[^181]: This is a denial of the doctrine of kamma. While his doctrine appears to be morally nihilistic, it seems unlikely this was Pūraṇa Kassapa's full teaching. He may have subscribed to hard determinism, so that we have no choice in what we do. He may also have believed that we should keep moral rules as a social contract, but that this had no effect on the afterlife. | In such contexts, kar- means "punish, inflict" (MN 129:29.2).
[^182]: The unsatisfying nature of the answers given by these teachers is also emphasized at MN 36:48.4.
[^183]: Breadfruit is a starchy, fibrous fruit that is, needless to say, very different from a mango.
[^184]: Kings had a duty to protect all religions in their realm, even those with such extreme views.
[^185]: The commentary takes uggahita and nikkujjita as synonyms. Elsewhere, however, nikkujjati always means "overturns".
[^186]: This denies the principle of causality and the efficacy of action. The fatalistic teachings of the Ājīvikas led to them becoming popular as prognosticators.
[^187]: The first three phrases, with the Magadhan nominative singular in -e, are unique to this passage. In AN 6.38:1.4 we find the regular nominative form in -o. They are omitted in the otherwise parallel passage at MN 76:13.6.
[^188]: Everything is destined by circumstances beyond our control.
[^189]: This strange cosmology lays out the course through which souls must proceed before their final liberation. | Since nāgāvāsa ("abode of dragons") occurs in a list of kinds of ascetics, I think it is a corruption of naggāvāsa ("abode of naked ascetics") and translate accordingly. Each of these refers to the number of times one will be reborn in each of these states. | Nigaṇṭhigabbha could mean "rebirth as a Jain ascetic" but here we have moved on from listing ascetics, and I think it refers to one who is born free of attachments. Compare the Buddhist idea of "four kinds of conception" (DN 33:1.11.175). | Pavuṭā is explained by the commentary as gaṇṭhikā ("knot"). However, Rig Veda 9.54.2 mentions "seven rivers" (sapta pravata) that flow from heaven, preceded in the same verse by the mention of sarā ("lakes"). This detail suggests a Vedic influence. The "seven rivers" are normally called sapta sindhu (Rig Veda 1.35.8) in reference to the river systems of north-west India and Pakistan (cf. Punjab, "five rivers").
[^190]: To "force unripened deeds to bear their fruit" by means of "fervent austerity" (tapas) is a Jain practice, whereas to "eliminate old deeds by experiencing their results little by little" is distinguished from the Jain view at AN 3.74.
[^191]: "Purification through transmigration" is saṁsārasuddhi.
[^192]: The denial of "mother and father" is usually interpreted as the denial of moral duty towards one's parents. However, I think it is a doctrine of conception which denies that a child is created by the mother and father. Rather, the child is produced by the four elements, with parents as mere instigators and incubators.
[^193]: This is a materialist analysis of the person. | The word kāya ("substance") is central to Jainism. Ācārāṅgasūtra 8.1.11 speaks of the "substances" of earth, water, fire, and air as being imbued with life so one should avoid damaging them. | The Buddha's use of mahābhūtā ("principal states") responds to Yājñavalkya's core teaching at Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.12, where the several "states" or "real entities" (bhūtā)---namely the diverse manifestations of creation---arise from and dissolve into the "principal state" (mahābhūta) of the Self, singular and infinite. For the Buddha, the "principal states" are themselves plural, as there is no underlying singular reality. Later Sanskrit literature lists the "five states" (pañcabhūta) as earth, water, fire, air, and space.
[^194]: This is a reductive atomism. It argues that since all things are made of the seven fundamental substances (kāya), higher-order entities have no significance.
[^195]: Unlike the materialism of Ajita Kesakambala, one of the basic substances is the soul. He uses jīva, the same term used by the Jains, rather than attā as preferred by the brahmins. Likewise, the Jains held a similar doctrine of six uncreated and eternal "substances" (kāya or dravya): soul, the media for motion and rest, matter, space, and time.
[^196]: Compare AN 8.16:1.3.
[^197]: While this is a genuine Jain teaching, it has not been identified as a "fourfold restraint". DN 25:16.3 preserves another "fourfold restraint" that is closer to that found in Jainism. At MN 12:44.1 the Buddha says he once practiced a "four-factored spiritual path" that consisted of Jain-like austerities.
