The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [620]
854 MA explains that the Buddha worked this feat after first ascertaining that Uttara’s teacher, Brahmāyu, had the potential for achieving the fruit of non-returning, and that his attainment of this fruit depended upon the dispelling of Uttara’s doubts.
855 The seven are the backs of the four limbs, the two shoulders, and the trunk.
856 Rasaggasaggı̄. The Lakkhaṇa Sutta expands (DN 30.2.7/ iii.166): “Whatever he touches with the tip of his tongue he tastes in his throat, and the taste is dispersed everywhere.” It is difficult, however, to understand either how this quality could be considered a physical characteristic or how it could be perceived by others.
857 This mark, the uṇhı̄sa, accounts for the protuberance commonly seen on the top of the head of Buddha images.
858 This is the standard reflection on the proper use of almsfood, as at MN 2.14.
859 The blessing (anumodanā) is a short talk following the meal, instructing the donors in some aspect of the Dhamma and expressing the wish that their meritorious kamma will bring them abundant fruit.
860 I here follow BBS, which is fuller than SBJ and PTS. MA: This is the intention: “The excellent qualities I have not described are far more numerous than those I have described. The excellent qualities of Master Gotama are like the great earth and the great ocean; expounded in detail they are infinite and immeasurable, like space.”
861 The Pali word for the tongue, jivhā, is of the feminine gender.
862 What must be directly known (abhiññeyya) are the Four Noble Truths, what must be developed (bhāvetabba) is the Noble Eightfold Path, and what must be abandoned (pahātabba) are the defilements headed by craving. Here the context requires that the word “Buddha” be understood in the specific sense of a Fully Enlightened One (sammāsambuddha).
863 Vedagū. This term and the following two—tevijja and sotthiya —seem to have represented ideal types among the brahmins; see too MN 39.24, 26, and 27. The sixth and seventh terms—kevalı̄ and muni—were probably ideal types among the non-Vedic ascetic orders. By his reply, the Buddha endows these terms with new meanings derived from his own spiritual system.
864 Here and in the reply the word “Buddha” may signify simply one who is enlightened or awakened, in a sense applicable to any arahant, though Brahmāyu’s response also suggests it may be intended in the narrower sense of a Fully Enlightened One.
865 MA offers an involved explanation of how the Buddha’s reply answers all eight of Brahmāyu’s questions.
866 As at MN 56.18.
SUTTA 92
867 The text of this sutta has not been included in the PTS ed. of the Majjhima Nikāya, as it is identical with the sutta of the same name in the Sutta Nipāta, published in two different versions by the PTS. The bracketed page numbers here therefore refer to the more recent PTS ed. of Sn, edited by Dines Anderson and Helmer Smith.
868 That is, Jambudı̄pa, the Indian subcontinent.
SUTTA 93
869 The argument in favour of this thesis is set forth at MN 90.10–12.
870 MA: They speak thus intending to say: “Having studied the Three Vedas, you have trained in the mantras by which those who go forth undertake their going forth and the mantras they maintain after they have gone forth. You have practised their mode of conduct. Therefore, you will not be defeated. Victory will be yours.”
871 This statement is intended to show that brahmins are born of women,