[^305]: MA identifies "this Dhamma" with the Four Noble Truths. The two truths or states (thāna) spoken of just below - dependent origination and Nibbāna - are the truths of the origin of suffering and the cessation of suffering, which respectively imply the truths of suffering and the path.

[^306]: Alaya. It is difficult to find for this word a suitable English equivalent that has not already been assigned to a more frequently occurring Pali term. Horner renders it as "sensual pleasure," which appropriates the usual rendering of kāma and may be too narrow. In Ms and in other published works $\tilde{N} m$ translates it as "something to rely on," which may draw upon a connotation of the word that is not the one intended here. MA explains alaya as comprising both objective sense pleasures and the thoughts of craving concerned with them; thus "worldliness" has been chosen as sharing this twofold meaning of the original.

[^307]: MA raises the question why, when the Bodhisatta had long ago made an aspiration to reach Buddhahood in order to liberate others, his mind now inclined towards inaction. The reason, the commentator says, is that only now, after reaching enlightenment, did he become fully cognizant of the strength of the defilements in people's minds and of the profundity of the Dhamma. Also, he wanted Brahmā to entreat him to teach so that beings who venerated Brahmā would recognise the precious value of the Dhamma and desire to listen to it.

[^308]: These five monks attended on the Bodhisatta during his period of self-mortification, convinced that he would attain enlightenment and teach them the Dhamma. However, when he abandoned his austerities and resumed taking solid food, they lost faith in him, accused him of reverting to luxury, and deserted him. See MN 36.33.

[^309]: Anantajina: perhaps this was an Ājīvakan epithet for the spiritually perfected individual.

[^310]: According to MA, Upaka thereafter fell in love with a hunter's daughter and married her. When his marriage turned out to be an unhappy one, he returned to the Buddha, entered the Sangha, and became a non-returner. He was reborn in the Avīha heaven, where he attained arahantship.

[^311]: Āvuso: a familiar term of address used among equals.

[^312]: See n. 178.

[^313]: The change in address from "friend" to "venerable sir" (bhante) indicates that they have now accepted the Buddha's claim and are prepared to regard him as their superior.

[^314]: At this point the Buddha preached to them his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dhamma, on the Four Noble Truths. Two weeks later, after they had all become stream-enterers, he taught them the Anattalakkhana Sutta, The Characteristic of Non-self, upon hearing which they all attained arahantship. The complete narrative, found in the Mahāvagga (Vin i.7-14), is included in Nāṇamoli, The Life of the Buddha, pp. 42-47.

[^315]: This section reverts to the theme of the noble and ignoble quests with which the Buddha's discourse opened. It is intended to show that the adoption of the monastic life is no automatic guarantee that one has embarked on the noble quest, for the ignoble quest makes inroads upon the monastic life as well.

[^316]: This refers to the use of the four requisites with reflection upon their proper purpose in the life of renunciation. See MN 2.13-16.

[^317]: See n. 295.

[^318]: See n. 296.