The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [607]
672 The utterance is in what appears to be very colloquial Pali. MA explains: If one’s mother and father were alive, they would give their son various kinds of food and offer him a place to sleep, and thus he would not have to wander about for food at night.
673 MA: The Buddha undertakes this teaching in order to analyse the person who abandons what he is told to abandon (§9) into four distinct types of individuals.
674 Upadhi. MA glosses: For the abandoning of four kinds of upadhi—the aggregates, defilements, volitional formations, and cords of sensual pleasure (khandh’upadhi kiles’upadhi abhisankhār’upadhi k̄magụ’upadhi).
675 MA: The ordinary man, the stream-enterer, the once-returner, and the non-returner can all be included under the first category (§14), the non-returner because the craving for being still exists in him and thus at times he can delight in thoughts of worldly enjoyment. The same four can be included in the second category (§15), the ordinary man because he may suppress arisen defilements, arouse energy, develop insight, and eradicate defilements by attaining the supramundane path.
676 This type is distinguished from the previous type only by his sluggishness in arousing mindfulness to abandon arisen defilements.
677 This is the arahant, who alone has eradicated all the fetters.
678 Here I have departed from Ñm in rendering sukha as “bliss” rather than “pleasure” in order to avoid the awkward-sounding phrases that would result from strict consistency. MA explains the jhānas as nekkhammasukha because they yield the bliss of renouncing sensual pleasures; as pavivekasukha because they yield the bliss of being secluded from the crowd and from defilements; as upasamasukha because their bliss is for the purpose of quieting down the defilements; and as sambodhasukha because their bliss is for the purpose of attaining enlightenment. The jhānas themselves, of course, are not states of enlightenment.
679 All states of mind below the fourth jhāna are classified as “the perturbable” (iñjita). The fourth jhāna and all higher states are called “the imperturbable” (aniñjita). See n.1000.
680 MA: It is not fitting to become attached to it with craving, and one should not come to a standstill at this point.
681 The cessation of perception and feeling is not simply one more higher attainment along the scale of concentration, but here implies the full development of insight brought to its climax in arahantship.
SUTTA 67
682 Kevaṭṭā maññe macchavilope. MA gives two explanations: one favours this rendering, the other suggests “fisherman hauling in fish.”
683 It was the Brahmā Sahampati who entreated the newly enlightened Buddha to teach the Dhamma to the world. See MN 26.20.
684 MA: In this case Ven. Sāriputta erred in not recognising his responsibility, for the Sangha is the responsibility of the two great elders. Thus the Buddha rebuked him but commended Ven. Moggall̄na, who recognised his responsibility.
685 MA: The Buddha undertook this teaching to show that there are four fears (or dangers, bhaya) in his Dispensation. Those who can overcome these four fears will become established in the Dispensation, the others will not become established.
686 Pali uses two distinct words signifying different types of food: khādaniya, “food to be consumed,” includes all varieties of vegetables, nuts, fruits, yams, etc.; bhojanı̄ya, “food to be eaten,” includes food made of grain, meat, and fish. Things to be tasted (ssāyitabba) would include light refreshments.
687 The proper time is from dawn to noon, beyond which only liquids may be drunk.
SUTTA 68
688 The “rapture and pleasure secluded from sensual pleasures” signifies the first and second jhānas, “something more peaceful than that” the higher jhānas and the four paths.
689 See MN 2.4. These are practices undertaken by one in training to prevent