[^198]: At Isibhāsiyāiṁ 29.19, Vardhamāna (Mahāvīra) teaches that a sage is savva-vārīhiṁ vārie, "restrained in all restraints", which clearly parallels our current passage. In that passage, "restraint" refers to stopping the influx of defilements through the five senses, neither delighting in the pleasant nor loathing the unpleasant. Similarly we find vāriya-savva-vāri in the commentary to Sūyagaḍa 1.6.28. | Read vāri as future passive participle (cf. Sanskrit vārya). | Dhuta in the sense "shaken off (evil by means of ascetic practices)" is a characteristic Jain term. | For sabbavāriphuṭo compare ophuṭo at MN 99:15.5. In both cases phuṭ appears in a string of terms from the root var, and is possibly a corrupted form, or at least has the same meaning.
[^199]: This places him among the "endless flip-floppers" of DN 1:2.23.1. However, we do not know on which of the four grounds he justified his evasiveness.
[^200]: The Buddha answers directly, with confidence. This whole passage is a masterclass in effective dialogue.
[^201]: He engages Ajātasattu rather than lecturing him.
[^202]: See mukhaṁ ullokentī at MN 79 and SN 56.39.
[^203]: Even a servant believed in the doctrine of kamma.
[^204]: There is no question of the divinity of kings.
[^205]: The doctrine of kamma leads to living a better life, not stewing in resentment.
1:47.1.1](https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-kd1/en/sujato#47.1.1)
penalizes the ordination of bondservants or slaves, despite the fact
that Ajātasattu's father, Bimbisāra, had
ordered that no action was to be taken against any bondservant who
ordained under the Buddha.
[^207]: Here the Buddha foreshadows the larger themes detailed later.
[^208]: Even under a king so compromised as Ajātasattu, a runaway slave who has ordained is rewarded not punished.
[^209]: In contrast with the former teachers, the Buddha gives a clear answer in terms that Ajātasattu would understand.
[^210]: The Buddha establishes common ground with the king before venturing into deeper waters.
[^211]: By starting with a very basic and obvious fruit, the Buddha stimulates Ajātasattu to seek a deeper answer.
[^212]: Karakārako rāsivaḍḍhako is a unique phrase. For karakāraka, compare MN 57:2.3, where a naked ascetic "does a hard thing". Rāsi means "heap" (of grain or wealth according to the commentary).
[^213]: The bonded servant had no wealth or family to renounce, but the worker does.
[^214]: Having established the king's genuine interest and understanding, the Buddha prepares him for the long discourse to follow.
[^215]: This is the start of the teaching on the Gradual Training, encompassing ethics (sīla), meditation (samādhi), and wisdom (paññā). Only the ethics portion appeared in the Brahmajālasutta, while all three are restated in all the remaining suttas of this chapter, although in truncated form. | It is exceedingly rare for a Buddha to appear.
[^216]: The Buddha realizes the truth by his own understanding, not through divine intervention or other metaphysical means.
[^217]: It is good when first heard, when practicing, and when one has realized the fruits.
[^218]: The word "householder" (gahapati) informally refers to any lay person, but more specifically indicates someone who owns a house, i.e. a person of standing. The renunciate life is not just for slaves or workers wishing to escape their station.
[^219]: This serves as a table of contents for the teachings to come. | Nowadays, the "monastic code" (pātimokkha) means the list of rules for monks and nuns found in the Vinayapiṭaka. In the early texts, however, it has three main meanings. Sometimes it does refer to the list of rules, as at AN 10.36:1.6. Here it refers to the code of conduct that follows, which is a non-legalistic set of guidelines that preceded the Vinayapiṭaka. At DN 14:3.28.1 it refers to the verses summarizing monastic conduct known as the "Ovāda Pātimokkha".
[^220]: While the precept includes any living creature, if a monastic murders a human being they are immediately and permanently expelled.
[^221]: To steal anything of substantial value is an expulsion offence.
[^222]: Buddhist monastics are forbidden from any form of sexual activity. To engage in penetrative intercourse is an expulsion offence.
[^223]: While any form of lying is forbidden, if a monastic falsely claims states of enlightenment or deep meditation they are expelled.
[^224]: To avoid sleeping too much.
[^225]: This is the first step in the Buddha's answer to Ajātasattu. This is the sense of happiness and well-being that you have when you know you have done nothing wrong for which anyone might blame you. It is the psychological foundation for meditation.
[^226]: Here begins the series of practices that build on moral fundamentals to lay the groundwork for meditation.
[^227]: It is not that one cannot see things, but that, mindful of its effect, one avoids unnecessary stimulation. | "Covetousness and bitterness" (abhijjhā domanassā) are the strong forms of desire and aversion caused by lack of restraint.
