SUTTA 91

[^850]: This is a stock description of a learned brahmin. According to MA, the Three Vedas are the Iru, Yaju, and Sāma (= Rig, Yajur, and Sāman). The fourth Veda, the Atharva, is not mentioned, but MA says its existence is implied when the histories (Itihāsa) are called "the fifth," i.e., of the works regarded as authoritative by the brahmins. It is more likely, however, that the histories are called "the fifth" in connection with the four branches of study auxiliary to the Vedas that precede them in the description. The translation of technical terms here follows MA, with the help of Monier-William's SanskritEnglish Dictionary (Oxford, 1899). On the marks of a Great Man, MA says that this was a science based on 12,000 works explaining the characteristics of great men, such as Buddhas, paccekabuddhas, chief disciples, great disciples, Wheel-turning Monarchs, etc. These works included 16,000 verses called "The Buddha Mantra."

[^851]: The thirty-two marks, enumerated in §9 below, are the subject of an entire sutta in the Digha Nikāya, DN 30, Lakkhana Sutta. There each of the marks is explained as the kammic consequence of a particular virtue perfected by the Buddha during his earlier existences as a bodhisatta.

[^852]: The seven treasures are discussed in MN 129.34-41. The acquisition of the wheel-treasure explains why he is called a "Wheel-turning Monarch."

[^853]: MA: The world, enveloped in the darkness of the defilements, is covered by seven veils: lust, hate, delusion, conceit, views, ignorance, and immoral conduct. Having removed these veils, the Buddha abides generating light all around.

[^854]: MA explains that the Buddha worked this feat after first ascertaining that Uttara's teacher, Brahmāyu, had the potential for achieving the fruit of non-returning, and that his attainment of this fruit depended upon the dispelling of Uttara's doubts.

[^855]: The seven are the backs of the four limbs, the two shoulders, and the trunk.

[^856]: Rasaggasaggī. The Lakkhana Sutta expands (DN 30.2.7/ iii.166): "Whatever he touches with the tip of his tongue he tastes in his throat, and the taste is dispersed everywhere." It is difficult, however, to understand either how this quality could be considered a physical characteristic or how it could be perceived by others.

[^857]: This mark, the unhta, accounts for the protuberance commonly seen on the top of the head of Buddha-images.

[^858]: This is the standard reflection on the proper use of almsfood, as at MN 2.14.

[^859]: The blessing (anumodana) is a short talk following the meal, instructing the donors in some aspect of the Dhamma and expressing the wish that their meritorious kamma will bring them abundant fruit.

[^860]: MA: This is the intention: "The excellent qualities I have not described are far more numerous than those I have described. The excellent qualities of Master Gotama are like the great earth and the great ocean; expounded in detail they are infinite and immeasurable, like space."

[^861]: The Pali word for the tongue, jivhä, is of the feminine gender.

[^862]: What must be directly known (abhimñeyya) are the Four Noble Truths, what must be developed (bhāvetabba) is the Noble Eightfold Path, and what must be abandoned (pahātabba) are the defilements headed by craving. Here the context requires that the word "Buddha" be understood in the specific sense of a Fully Enlightened One (sammāsambuddha).

[^863]: Vedagū. This term and the following two - tevijja and sothiya - seem to have represented ideal types among the brahmins; see too MN 39.24, 26, and 27. The sixth and seventh terms - kevalī and muni - were probably ideal types among the non-Vedic ascetic orders. By his reply, the Buddha endows these terms with new meanings derived from his own spiritual system.

[^864]: Here and in the reply the word "Buddha" may signify simply one who is enlightened or awakened, in a sense applicable to any arahant, though Brahmāyu's response also suggests it may be intended in the narrower sense of a Fully Enlightened One.

[^865]: MA offers an involved explanation of how the Buddha's reply answers all eight of Brahmāyu's questions.

[^866]: As at MN 56.18.