SUTTA 7

[^84]: For a more thorough treatment of this sutta and the following one, with helpful introductions and lengthy explanatory notes, see Nyanaponika Thera, The Simile of the Cloth and The Discourse on Effacement .

[^85]: An unhappy destination (duggati) is rebirth in the three states of deprivation - hell, the animal kingdom, and the realm of ghosts. A happy destination (sugati), mentioned just below, is rebirth in a superior state among humans and in the heavenly worlds.

[^86]: Cittassa upakkilesā. The word upakkilesā is sometimes used in the sense of blemishes or imperfections of meditative concentration, as at MN 128.27, 30; sometimes in the sense of blemishes or imperfections of insight, as at Vsm XX, 105; and sometimes to signify the minor defilements that arise from the three unwholesome roots greed, hate, and delusion - either as their modes or their offshoots. Here it is used in this third sense, but to maintain the connection with its first two usages, it has been translated by the phrase "imperfections that defile the mind."

[^87]: MA offers several tentative distinctions between covetousness (abhijjhaā) and unrighteous greed (visamalobha), but then it points out that since, from the standpoint of the higher training, all greed is unrighteous, the two terms can be understood as merely different names for the same mental factor, greed or lust.

[^88]: MA says that the abandoning spoken of here should be understood as "abandonment by eradication" (samucchedappahāna), that is, complete uprooting by the supramundane path. The sixteen defilements are abandoned by the noble paths in the following order: 1. The path of stream-entry abandons: contempt, a domineering attitude, envy, avarice, deceit, fraud. 2. The path of non-returning abandons: ill will, anger, revenge, negligence. 3. The path of arahantship abandons: covetousness and unrighteous greed, obstinacy, presumption, conceit, arrogance, vanity. MA maintains, by reference to an ancient exegetical source, that in this passage the path of the non-returner is being described. Therefore we must understand that those defilements to be fully abandoned by the path of arahantship have at this point only been abandoned in part, by way of their coarser manifestations.

[^89]: Perfect confidence (aveccappasāda) in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha is an attribute of a noble disciple at the minimal level of a stream-enterer, whose confidence is perfect because he has seen the truth of the Dhamma for himself. The formulas for recollection of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha given here are explained at length in Vsm VII.

[^90]: This translation follows the reading yatodhi and MA's explanation of this as the partial abandoning of defilements by the first three paths, contrasted with the total (anodhi) abandoning of defilements by the fourth and final path. Nm , following the reading yathodhi, translates: "And whatever [from among those imperfections] has, according to the limitation [set by whichever of the first three paths he has attained], been given up, has been [forever] dropped, let go, abandoned, relinquished."

[^91]: Labhati atthavedam labhati dhammavedam. Ven. Nyanaponika renders: "He gains enthusiasm for the goal, gains enthusiasm for the Dhamma." MA explains veda as meaning joy and the knowledge connected with that joy, and says: "Atthaveda is the inspiration arisen in one who reviews his perfect confidence; dhammaveda is the inspiration arisen in one who reviews the abandonment of the defilements in part, the cause of that perfect confidence."

[^92]: The Pali equivalents, in noun form, for the terms in this series are: pämojja, gladness; pīti, rapture; passaddhi, tranquillity; sukha, pleasure; samädhi, concentration. Tranquillity, by removing the subtle bodily and mental disturbances connected with gladness and rapture, brings the serene pleasure that prepares the mind for deepened concentration.

[^93]: The Pali terms are: evamstlo evamdhammo evampañño. The middle term, in this context, obviously must refer to the second stage of the threefold training, concentration, though it is puzzling why samädhi itself is not used. The commentary to MN 123.2 glosses a parallel expression by samädhi-pakkha-dhammā, "states belonging to concentration."

[^94]: This statement underscores his attainment of the stage of non-returner. Since the non-returner has eradicated sen- sual desire, delicious food cannot impede him in his quest for the final path and fruit.

[^95]: §§13-16 present the standard sutta formulas for the four "divine abodes" (brahmavihāra). Briefly, loving-kindness (mettā) is the wish for the welfare and happiness of others; compassion (karunā), the empathy with them in their suffering; appreciative joy (muditā), rejoicing in their virtues and success; and equanimity (upekkhā), the attitude of detached impartiality towards beings (not apathy or indifference). For a fuller treatment, see Vsm IX.

[^96]: MA: The present section shows the non-returner's practice of insight meditation aimed at arahantship and the following section his attainment of arahantship. The phrase "there is this" signifies the truth of suffering; "there is the inferior," the origin of suffering; "the superior," the truth of the path; and "the escape from this whole field of perception" is Nibbāna, the cessation of suffering.

[^97]: MA: The Buddha used this phrase to arouse the attention of the brahmin Sundarika Bhāradvāja, who was in the assembly and believed in purification by ritual bathing. The Buddha foresaw that the brahmin would be inspired to take ordination under him and would attain arahantship.

[^98]: These are rivers and fords that were popularly believed to give purification.

[^99]: The Pali has phaggu, a day of brahmanical purification in the month of Phagguna (February-March), and uposatha, the religious observance days regulated by the lunar calendar. See n. 59 .

[^100]: The going forth (pabbajjā) is the formal ordination of entering the homeless life as a novice (sāmanera); the full admission (upasampadā) confers the status of a bhikkhu, a full member of the Sangha.