[^228]: Their happiness deepens, as they see that not only their actions but also their mind is becoming free of anything unwholesome.
[^229]: Situational awareness is a psychological term popularized in the 1990s. It has to do with the perception of environmental phenomena and the comprehension of their meaning, which is very close to the sense of the Pali term sampajañña.
[^230]: These acts describe the daily life of a mendicant: going into the village for alms, at which time there are many distracting sights. Then they return, eat their meal, and spend their day in meditation.
[^231]: A Buddhist monk has three robes: a lower robe (sabong or sarong), an upper robe, and an outer cloak.
[^232]: These are the prerequisite conditions for embarking on deep meditation.
[^233]: For parimukha ("in their presence") we find pratimukha in Sanskrit, which can mean "presence" or the reflection of the face. Late canonical Pali explains parimukha as "the tip of the nose or the reflection of the face (mukhanimitta)". Parimukha in Sanskrit is rare, but it appears in Pāṇini 4.4.29, which the commentary illustrates with the example of a servant "in the presence" of their master (cp. SN 47.8). So it seems the sense is "before the face" or more generally "in the presence". | To "establish mindfulness" (satiṁ upaṭṭhapetvā) is literally to "do satipaṭṭhāna".
[^234]: Covetousness (abhijjha) has been curbed by sense restraint, and now is fully abandoned.
[^235]: Likewise ill will (byāpādapadosa), which was called domanassa in the formula for sense restraint.
[^236]: "Mindfulness and situational awareness" has a prominent role in abandoning dullness.
[^237]: Restlessness hankers for the future and is countered by contentment. Remorse digs up the past and is countered by ethical purity.
[^238]: The meditator set out on their path after gaining faith in the Buddha.
[^239]: The happiness of meditation is hard to understand without practicing, so the Buddha gives a series of five similes to illustrate in terms Ajātasattu would understand.
[^240]: The five hindrances remain a pillar of meditation teaching. The root sense means to "obstruct" but also to "obscure, darken, veil".
[^241]: Each simile illustrates not the happiness of acquisition, but of letting go.
[^242]: The Buddha did not emphasize technical details of technique, but the emotional wholeness and joy that leads to deep meditation.
[^243]: Jhāna is a state of "elevated consciousness" (adhicitta), so all the terms have an elevated sense. | The plural form indicates that "sensual pleasures" includes sense experience, which the meditator can turn away from since they no longer have any desire for it. | The "unskillful qualities" are the five hindrances. | The "rapture and bliss born of seclusion" is the happiness of abandoning the hindrances and freedom from sense impingement. | "Placing the mind and keeping it connected" (vitakka, vicāra) uses terms that mean "thought" in coarse consciousness, but which in "elevated consciousness" refer to the subtle function of applying the mind to the meditation.
[^244]: As a meditator proceeds, their subjective experience of the "body" evolves from tactile sense impressions (phoṭṭhabba), to the interior mental experience of bliss and light (manomayakāya), to the direct personal realization of highest truth (MN 70:23.2: kāyena ceva paramasaccaṁ sacchikaroti).
[^245]: The kneading is the "placing the mind and keeping it connected", the water is bliss, while the lack of leaking speaks to the contained interiority of the experience. | Here as elsewhere, water is used as a metaphor for the mind in absorption. Compare Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.32: "He becomes like water, one, the seer without duality; this is the world of Brahmā."
[^246]: The Buddha has answered Ajātasattu's question. But he is far from finished.
[^247]: Each jhāna begins as the least refined aspect of the previous jhāna ends. This is not consciously directed, but describes the natural process of settling. The meditator is now fully confident and no longer needs to apply their mind: it is simply still and fully unified.
[^248]: The simile emphasizes the water as bliss, while the lack of inflow expresses containment and unification.
[^249]: The water welling up is the rapture, which is the uplifting emotional response to the experience of bliss.
[^250]: The emotional response to bliss matures from the subtle thrill of rapture to the poise of equanimity. Mindfulness is present in all states of deep meditation, but with equanimity it becomes prominent.
[^251]: The meditator is utterly immersed in stillness and bliss.
[^252]: The emotional poise of equanimity leads to the feeling of pleasure settling into the more subtle neutral feeling. Pain and sadness have been abandoned long before, but are emphasized here as they are subtle counterpart of pleasure.
[^253]: The equanimity of the fourth jhāna is not dullness and indifference, but a brilliant and radiant awareness.
[^254]: The white cloth is the purity and brightness of equanimity. The commentary explains this as a person who has just got out of a bath and sits perfectly dry and content.
