SUTTA 142

[^1291]: Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī was the younger sister of Queen Mahāmāyā, the Buddha's mother, and was also the wife of King Suddhodana. After Mahāmāyā's death, she became the Buddha's foster mother. The present sutta takes place at an early point in the Buddha's ministry, on one of his return visits to his native city. After King Suddhodana's death, Mahāpajāpatī pleaded with the Buddha to admit women into the Sangha, and her acceptance marked the beginning of the Bhikkhunī Sangha, the Order of Nuns. The story is found at Vin Cv Kh 10/ii.253-56 (see Nānamoli, The Life of the Buddha, pp. 104-7).

[^1292]: MA: The Buddha asked her to give the gift to the Sangha because he wanted her volition of generosity to be directed both to the Sangha and to himself, as the combined volition would yield merit conducive to her welfare and happiness for a long time to come. He also said this in order that later generations would be inspired to show respect towards the Sangha, and by supporting the Sangha with the four physical requisites would contribute towards the longevity of the Dispensation.

[^1293]: These are the four factors of stream-entry. Thus it is clear that at the time this sutta takes place, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī was already a stream-enterer.

[^1294]: MA: The Buddha undertakes this teaching because the sutta began with a personal gift presented to him, and he wishes to make clear the comparative value of personal gifts and gifts offered to the Sangha.

[^1295]: MA and MT explain that this term can be loosely extended to include even a lay follower who has gone for refuge to the Triple Gem, as well as lay people and monks intent on fulfilling the moral training and the practice of concentration and insight. In the strict technical sense it refers only to those possessing the supramundane path of stream-entry.

[^1296]: This is a non-Buddhist contemplative who attains the jhānas and the mundane kinds of direct knowledge.

[^1297]: MA: In a hundred existences it gives long life, beauty, happiness, strength, and intelligence, and it makes one free of agitation. The following attainments should be understood accordingly.

[^1298]: MA says that although the results of giving in each of these cases is incalculable, there is still an ascending gradation in their incalculability, similar to the ascending incalculability of the waters in a great river, etc., up to that of the waters in the ocean. Perhaps the "incalculable, immeasurable" value of these gifts consists in their becoming a supporting condition for attainment of the paths, fruits, and Nibbāna.

[^1299]: MA: There is no gift equal in measure to this gift. This is the kind of gift Mahāpajāpatī would be giving by offering the pair of cloths to the Sangha.

[^1300]: MA: "Members of the clan" (gotrabhuno) are those who are monks merely in name. They will go about with a piece of yellow cloth tied around their necks or arms, and will support their wives and children by engaging in trade and farming, etc.

[^1301]: The gift is incalculable and immeasurable in value because it is offered, by way of the intention of the donor, not to the "yellow-necks" as individuals but to the Sangha as a corporate whole. Thus the recipient body includes all the virtuous bhikkhus of the past, even those who have long passed away.

[^1302]: MA states that a gift offered to an immoral bhikkhu taken to represent the entire Sangha is more fruitful than a gift offered on a personal basis to an arahant. But for the gift to be properly presented to the Sangha, the donor must take no account of the personal qualities of the recipient but must see him solely as representing the Sangha as a whole.

[^1303]: MA: Here the word "purified" has the meaning "made fruitful."

[^1304]: MA: This last verse refers to the gift one arahant gives to another arahant. Although the arahant believes in the fruit of kamma, because he is without desire and lust for existence his own act of giving is not productive of any fruits. It is a mere functional action (kiriya) that leaves no traces behind.