In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [241]
61 Dhammavicayasambojjhaṅga. At SN 46:2 (V 66), the “nutriment” for the arising of this factor of enlightenment is said to be frequently giving careful attention to wholesome and unwholesome mental phenomena, blamable and blameless states, inferior and superior states, dark and bright states with their counterparts. Although this factor of enlightenment is identified with paññā or wisdom, the above passage suggests that its initial function is to discriminate between the good and bad mental phenomena that become apparent with the deepening of mindfulness.
62 Sāriputta was one of the Buddha’s two chief disciples, the one who excelled in wisdom. For a biography, see Nyanaponika and Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha, chapter 1.
63 “I-making” (ahaṅkāra) is the function of view of self; “mine-making” (mamaṅkāra), of craving. The root conceit is the conceit “I am” (asmimāna), so the “underlying tendency to conceit” is also responsible for “I-making.”
64 Saññāvedayitanirodha. Also known as nirodhasamāpatti, the attainment of cessation, this is a special meditative attainment said to be accessible solely to nonreturners and arahants. As its name suggests, it involves the total cessation of perceptual and affective functions, and according to the commentaries, of consciousness and all its associated mental factors. For a detailed discussion according to the commentarial system, see Vism 702–9; Ppn 23:16–52.
CHAPTER IX: SHINING THE LIGHT OF WISDOM
1. Unfortunately, the connection between the noun and the verb, so obvious in the Pāli, is lost when paññā is translated as “wisdom” and the verb rendered “one understands.” To avoid this, other translators have preferred renderings for paññā that preserve a visible connection between the noun and the verb, for example, “understanding” (Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli) or “discernment” (Thānissaro Bhikkhu).
2. E.g., at SN 22:5, 35:99, 35:160, 56:1.
3. This correlation is commonly made in the commentaries when they comment on this formula.
4. The commentarial interpretation, detailed and highly technical, is found in Vism, chapter 17.
5. In the Pāli commentaries, these two elements of Nibbāna are called respectively kilesa-parinibbāna, the extinction of defilements, and khandha-parinibbāna, the extinction of the aggregates.
6. The two words are actually derived from different verbal roots. Nibbuta is past participle of nir + vṛ; which has a corresponding noun nibbuti, used as a synonym for Nibbāna. Nibbāna is from nir + vā.
7. For an amplification of the ocean simile, see SN 44:1.
8. Pātimokkha: the code of training rules governing the conduct of a fully ordained monk.
9. Ps: Right view is twofold: mundane (lokiya) and supramundane (lokuttara). Mundane right view is again twofold: the view that kamma produces its fruits, which may be held both by Buddhists and non-Buddhists, and the view in conformity with the Four Noble Truths, which is exclusive to the Buddha’s teaching. Supramundane right view is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths attained by penetrating to the four paths and fruits (see p. 373). The question posed by Sāriputta concerns the sekha, the disciple in higher training.
10. These are the ten courses of unwholesome action. For a more detailed explanation, see Text V,1(2). Their opposites, just below, are the ten courses of wholesome action, also elaborated in the same text.
11. Ps explains the disciple’s understanding of these four terms by way of the Four Noble Truths thus: all the courses of action (unwholesome and wholesome) are the truth of suffering; the wholesome and unwholesome roots are the truth of the origin; the non-occurrence of both actions and their roots is the truth of cessation; and the noble path that realizes cessation is the truth of the path. To this extent a noble disciple at one of the first three planes has been described—one who has arrived at supramundane right view but has not yet eliminated all defilements.
12. Ps says that