[^255]: Of the eight kinds of knowledge and vision, only the last is considered indispensable. The fourth jhāna is the ideal basis for developing higher knowledges, although elsewhere the canon shows that even the first jhāna can be a basis for liberating insight. Without jhāna, however, the eightfold path is incomplete and liberating insight is impossible. | The verb abhininnāmeti ("extend") indicates that the meditator comes out of full immersion like a tortoise sticking out its limbs (SN 35.240:1.7).
[^256]: This is the "coarse" (olārika) body. Note that its generation by mother and father contradicts the doctrine of Ajita Kesakambala. The obvious impermanence of the body invites the tempting but fallacious notion that the mind or soul is permanent, which is dispelled by deeper insight.
[^257]: This distinction should not be mistaken for mind-body dualism. These are not fundamental substances but experiences of a meditator.
[^258]: Strung gems were loved in India from the time in the Harappan civilization, millennia before the Buddha.
[^259]: This form of "knowledge and vision" is rarely mentioned, being found only here, at DN 10:2.21.3, and at MN 77:29.2. The next realization, the "mind-made body" is also only found in these three suttas. | The Mahāsaṅgīti edition adds the spurious title vipassanāñāṇa ("insight knowledge") to this section. This term does not appear anywhere in the Pali canon.
[^260]: The "mind-made body" is the interior mental representation of the physical body. In ordinary consciousness it is proprioception, which here is enhanced by the power of meditation. The higher powers in Buddhism are regarded as extensions and evolutions of aspects of ordinary experience, not as metaphysical realities separate from the world of mundane experience.
[^261]: This is similar to the experience of the "astral body" described by modern spiritualists. Note that it is still "physical" (rūpī) even though it is mind-made. This is the subtle (sukhuma) body, which is an energetic experience of physical properties by the mind.
[^262]: Here begin the "six direct knowledges" (chaḷabhiññā), which are found commonly throughout the early texts. | "Psychic powers" (iddhi) were much cultivated in the Buddha's day, but the means to acquire them varied: devotion to a god, brutal penances, or magic rituals. The Buddha taught that the mind developed in samādhi was capable of things that are normally incomprehensible.
[^263]: Only a few of these are attested as events in the early texts. The most common is the ability to disappear and reappear, exhibited by the Buddha (AN 8.30:2.1), some disciples (MN 37:6.1), and deities (MN 67:8.1).
[^264]: These similes hark back to the descriptions of the purified mind as pliable and workable.
[^265]: This simile is extended in detail at AN 3.101.
[^266]: "Clairaudience" is a literal rendition of dibbasota. The root sense of dibba is to "shine" like the bright sky or a divine being. The senses of clarity and divinity are both present.
[^267]: The Buddha occasionally used this ability for teaching, as at MN 75:6.1.
[^268]: The simile emphasizes the clarity and distinctness of the sounds. Compare AN 4.114: bheripaṇavasaṅkhatiṇavaninnādasaddānaṁ.
[^269]: Note that the Indic idiom is not the "reading" of minds, which suggests hearing the words spoken in inner dialogue. While this is exhibited by the Buddha (eg. AN 8.30:2.1), the main emphasis is on the comprehension of the overall state of mind.
[^270]: Again the simile emphasizes how clear and direct the experience is. Without deep meditation, we have some intuitive sense for the minds of others, but it is far from clear.
[^271]: Here begins the "three knowledges" (tevijjā), a subset of the six direct knowledges. The first two of these play an important role in deepening understanding of the nature of suffering in saṁsāra. While they are not necessary for those whose wisdom is keen, they are helpful.
[^272]: Empowered by the fourth jhāna, memory breaks through the veil of birth and death, revealing the vast expanse of time and dispelling the illusion that there is any place of eternal rest or sanctuary in the cycle of transmigration. The knowledge of these events is not hazy or murky, but clear and precise, illuminated by the brilliance of purified consciousness.
[^273]: The word for "past life" is pubbanivāsa, literally "former home", and the imagery of houses is found in the second of the three knowledges as well. Recollection of past lives is as fresh and clear as the memory of a recent journey.
[^274]: Here knowledge extends to the rebirths of others as well as oneself. Even more significant, it brings in the understanding of cause and effect; why rebirth happens the way it does. Such knowledge, however, is not infallible, as the Buddha warns in DN 1:2.5.3 and MN 136. The experience is one thing; the inferences drawn from it are another. One should draw conclusions only tentatively, after long experience. | "Clairvoyance" renders dibbacakkhu ("celestial eye"), for which see Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.12.5, "the mind is (the self's) celestial eye" (mano'sya daivaṁ cakṣuḥ).
