SUTTA 28

[^327]: This discourse has been published separately with introduction and notes by Nyanaponika Thera, The Greater Discourse on the Elephant-Footprint Simile.

[^328]: The structure of this discourse may be outlined as follows: Ven. Sāriputta first enumerates the Four Noble Truths ( §2 ). He then takes up the truth of suffering for analysis into its various aspects ( §3 ). From among these, he selects the last and enumerates the five aggregates affected by clinging ( §4 ). He next selects the first aggregate, that of material form ( §5 ). Taking up each of the great elements in turn, he shows it as having two aspects - internal and external - the former being selected for detailed analysis, the latter only briefly mentioned for the sake of completeness and comparison (e.g., §§6-7 ). Each of the elements is expounded as a basis for insight meditation as well as for developing patience, faith, and equanimity (e.g., §§8-10 ). Having finished examining the elements, Ven. Sāriputta next takes up the aspects of the Four Noble Truths he earlier had put aside. He introduces derivative material form by way of the sense faculties and their objects ( §27, etc.), then he relates this to the other four aggregates of the first noble truth, and finally he sets this whole complex of ideas in relation to the other three noble truths ( §28, etc.).

[^329]: Upādinna, "clung-to," is used in the Abhidhamma as a technical term applicable to bodily phenomena that are produced by kamma. Here, however, it is used in a more general sense as applicable to the entire body insofar as it is grasped as "mine" and misapprehended as a self. The phrase "whatever else" is intended to include the earth element comprised in those parts of the body not included in the above enumeration. According to the Abhidhamma analysis of matter, the four primary elements are inseparable, and thus each element is also included, though in a subordinate role, in the bodily phenomena listed under the other three elements.

[^330]: MA: This statement is made to underscore the insentient nature (acetanäbhäva) of the internal earth element by yoking it to the external earth element, the insentient nature of which is much more easily discerned.

[^331]: According to ancient Indian cosmology the cyclical destruction of the world may be due to either water, fire, or wind. See Vsm XIII, 30-65.

[^332]: The notions "I," "mine," and "I am," represent the three obsessions of personality view, craving, and conceit, respectively.

[^333]: MA explains that this passage, referring to a bhikkhu who practises meditation on the elements, is intended to show his strength of mind in applying his comprehension of things to undesirable objects arisen at the "door" of the ear. By contemplating the experience by way of conditionality and impermanence, he transforms the potentially provocative situation of being subjected to abuse into an opportunity for insight.

[^334]: Tassa dhätärammanam eva cittam pakkhandati. This sentence can be construed in two alternative ways, depending on how the compound dhätärammanam is understood. Ven. Nyanaponika takes it as the object of the verb pakkhandati, and he understands dhätu here as "an impersonal element in general" capable of including sound, contact, feeling, etc. Thus he translates: "And his mind enters into that very object [taking it just as an impersonal] element." $\bar{N}$ m reads the compound as an adjunct qualifying citta, and supplies the object of the verb in parenthesis. MA seems to support the former reading; MT explicitly identifies dhātu as the earth element, thus supporting the latter reading. MA explains the phrase "acquires decision" to mean that the meditator contemplates the situation by way of elements and thus has neither attachment nor aversion concerning it.

[^335]: MA: This passage is intended to show the strength of the meditating bhikkhu on an occasion when he is subjected to affliction by way of the body.

[^336]: See MN 21.20.

[^337]: MA: The recollection of the Buddha is undertaken here by recalling that the Blessed One spoke this simile of the saw, the recollection of the Dhamma by recalling the advice given in the simile of the saw, and the recollection of the Sangha by recalling the virtues of the bhikkhu who can endure such abuse without giving rise to a mind of hate. "Equanimity supported by the wholesome" (upekkhā kusalanissitā) is the equanimity of insight, the sixfold equanimity of neither attraction nor aversion towards agreeable and disagreeable objects that appear at the six sense doors. Strictly speaking, the sixfold equanimity pertains only to the arahant, but it is here ascribed to the monk in training because his insight approximates to the perfect equanimity of the arahant.

[^338]: This is said to stress once again the egoless nature of the body. MT: He shows that the four elements are only mere elements not belonging to a self; they are without a being, without a soul.

[^339]: This section is set forth, according to MA, to introduce the material form derived from the four great elements. Derived material form, according to the Abhidhamma analysis of matter, includes the five sense faculties (pasādarūpa) and the first four kinds of sense object, the tangible object being identified with the primary elements themselves. "Corresponding (conscious) engagement" (tajjo samannähāro) is explained by MA as attention (manasikāra) arising in dependence on the eye and forms; it is identified with the "five-door adverting consciousness" (pañcadvārāvajjanacitta), which breaks off the flow of the life continuum (bhavanga) to initiate a process of cognition. Even when forms come into range of the eye, if attention is not engaged by the form because one is occupied with something else, there is still no manifestation of the "corresponding class of consciousness," i.e., eye-consciousness.

[^340]: This section is set forth to show the Four Noble Truths by way of the sense doors. "What has thus come to be" (tathäbhüta) is the entire complex of factors arisen by way of eye-consciousness. By analysing this complex into the five aggregates, Ven. Sāriputta shows that any occasion of sense experience is comprised within the truth of suffering.

[^341]: This statement has not been traced directly to the Buddha in any of the existing suttas in the Pali Canon. MA glosses, perhaps with too little sensitivity to the statement's profounder implications: "One who sees dependent origination sees dependently arisen states (paticca samuppanne dhamme); one who sees dependently arisen states sees dependent origination."

[^342]: The four terms - chanda, ālaya, anunaya, ajjhosāna - are synonyms for craving (tanhā).

[^343]: Though only three of the Four Noble Truths are explicitly shown in the text, the fourth truth is implied. According to MA, it is the penetration of these three truths by the development of the eight factors of the path.

[^344]: MA identifies "mind" (mano) in this passage with the life-continuum consciousness (bhavangacitta).

[^345]: MA illustrates this case by the mind's preoccupation with a familiar object when it does not notice the familiar details of that object. The "corresponding class of consciousness" here is mind-consciousness (manoviññāna), which takes non-sensuous objects as its sphere of cognition.