[^638]: Manasākaṭa is mentioned only here.

[^639]: Aciravatī is called Rapti today. It was one of the great rivers that flowed from the Himalayas through Kosala into the Ganges.

[^640]: Similar discussions are found in MN 98 = Snp 3.9 and DN 27. | The compound maggāmagga can be read either as "what is the path and what is not the path" (per commentary, magge ca amagge ca), or as "the variety of paths" (compare phalāphala, "all sorts of fruit"). Here, however, they are concerned to distinguish one path as correct.

[^641]: This must have been earlier than Pokkharasāti's conversion at DN 3:2.22.1. Pokkharasāti was a family man who denied the reality of superhuman meditative attainments (MN 99:10.4) and emphasized ethics and duties over lineage (MN 98:3.7), which agrees with him being cited on ethical matters at Āpastamba Dharmasūtra 1.6.19.7 and 1.10.28. | Brahmasahabyatā does not mean "union with Brahmā" but rather "rebirth as one of the members of Brahma's retinue" (see eg. AN 5.34:9.4). The non-dualist concept that the limited personal self merges with the cosmic divinity is expressed in Pali, rather, with such phrases as so attā so loko ("the self is identical with the cosmos"). | For añjasa ("direct route") see SN 12.65:7.1 and note.

[^642]: In Pali we never meet Tārukkha and he is only mentioned in his absence. He evidently advocated that lineage rather than conduct made one a brahmin (MN 98:3.4). There is a Tārukṣya whose view was that union (with Brahmā) arose with the conjunction of speech and breath; this was discussed alongside the views of many other brahmins (Aitareya Āraṇyaka 3.1.6.1; Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka 7.19). In Rig Veda 8.46.32 a certain Balbūtha Tarukṣa the Dāsa makes an offering to a sage. Sāyaṇa, the Vedic commentator, says that Balbūtha Tarukṣa was a guardian of cows, evidently alluding to the Aitareya Āraṇyaka, which describes Tārukṣya as a guardian of his teacher's cows, thus locating Tārukṣya in the lineage of Tarukṣa. Hiraṇyakeśīgṛhyasūtra 2.8.19 also mentions him as a teacher, there spelled Tarukṣa.

[^643]: Identified by Wijesekera (A Pali Reference to Brāhmaṇa-Caraṇas, Adyar Library Bulletin, vol 20, 1956; reprinted in Buddhist and Vedic Studies) and Jayatilleke (Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, p. 480). I use the familiar Sanskrit forms, as the Pali has several dubious spellings and variants. Their texts and corresponding Vedas are respectively: Adhvaryu = Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (incl. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad; White Yajur Veda); Taittirīya = Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa (Black Yajur Veda); Chāndogya = Chāndogya Brāhmaṇa (Sāman Veda); Cāndrāyaṇa (omitted from MS edition) = Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa (Rig Veda; spelling established by Wijesekera; see below at DN 13:16.2); Bahvṛca = Bahvṛca Brāhmaṇa (Rig Veda; incorporated in Aitareya and Kauśītaki.) This is the only time the Pali canon mentions these schools, but in some cases we can identify them with brahmins in the canon. Examples include the murmuring Chāndogya brahmin (Ud 1.4); or the Buddha's former teachers, who evidently hailed from the Addhariya tradition of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (MN 26:15.1ff.). | Jayatilleke notes that the Śatapatha describes its own adherents as Adhvaryu (addhariyā), those priests of the Yajur Veda responsible for the physical acts at the ritual.

[^644]: Earlier they were arguing over which one of the paths was correct, whereas now they have shifted to a more universalist "many roads up the same mountain" position. When speaking with each other they saw each others' views as contradictory, but when speaking with an outsider they adopted a more conciliatory position.

[^645]: The ten names in Pali include the seven authors of the so-called "family books" of the Rig Veda (Maṇḍalas 2--8). As founders of poetic lineages, we often find works by their descendants, which are not always confined to their dedicated family book. Poems by the other three authors are mostly outside the family books. Thus the sages listed here cover most of the Rig Veda, although the Vedic tradition records many other authors as well. | Aṭṭhaka = Atri Bhauma (Maṇḍala 5, rather than Aṣṭaka Vaiśvāmitra of 10.104); Vāmaka = Vamra(ka) Vaikhānasa (10.99; see 9.66); Vāmadeva = Vāmadeva Gautama (Maṇḍala 4); Vessāmitta = Viśvāmitra Gāthina (Maṇḍala 3); Yamadaggi = Jamadagni Bhārgava, a descendant of Bhṛgu (several hymns mostly in Maṇḍalas 9 and 10); Aṅgīrasa = Aṅgirasa, identified with Agni as the founder of a lineage of poet-singers (Maṇḍala 8); Bhāradvāja = Bharadvāja Bārhaspatya (Maṇḍala 6); Vāseṭṭha = Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇi (Maṇḍala 7); Kassapa = Kaśyapa Mārīca (several hymns mostly in Maṇḍalas 9 and 10); Bhagu = Bhṛgu, the bringer of fire from heaven whose adoptive descendant was Gṛtsamada Bhārgava Śaunaka (Maṇḍala 2).