[^275]: This simile is also found at DN 10:2.33.1. The Majjhima employs a slightly different simile (MN 39:20.3, MN 77:35.2, MN 130:2.1). | Pāsāda is often translated as "palace" or "mansion", but in early Pali it meant a "stilt longhouse". As here, it is an elevated place from which one can observe the street below.
[^276]: This is the experience of awakening that is the true goal of the Buddhist path. The defilements---properties of the mind that create suffering---have been curbed by the practice of ethics and suppressed by the power of jhāna. Here they are eliminated forever.
[^277]: These are the four noble truths, which form the main content of the Buddha's first sermon. They are the overarching principle into which all other teachings fall. The initial realization of the four noble truths indicates the first stage of awakening, stream-entry.
[^278]: The application of the four noble truths to defilements indicates that this is the final stage of awakening, perfection (or "arahantship", arahatta). | Many translators use "defilement" to render kilesa, but since kilesa appears only rarely in the early texts, I use "defilement" for āsava. Both terms refer to a stain, corruption, or pollution in the mind.
[^279]: Bhavāsava is the defilement that craves to continue life in a new birth.
[^280]: This is a reflective awareness of the fact of awakening. The meditator reviews their mind and sees that it is free from all forces that lead to suffering.
[^281]: This is a standard declaration of full awakening in the suttas, said both of the Buddha and of any arahant ("perfected one"). Each of the four phrases illustrates a cardinal principle of awakening. (1) Further transmigration through rebirths has come to an end due to the exhaustion (khīṇa) of that which propels rebirth, namely deeds motivated by craving. (2) The eightfold path has been developed fully in all respects. (3) All functions relating to the four noble truths have been completed, namely: understanding suffering, letting go craving, witnessing extinguishment, and developing the path. (4) Extinguishment is final, with no falling back to this or any other state of existence. | For "state of existence" (literally "thusness", itthatta), see DN 15:21.4.
[^282]: Once again the pool of water represents the mind, but now the meditator is not immersed in the experience, but looks back and reviews it objectively.
[^283]: The Buddha roars his lion's roar. His teaching leads not just to some benefits, but to the highest benefits that are possible.
[^284]: The king's distress has been alleviated by the Buddha's uplifting words.
[^285]: This is the standard form in which lay people went for refuge. It is not something that the Buddha required, but a spontaneous act of inspiration. Conventionally, it indicates that someone is a "Buddhist". Today Theravadins recite the going for refuge thrice, but in the early texts this is found only as the ordination for novices (Kd 1:12.4.1).
[^286]: The king, unprompted, makes an astonishing confession. To say it in such a public forum, before a spiritual community and his own retinue, displays courage and integrity.
[^287]: The Buddha hears his confession, but it is Ajātasattu's responsibility to do better.
[^288]: Even before such a dangerous and emotionally volatile king, the Buddha does not mince words. The Buddha makes a point to acknowledge what the king had done, without dismissing it and thereby discounting the inner work he had achieved to get to this point.
[^289]: Confession does not erase the past, but it does set a better course for the future. This confession is similar to that done by monastics when they have broken Vinaya rules.
[^290]: These terms are commonly used in the context of keeping precepts (eg. AN 3.50:4.1). The Buddha is supportive when he speaks with Ajātasattu, but does not hide the severity of his crime.
[^291]: The killing of one's father is one of five "incurable" acts that doom a person to hell in the next life (AN 5.129:1.3). If he had not done so, he would have become a stream-enterer.
[^292]: This sutta marks a turning point where the Buddha's teachings were embraced by the leading brahmin Pokkharasāti. The suttas that follow reverberate with the consequences of this encounter. He was one of the most influential brahmins of his time, although the Buddha elsewhere denied that he had any special knowledge (MN 99:15.5). Brahmanical texts confirm that he was a real person, an influential teacher around the time of the Buddha known as Pauṣkarasādi in Sanskrit. He is cited on grammar by Kātyāyana and Patañjali, and in the Taittirīya-prātiśākhya; on allowable food and theft in the Āpastamba Dharmasūtra; and on Vedic ritual in the Śāṅkhāyana-Āraṇyaka. His name identifies him as descended from a man of Puṣkarāvati, capital of Gandhāra. MN 99:10.3 clarifies that he is of the Upamañña lineage.
[^293]: Icchānaṅgala was a center east of Sāvatthī for the innovative brahmins of the Kosala region.
