The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [598]
530 The Great Hell, also called Avı̄ci, is described in greater detail in MN 130.16–19.
531 MA: This feeling, experienced in the auxiliary (ussada) of the Great Hell, is said to be more painful than the feelings experienced in the Great Hell itself.
532 The Buddha Kakusandha is called a brahmin in the sense of MN 39.24.
533 The reference is to SN 51:14/v.269–70.
534 See MN 37.11.
535 See MN 37.12.
536 The reference is to SN 6:5/i.145.
537 This verse refers to Ven. Moggallāna’s mastery over the supernormal power of travelling in space like a bird.
SUTTA 51
538 From this difference in their manner of greeting the Buddha it is evident that Pessa is a follower of the Buddha, whereas Kandaraka—despite his respect and admiration—belongs to a different religious community.
539 MA: Out of respect for the Buddha and because of their training, the bhikkhus did not converse with one another, nor did they even clear their throats. Unmoving in body, undistracted in mind, they sat surrounding the Blessed One like ruddy clouds surrounding the peak of Mount Sineru. Kandaraka must have been privately comparing this assembly of the bhikkhus with the assemblies of wanderers as described in MN 76.4.
540 MA explains that Kandaraka did not have direct knowledge of the Buddhas of the past and future. He made this statement as a way of expressing his admiration for the well-trained, disciplined, and calm Sangha of bhikkhus. The Buddha, however, confirms this on the basis of direct knowledge.
541 MA: The four foundations of mindfulness are brought in to show the cause for the calm and tranquil deportment of the Sangha. On the foundations of mindfulness, see MN 10.
542 MA glosses: “We too, when we get an opportunity, from time to time attend to this; we are also practitioners; we do not completely neglect meditation.”
543 The point of this statement is that an animal’s guile and trickery is very limited, while that of human beings is inexhaustible.
544 MA explains that this passage is introduced as a sequel to Pessa’s statement that the Blessed One knows the welfare and harm of beings; for the Buddha shows that the first three kinds of persons are practising in harmful ways, while the fourth is practising in a beneficial way. The passage can also be connected with Kandaraka’s praise of the Sangha; for the Buddha will show three ways in which he does not train the Sangha and the one way in which all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future train their Sanghas.
545 Sukhapaṭisaṁvedı̄ brahmabhūtena attanā. MA: He experiences the bliss of the jhānas, paths, fruits, and Nibbāna. “Brahma” here should be understood in the sense of holy or excellent (sẹ̣ha). There may be an allusion here to the main theme of the Upanishads, the identity of the ātman with brahman.
546 MA: Pessa would have attained the fruit of stream-entry, but he rose from his seat and left before the Buddha had completed his discourse. The benefits he did receive are two: he gained greater confidence in the Sangha, and he gave rise to a new method for comprehending the foundations of mindfulness.
547 This passage details the austerities undertaken by many of the Buddha’s ascetic contemporaries, as well as by the Bodhisatta himself during his period of striving for enlightenment. See MN 12.45.
548 This passage shows the practice of one who torments himself in the hope of gaining merit and then offers sacrifices that involve the slaughter of many animals and the oppression of his workers.
549 This is the arahant. To show clearly that he torments neither himself nor others, the Buddha next undertakes to describe the path of practice by which he arrived at arahantship.
SUTTA 52
550 All these expressions are descriptive of arahantship.