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475 MA identifies “that base” (tadāyatana), as well as “the supreme liberations,” with arahantship. The grief that arises because of that longing is elsewhere called “the grief based on renunciation” (MN 137.13). MA explains that one does not actually abandon the tendency to aversion by means of that grief; rather, spurred on by the longing for the supreme liberations, one takes up the practice with firm determination and eradicates the tendency to aversion by attaining the path of the non-returner.

476 MA: The bhikkhu suppresses the tendency to ignorance with the fourth jhāna, makes it well suppressed, and then eradicates the tendency to ignorance by attaining the path of arahantship.

477 The word “counterpart” (paṭibhāga) is used to express the relationships of both opposition and supplementation.

478 Ignorance is its counterpart because neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling is subtle and difficult to recognise.

479 Ṃ: Nibbāna does have an opposite counterpart, namely, conditioned states. But in the strict sense it has no supplementary counterpart, for how can there be anything to supplement Nibbāna, the unconditioned?

480 MA: By saying this, the Buddha makes this sutta Word of the Conqueror, stamped as it were with the seal of the Conqueror.

SUTTA 46

481 A full analysis of the things that should and should not be followed is presented in MN 114.

SUTTA 47

482 Parassa cetopariyāyaṁ ajānantena, reading the last word with BBS and SBJ rather than with PTS as ājānantena, which gives the positive sense “knowing.” In the context the negative is clearly required, since the bhikkhu who cannot know by direct cognition of the Buddha’s mind that he is fully enlightened must arrive at this conclusion by inference from his bodily and verbal behaviour and the other evidence adduced by the sutta.

483 Bodily actions are “states cognizable through the eye.” Words are “states cognizable through the ear.” MA: Just as one infers the presence of fish from the rippling and bubbling of water, so from a defiled action or utterance one infers that the mind originating it is defiled.

484 Ṃ: “Mixed states” (vı̄timissā dhammā) refers to the conduct of one who is engaged in purifying his conduct but is unable to keep to it consistently. Sometimes his conduct is pure or bright, sometimes impure or dark.

485 MA: The dangers are conceit, arrogance, etc. For some bhikkhus, as long as they have not become well known or acquired a following, these dangers are not found, and they are very calm and quiet; but when they have become famous and have acquired a following, they go about behaving improperly, attacking other bhikkhus like a leopard pouncing on a herd of deer.

486 MA: The opposite of those who teach a group—those who dwell detached from a group—though not mentioned, should be understood.

487 MA: This passage shows the Buddha’s impartiality (tādibhāva) towards beings: he does not extol some and disparage others.

488 No ca tena tammayo. MA glosses: “I do not identify with that purified virtue, I am without craving for it.”

489 So tasmiṁ dhamme abhiññāya idh’ekaccaṁ dhammaṁ dhammesu niṭṭ̣haṁ gacchati. In order to convey the intended meaning I have rendered the second occurrence of dhamma here as “teaching,” i.e., the particular doctrine taught to him, the plural dhammesu as “teachings,” and tasmiṁ dhamme as “that Dhamma,” in the sense of the total teaching. MA and Ṃ together explicate the meaning thus: When the Dhamma has been taught by the Teacher, by directly knowing the Dhamma through penetration of the path, fruit, and Nibbāna, the bhikkhu comes to a conclusion about the preliminary teaching of the Dhamma on the aids to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiȳ dhammā).

490 Ākāravatı̄ saddhā dassanamūlikā daḷhā. This phrase refers to the faith of a stream-enterer who has seen the Dhamma through the supramundane path and can never point to any other teacher than the Buddha.

SUTTA 48

491 The background to this sutta is the quarrel at Kosambı̄, which