[^294]: Ukkaṭṭhā is mentioned only rarely, and always in the context of extraordinary teachings and events that emphasize the cosmic grandeur of the Buddha against the brahmins (DN 14:3.29.1, MN 1:1.2, MN 49:2.1). Sanskrit sources call it a droṇamukha, a leading market town accessible by land and water (Divyāvadāna 319.010). At MN 99:10.3 Pokkharasāti is said to be "of the Subhaga Forest". | "Royal park" is rājadāya (cp. migadāya, "deer park"). | A brahmadeyya is a gift of land by a king to a brahmin, which was an outstanding feature of Indian feudalism.
[^295]: Contrast with his rejection of this possibility at MN 99:10.7.
[^296]: Pokkharasāti does not care whether the Buddha identified as a follower of the Vedas. The wise do not concern themselves with religious identity.
[^297]: "Vocabularies" is nighaṇḍu (Sanskrit nighaṇṭu), known from the Nirukta of Yāska. | Keṭubha lacks an obvious Sanskrit form. The commentary explains, "The study of proper and improper actions for the assistance of poets." This suggests a connection with ritual performance, which is the special area of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. There we often find phrases such as kṛtam bhavati, "it is performed", of which keṭubha is perhaps a contraction. | Akkhara (literally "syllable") is explained by the commentary as sikkhā (Sanskrit śikṣā), which is the study of pronunciation. This can be traced back to Pāṇinī, and is sometimes referred to as akṣara-samāmnāya, "collation of syllables". | Pabheda is found in Buddhist Sanskrit texts as padaprabheda, "classification of words", such as into the different parts of speech. The commentary identifies it with nirutti. | Padaka is one skilled in the padapāṭha recitation of Vedas, which separates the individual words. | For "testaments" (itihāsa) see itihāsa-purāṇa in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.6.8, explained by the commentator there as legends of creation and olden times. | For "cosmology" (lokāyata), see note on DN 1:1.25.2. | For "authorized as a master" (anuññātapaṭiññāta) see MN 98:7.1 and Snp 3.9:6.1. | For "scriptural heritage of the three Vedas" (tevijjake pāvacane) see MN 95:12.2.
[^298]: Almost the same words are spoken to the bodhisatta by his first teachers, Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta (MN 36:14.9). This connects Pokkharasāti with Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, and suggests that the anointing of a talented student in this way was a regular practice of wise brahmins.
[^299]: Following PTS and BJT editions of the parallel phrase at MN 91:4.9, which read tayā for tathā.
[^300]: The thirty-two marks are detailed in DN 14:1.32.7, DN 30:1.2.4, and MN 91:9.1. In Buddhist texts they are presented as the fulfillment of Brahmanical prophecy, but they are not found in any Brahmanical texts of the Buddha's time. However, later astrological texts such as the Gārgīyajyotiṣa (1st century BCE?) and Bṛhatsaṁhitā (6th century CE?) contain references to many of these marks, albeit in a different context, so it seems likely the Buddhist texts are drawing on now-lost Brahmanical scriptures. | The notion of a two-fold course for a great hero---worldly success or spiritual---can be traced back as far as the epic of Gilgamesh.
[^301]: The idea of the wheel-turning monarch draws from the Vedic horse sacrifice, which establishes the authority of a king from sea to sea. The Buddhist telling is divested of all coarse and violent elements. The wheeled chariot gave military supremacy to the ancient Indo-Europeans, allowing them to spread from their ancient homeland north of the Black Sea. In Buddhism, the wheel, which also has solar connotations, symbolizes unstoppable power. For a legendary account of such a king, see the Mahāsudassanasutta (DN 17).
[^302]: The sacrificial horse on its journey across the land is protected by a hundred sons.
[^303]: The relation between Pokkharasāti and Ambaṭṭha is similar to that between the Buddha and his followers. They share the same understanding, but the Buddha is distinguished as the teacher.
[^304]: In this sutta, māṇava is always applied to Ambaṭṭha and māṇavaka to the rest. It seems that the diminutive māṇavaka means "young student". | There are said to be sambahula students, a word that is often translated as "many". But later we see that they all fit inside the Buddha's hut, so the sense must be "several".
[^305]: This is the practice of walking meditation. Meditators pace mindfully up and down a smooth path, keeping attention on their body.
[^306]: Bho is a respectful term of address used by brahmins. The forms of address used in Pali are complex, and it is rarely possible to map them to modern English with any precision.
[^307]: The parallel passage at MN 35:7.4 has a different phrase here.
[^308]: The term kulaputta (literally, "son of a family") typically refers to someone from a well-to-do or respected family, a "gentleman". It is a gendered term which assumes the social status of men.
