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SUTTA 32

357 The four assemblies are those of bhikkhus, bhikkhunı̄s, men lay followers, and women lay followers. The seven underlying tendencies are enumerated at MN 18.8. Ven. ̄nanda was declared by the Buddha to be the pre-eminent disciple among those who had learned much, and his discourses are said to have delighted the four assemblies (DN 16.5.16/ii.145).

358 Yathā sakaṁ paṭibhānaṁ. This phrase might also be rendered “according to his own intuition” or “according to his own ideal.” Ñm renders “as it occurs to him”; Horner, “according to his own capacity.”

359 Ven. Revata was declared the pre-eminent disciple among those who are meditators.

360 Ven. Anuruddha was the pre-eminent disciple among those who possessed the divine eye.

361 Mahā Kassapa was the pre-eminent disciple among those who observed the ascetic practices.

362 Abhidhamma. Though the word cannot refer here to the Piṭaka of that name—obviously the product of a phase of Buddhist thought later than the Nikāyas—it may well indicate a systematic and analytical approach to the doctrine that served as the original nucleus of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. In a careful study of the contexts in which the word “Abhidhamma” occurs in the Sutta Piṭakas of several early recensions, the Japanese Pali scholar Fumimaro Watanabe concludes that the Buddha’s own disciples formed the conception of Abhidhamma as an elementary philosophical study that attempted to define, analyse, and classify dhammas and to explore their mutual relations. See his Philosophy and its Development in the Nikāyas and Abhidhamma, pp. 34–36.

363 While the replies of the disciples hold up as the ideal a bhikkhu who has already achieved proficiency in a particular sphere of the renunciant life, the Buddha’s reply, by focusing on a bhikkhu still striving for the goal, underscores the ultimate purpose of the holy life itself.

SUTTA 33

364 See MN 129.2, 27.

365 The Codes (mātikā) are probably the rules of the Pātimokkha abstracted from their explanatory matrix, as well as lists of the primary doctrinal categories used for expounding the Dhamma. For more on the mātikās see Watanabe, Philosophy and its Development in the Nikāyas and Abhidhamma, pp. 42–45.

366 See n.89.

367 At SN 47:6/v.148 the four foundations of mindfulness are called the proper pasture (gocara) of a bhikkhu, in the sense of being the proper sphere of his activity.

SUTTA 34

368 See n.273.

SUTTA 35

369 According to MA, Saccaka was the son of Niga˚ṭha (Jain) parents who were both skilled in philosophical debate. He had learned a thousand doctrines from his parents and many more philosophical systems from others. In the discussion below he is referred to by his clan name, Aggivessana.

370 Ven. Assaji was one of the first five disciples of the Buddha.

371 This summary of the doctrine omits the second of the three characteristics, dukkha or suffering. MA explains that Assaji omitted this in order to avoid giving Saccaka the opportunity to attempt a refutation of the Buddha’s doctrine.

372 MA explains that men play this game when preparing hemp cloth. They bind up handfuls of rough hemp, immerse them in the water, and beat them on planks to the left, right, and middle. A royal elephant saw this game, and plunging into the water, he took up water in his trunk and sprayed it on his belly, his body, both sides, and his groin.

373 In asserting the five aggregates to be self he is, of course, directly contradicting the Buddha’s teaching of anattā. He ascribes this view to the “great multitude” with the thought that “the majority cannot be wrong.”

374 The Buddha is here suggesting that the aggregates are not self because they lack one of the essential characteristics of selfhood—being susceptible to the exercise of mastery. What cannot come under my mastery or perfect control cannot be identified as “my self.”

375 MA identifies this spirit (yakkha) as Sakka, ruler of the