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960 MA: This section is intended to show how all sixty-two speculative views arise predominated over by identity view.

961 Pavivekaṁ pı̄tiṁ. This refers to the first two jhānas, which include pı̄ti.

962 MA explains that this is the grief caused by the loss of the jhāna. The grief does not arise immediately upon the cessation of the jhāna, but only after reflection upon its disappearance.

963 Nirāmisaṁ sukhaṁ. This is the pleasure of the third jhāna.

964 The fourth jhāna.

965 Santo’ham asmi, nibbuto’ham asmi, anupādāno’ham asmi. In the Pali the expression aham asmi, “I am,” reveals that he is still involved with clinging, as the Buddha will point out.

966 MA takes this to be an allusion to identity view. Thus he is still clinging to a view.

967 MA states that elsewhere the expression “liberation through not clinging” (anupādā vimokkha) signifies Nibbāna, but here it means the attainment of the fruit of arahantship.

968 The Brahmajāla Sutta too points to the understanding of the origination, etc., of the six bases of contact as the way to transcend all views.

SUTTA 103

969 Bhavābhavahetu. MA: “Do you think that he teaches the Dhamma as a means of gaining merit so that he can experience happiness in this or that [higher] state of being?”

970 Abhidhamma. MA says that this refers to the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment mentioned in the previous paragraph. See n.362.

971 Meaning (attha) and phrasing (byañjana) are the two aspects of the Dhamma taught by the Buddha. The following passage, §§5–8, should be compared with DN 29.18–21/iii.128–29, which also expresses a concern for the preservation of the correct meaning and phrasing of the Dhamma.

972 This statement is made because slight deviations from the correct phrasing are not necessarily an obstacle to a proper understanding of the meaning. But elsewhere (e.g., AN 2:20/i.59) the Buddha points out that the wrong expression of the letter and the wrong interpretation of the meaning are two factors responsible for the distortion and disappearance of the true Dhamma.

973 The general principle underlying §§10–14 is this: If the offending bhikkhu can be rehabilitated, then despite the hurt to him and the trouble to oneself, one should try to correct him. But if he is not susceptible to being rehabilitated, one should just maintain one’s own equanimity.

974 “The Recluse” (samaṇa) is glossed by MA with satthā, the Teacher, referring to the Buddha. A similar use of the term is found at MN 105.18, 21.

975 The “thing” (dhamma) intended, MA says, is quarrelling.

SUTTA 104

976 The opening of this sutta is the same as that of DN 29, which is also concerned with preserving harmony in the Sangha after the Buddha’s demise.

977 MA: The “shrine” and “refuge” are the Niga˚ṭha Nātaputta, who is now dead.

978 The novice Cunda was the younger brother of Ven. Sāriputta.

979 Even while the Buddha was still alive such a dispute had already broken out among the bhikkhus at Kosambı̄, referred to at MN 48.2.

980 This would be a dispute about the Noble Eightfold Path or the other aids to enlightenment.

981 The first four pairs are included among the “imperfections that defile the mind” at MN 7.3.

982 Adhikaraṇa. Horner translates “legal questions.” They are dealt with at length at Vin Cv Kh 4/Vin ii.88–93; see Horner, Book of the Discipline, 5:117–25. Briefly, litigation because of a dispute (vivādādhikaraṇa) arises when bhikkhus dispute about the Dhamma and the Discipline; litigation because of an accusation (anuv̄d̄dhikaraṇa) when bhikkhus accuse a bhikkhu of committing a transgression of the monastic rules; litigation because of an offence (āpattādhikaraṇa) when a bhikkhu who has committed a transgression seeks to exonerate himself from it; and litigation concerning procedures (kicc̄dhikarana) deals with the enactment of the formal functions of the Sangha.

983 Adhikaraṇasamatha. They are dealt with in detail in Vin Cv Kh 4. How the seven means of settlement are to be applied for the resolution of the four