[^309]: The introduction has told us that the Buddha was staying in a forest at this time. Nonetheless, this was not a wilderness, but was developed enough to have huts with latched doors.
[^310]: The Buddha draws attention to Ambaṭṭha's rude behavior. Throughout the suttas, the manner in which people greet the Buddha gives us a hint as to their attitudes and qualities.
[^311]: Note the racial connotations of using kaṇha ("black") as a slur. The brahmin caste hailed from the (relatively) fair-skinned Indo-Europeans who entered India from the north. Vedic texts indicate that there was Brahmanical prejudice against dark-skinned natives, but also that they were assimilated and raised to positions of honor.
[^312]: Ambaṭṭha is "qualified" (vusita) in scripture, but far from "qualified" in spiritual development. Vusita is normally an expression of arahantship: vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ ("the spiritual journey has been completed").
[^313]: The PTS reading rabhasa means "violent, aggressive". But the commentary reads bhassa, explained as "speaking much". Moreover, the story below does not demonstrate violence.
[^314]: Ambaṭṭha despises the Sakyans as "primitives" (ibbha) who do not respect Vedic culture. The word ibbha ("primitive") stems from a non-Aryan word for "elephant" (ibha). It originally referred to the native inhabitants who tamed elephants; see eg. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 1.10. At Snp 3.1:18.4 the Buddha describes his own people as "natives" (niketino), those who have a long connection with the land.
[^315]: The Buddha's use of āyasmā is noteworthy here: he is taking a conciliatory tone.
[^316]: The Ambaṭṭhas were a people in the north-west of greater India (eg. Mahābhārata 7.4.5c, 7.132.23a). They were evidently the Abastanians whose rout at the hands of Alexander is recorded by Arrian (The Anabasis of Alexander, chapter 15). They were probably located near what is today the northern Sindh province in Pakistan. Later texts such as Manusmṛti 1.8 say that an ambaṣṭha is born of a brahmin father and vaiśya mother.
[^317]: Kaṇhāyana means "descendant of the dark one (kaṇha)". Since no clan of that name is attested it is perhaps a confusion with the Kāṇvāyanas of Rig Veda 8.55.4. But the confusion, if it is such, has an old history, for Rig Veda 1.117.8 refers to "Dark Kaṇva" (Śyāva Kaṇva).
[^318]: Normally I take ayyaputta as a simple honorific, but here the sense is not that the Sakyans were the masters, but were descended from them.
[^319]: Okkāka (Sanskrit Ikṣvāku) was the legendary son of the first man, Manu, and the founder of the solar dynasty of Kosala. It is a Munda name, which may be associated with the introduction of cane sugar (ikṣuḥ) from eastern Asia, a theory endorsed by the 9th century Jain scholar Jinasena (Natubhai Shah, Jainism, the World of Conquerors, 2004, vol. 1, pg. 15).
[^320]: The words for "teak" (sāka) and "sal" (sāla) have evidently been confused from the Munda root sarja (both appear at MN 93:11.6). But teak does not grow so far north, so the sal must be meant here. To maintain the pun I use sakhua, which is an alternate Hindi name for the sal tree. This story suggests that when they settled in their northern home in the shadow of the Himalayas, harvesting sal was a primary source of wealth. Compare Gilgamesh, for whom Lebanese cedar was the foundation of his royal capital.
[^321]: "Own" is saka, the second pun on the Sakyan name. Incest is, of course, common among royal families for exactly the reason stated here. Marriage between cousins persisted even in the Buddha's day. | For sambheda in the sense of "dissolving, leaking", see AN 2.9:1.5 = DN 26:20.2, AN 5.103:6.4, AN 10.45:4.1.
[^322]: For this sense of sammati, see SN 11.9, SN 11.10.
[^323]: This draws on both the puns above. But the commentary also explains sakya here as "capable" (samatthā, paṭibalā) in reference to their survival against all odds, thus connecting Sakya with sakka ("able").
[^324]: Vedic dāsa ("slave, bondservant") refers to the "dark-wombed" (kṛṣṇayoni, Rig Veda 2.20.7) foes of the Aryan peoples (Rig Veda 10.22.8) who upon defeat were enslaved (Rig Veda 10.62.10). The name disā therefore probably means "foe" (Sanskrit dviṣa).
