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between the seven bodies,” is ascribed to Pakudha Kaccāyana (DN 2.26/i.56). However, in that sutta the following passage on the elaborate system of classifications, down to “fools and the wise both will make an end of suffering,” is connected with the view of non-causality and follows immediately upon the statement of the doctrine of non-causality set forth in this sutta at §13. The entire view is there assigned to Makkhali Gosāla. Since there are evident connections between the non-causality doctrine and items in the system of classifications (e.g., the reference to the “six classes”), and since both are known to have been typical of the Ājı̄vaka movement headed by Makkhali Gosāla, it seems that the inclusion of this system of classifications here under the doctrine of the seven bodies came about through an error of oral transmission. The correct version would thus be the one preserved by the Dı̄gha Nikāya. For the commentary on the system of classification, see Bodhi, The Discourse on the Fruits of Recluseship, pp. 72–77.

753 This is the claim made by the Jain teacher the Niga˚ṭha Nātaputta at MN 14.17, and both the latter and Pūra˚a Kassapa at AN 9:38/iv.428–29. The fact that he makes bad judgements and must ask questions belies his claim to omniscience.

754 With BBS and SBJ we should read sussutaṁ and dussutaṁ. PTS sussataṁ and dussataṁ are clearly mistaken.

755 MA: This position is called eel-wriggling (amarāvikkhepa) because the doctrine roams about here and there, like an eel diving in and out of the water, and thus it is impossible to catch hold of it. In the Sāmaññaphala Sutta this position is ascribed to Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta (DN 2.32/1.58–59). It is quite possible that the “eel-wrigglers” were a class of radical sceptics who questioned the entire prospect of apodictic knowledge about ultimate issues.

756 MA: He is incapable of storing up food provisions and other pleasurable goods and subsequently enjoying them.

757 At DN 29.26/iii.133 four other things that the arahant cannot do are mentioned: he cannot take a wrong course of action because of desire, hatred, fear, or delusion.

758 The translation of this passage follows SBJ and PTS. The BBS version is more elaborate.

759 Niyyātāro: Ñm had rendered this as “guides,” Horner as “great leaders.” Evidently both followed PED, which takes niyyātar to be an agent noun related to niyyāma(ka), pilot or helmsman. But niyyātar must be an agent noun of the verb niyyāti, “to go out (to final emancipation),” and thus it has been rendered here as “emancipator.” This may be the only place in the Nikāyas where this word occurs.

760 On these three mentors of the Ājı̄vakas, see MN 36.5 and n.383. MA explains the phrase puttamatāya puttā, “mother’s dead sons,” thus: The idea occurred to him, “The Ājı̄vakas are dead; their mother had dead sons.”

SUTTA 77

761 Anāgataṁ vādapathaṁ. Ñm had translated: “a future logical consequence of an assertion.” The meaning seems to be that the Buddha understands all the unexpressed implications of his own doctrine as well as of his opponents’ doctrines.

762 Explained in full in MN 10. The first seven groups of “wholesome states” (§§15–21) constitute the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā).

763 Abhiññāvosānapāramippatta. MA explains as the attainment of arahantship. This may be the only sense that the word pāramı̄ bears in the four Nikāyas. In the later Theravāda literature, beginning perhaps with such works as the Buddhavaṁsa, this word comes to signify the perfect virtues that a bodhisatta must fulfil over many lives in order to attain Buddhahood. In that context it corresponds to the pāramitā of the Mahāyāna literature, though the numerical lists of virtues overlap only in part.

764 MA explains liberation (vimokkha) here as meaning the mind’s full (but temporary) release from the opposing states and its full (but temporary) release by delighting in the object. The first liberation is the attainment of the four jhānas using a kasi˚a (see §24