SUTTA 88

[^831]: MA explains that the king asked this question with reference to the case involving the female wanderer Sundari, which was pending investigation at the time. Wishing to discredit the Buddha, some wandering ascetics persuaded Sundarī to visit Jeta's Grove at night and then let herself be seen returning at dawn, so people would become suspicious. After some time they had her murdered and buried near Jeta's Grove, and when her body was discovered there, they pointed an accusing finger at the Buddha. After a week the false report was exposed when the king's spies found out the real story behind the murder. See Ud 4:8/42-45.

[^832]: Briefly, this passage offers five criteria of evil actions: unwholesomeness underscores the psychological quality of the action, its unhealthy effect upon the mind; its being blameworthy underscores its morally detrimental nature; its capacity to produce painful results calls attention to its undesirable kammic potential; and the last statement calls attention to both its evil motivation and the harmful long-range consequences such action entails for both oneself and others. The opposite explanation applies to good action, discussed in §14.

[^833]: MA: Ven. Ānanda's answer goes beyond the question, for he shows not only that the Buddha praises the abandoning of all unwholesome states, but that he acts in accordance with his word by having abandoned all unwholesome states as well.

[^834]: MA explains the word băhitik $\bar{a}$, after which the sutta is named, as a cloak produced in a foreign country.