[^325]: The passage wavers between treating kaṇha (Sanskrit kṛṣṇa, i.e. Krishna) as a personal name, a description, and a word for a goblin. I try to capture this ambiguity by using variations of "black boy". | The passage does not say who the father was. According to Arthaśāstra 3.13, a female slave is protected against sexual harassment by the master, but should she have a child by him, both mother and child are to be set free, and if the sex was not consensual, he must pay her a fine.
[^326]: Like Siddhattha, he spoke as soon as he was born. The boy was no common child, but had a larger destiny. His words are a dramatic contrast with Siddhattha's words of confident proclamation, and his birth which was devoid of filth or impurity.
[^327]: Lineage was important to brahmins, but the Brāhmaṇa and Upaniṣad literature shows that, as here, many were more concerned with conduct and wisdom than with birth.
[^328]: The threat of losing one's head is found at eg. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.24, or at 3.9.26 when it actually did fall off. I cannot trace the detail of heads being split in seven to any early Sanskrit texts, but it is found in later texts such as Rāmāyaṇa 7.26.44c and Mahābhārata 14.7.2c.
[^329]: Vajirapāṇī ("lightning-bolt in hand") appears here and in the parallel passage at MN 35:14.1. The synonymous Vajrahasta (Pali vajirahattha, DN 20:12.1) is a frequent epithet of Indra in the Vedas (eg. Rig Veda 1.173.10a: indro vajrahastaḥ), confirming the commentary's identification with Sakka. Much later, Mahayana texts adopted the name for a fierce Bodhisattva who was protector of the Dhamma.
[^330]: The contemptuous senses of "black boy" represent the conservative brahmanical view, presented not as endorsement, but as a rhetorical means to undermine Ambaṭṭha's pride. The Buddha now shows how a man of a supposedly low birth rose to great spiritual eminence.
[^331]: "Divine Spell" is brahmamanta, a term of unique occurrence in Pali. In modern Hinduism it is used for a verse of praise for Brahmā, but that is not what is meant here. Kaṇha is one of several "dark hermits" who accrued mighty and lineage-busting powers in the south.
[^332]: The Hindu deity Krishna won the hand of his seventh wife Lakṣmaṇā, also known as Madrī, at an archery contest. This detail is too precise to be a coincidence, and proves there must be some shared basis between the two figures.
[^333]: This draws on the ancient belief that the king's acts affect the natural order of things.
[^334]: This sequence seems to be an etiological myth explaining certain rites of kingship and succession, providing an origin story for this prayer.
[^335]: National prosperity is ensured through symbolic regicide. This example was omitted from Frazer's accounts of such substitute sacrifices. Here there is a double substitution: the prince substitutes for the king, then a threat substitutes for the act of killing. This suggests that, even from the legendary perspective of this story within a story, the rite was an ancient one that had evolved through multiple stages.
[^336]: The use of the bare personal name for the king is unusual.
[^337]: "Divine punishment" is brahmadaṇḍa, harking back to the Divine Spell (brahmamantra). The Buddha had his own version of the brahmadaṇḍa, which was to give the silent treatment (DN 16:6.4.1).
[^338]: In MN 56:19.2āvaṭa/anāvaṭa is used in reference to Upāli "shutting his gate" against the Jains and opening it for the Buddhists. In DN 17:1.23.2anāvaṭa means "open to the public".
[^339]: Sanaṅkumāra ("Everyoung") became a Hindu deity closely associated with the worship of Krishna. He first appears in the seventh chapter of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. There he teaches the learned Nārada what lies beyond the mere surface of words (nāma) by giving a progressive meditation that ultimately reveals the highest Self. Thus he is a perfect foil for Ambaṭṭha. The occasion he spoke this verse is recorded at SN 6.11, and it is repeated several times in the suttas.
[^340]: To his credit, after that thorough humiliation, Ambaṭṭha is ready to learn.
[^341]: Reading anuttarāya vijjācaraṇasampadāya as locative, in agreement with yattha below.
[^342]: The Buddha emphasizes that his "knowledge and conduct" rejects the notion of birth that is so essential to Brahmanism.
[^343]: The Pali text abbreviates the gradual training in this sutta and those that follow. The reader is expected to understand it as in DN 2. Note, however, that the suttas sometimes have small differences in their perspective that make reconstruction tricky.
[^344]: In later Theravada, apāyamukha refers to deeds that cause rebirth in lower realms. However this does not apply in the early texts; the acts described here are not evil. Rather, it means an "opening" (mukha) for "departure" (apāya).
[^345]: A common practice of pre-Buddhist hermits, who avoided the slightest harm to plants. Buddhist mendicants may also not harm plants, but they rely on alms and only eat fallen fruit in case of famine.