[^646]: Unlike the Buddhist monk at DN 11:80.1.

[^647]: "No demonstrable basis" is appāṭihīrakataṁ.

[^648]: The "blind following the blind" is also at MN 95:13.24 and MN 99:9.25. Maitrī Upaniṣad 7.8--9 turns it around, saying that the blind teach false doctrines aimed at destroying the Vedas, "the doctrine of not-self" (nairātmyavāda), an obvious reference to Buddhists. We also find it at Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.5, Mahābhārata 2.38.3, and the Jain Sūyagaḍa 1.1.2.19.

[^649]: Kuṣītaka worshiped the rising and setting sun and moon, turning himself to follow their course (Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad 2.7--9). He founded the Kauṣītaki lineage, referred to above as "those who follow the course of the moon" (cāndrāyaṇa).

[^650]: Indra taught Bhāradvāja a new threefold knowledge by which he might become immortal and realize companionship (sāyujya) with the sun (Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 3.10.11.15).

[^651]: The bulk of the Vedic texts consist of prayers and invocations to various gods.

[^652]: Soma is the ritual drug of exhilaration, identified with the moon. | Vedic Varuṇa was the god of command, the king of tough rule. | Īsāna (Sanskrit Īśāna) was created by Pajāpati as "ruler", said to be the sun (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 6.1.3). He was later identified with Rudra and Śiva. | Pajāpati ("progenitor") was the lonely god of creation; the heat of his fervent exertions (tapas) created the world and all things in it (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 6). | Brahmā, like Pajāpati, is also a creator god, but is the divine power immanent within creation, rather than the forgotten instigator of the past. | The Mahāsaṅgīti reading Mahiddhi ("great power") does not seem to correspond with any particular Vedic deity. Accept the BJT reading Mahinda (Sanskrit Mahendra), the "Great Indra", said to be a title of Indra bestowed after slaying the dragon Vṛtra (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.5.4.9). | Yama ("twin", with his incestuous sister Yamī) was born immortal but chose mortality, becoming the god of the dead.

[^653]: I wonder if this is a satire on the idea of upaniṣad ("sitting near"); even as they affirm their commitment to their texts, they drift apart (visāra) into separate schools and ideologies.

[^654]: The close -ti has apparently confused some editors; Vāseṭṭha is quoting what he has heard.

[^655]: Here the four brahmavihāras ("meditations of Brahmā") stand in place of the four jhānas. Brahmavihāras are simply one of the means by which jhānas may be attained, chosen here to fit the stated goal of teaching the path to Brahmā. The suttas treat them as pre-Buddhist, but they have not been traced as a group in pre-Buddhist texts. However, they are shared with later non-Buddhist texts such as Yogasūtra 1.33 and the Jain Tattvārthasūtra 7.11. | "Love" (mettā) is a universal positive regard and well-wishing free of personal desires or attachments. It ultimately derives from the Vedic in the sense of "union"; Mitra was the god of alliances (Rig Veda 3.59).

[^656]: The mind in jhāna is so powerful that it effectively overrides any limited kamma, including ordinary good or bad deeds. Unless they have committed serious crimes with a fixed kammic result such as matricide, etc., the meditator will be reborn in a Brahmā realm.

[^657]: "Compassion" (karuṇā) is the quality of empathy with the suffering of another or oneself and the wish to remove it.

[^658]: "Rejoicing" (muditā) is joyful celebration in the success of others or oneself, free of jealousy or cynicism.

[^659]: Equanimity (upekkhā) is literally "close watching", not interfering but standing ready when needed. It is not indifference, which is why it emerges only at the end, after the positive emotions are developed.

[^660]: A brahmin student who for their whole life practices harmlessness for all beings---except at holy places---attains the world of Brahmā (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.15.1). The exception for holy places is, of course, to allow for the sacrifice.

[^661]: Here the entire concluding section of the Gradual Training dealing with wisdom is omitted, as the aim is limited to teaching rebirth with Brahmā to Brahmanical laypeople, rather than teaching liberation. Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja later applied to ordain, in which time the Buddha taught the full path to Nibbana (DN 27:7.8).

[^662]: They also went for refuge in similar circumstances at MN 98:14.4 = Snp 3.9:69.3. According to the commentary, that was the first time they went for refuge, while this was the second time. This makes sense in terms of the progress of the teachings, for there they discuss what makes a brahmin, whereas here they ask the more subtle question how to achieve rebirth with Brahmā. The discussion, too, is on a more detailed level, with a more explicit criticism of the brahmins. Nonetheless, it is difficult to square the details of the narratives, for the opening of this sutta depicts Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja speaking about the Buddha by reputation rather than as devotees who have previously met him and gone for refuge.