The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [637]
1133 MA: “The way” is the five qualities beginning with faith, together with the aspiration. One who has either the five qualities without the aspiration, or the aspiration without the qualities, does not have a fixed destination. The destination can only be fixed when both factors are present.
1134 MA explains that there are five kinds of pervasion: pervasion of mind, i.e., knowing the thoughts of the beings throughout a thousand worlds; pervasion of the kasi˚a, i.e., extending the kasi˚a image to a thousand worlds; pervasion of the divine eye, i.e., seeing a thousand worlds with the divine eye; pervasion of light, which is the same as the previous pervasion; and pervasion of body, i.e., extending one’s bodily aura to a thousand worlds.
1135 See n.426.
1136 MA: The five qualities mentioned are sufficient for rebirth into the sense-sphere realm, but for the higher modes of rebirth and the destruction of the taints, more is required. Basing oneself on the five qualities, if one attains the jhānas, one is reborn in the Brahma-world; if one attains the immaterial attainments, one is reborn in the immaterial world; if one develops insight and attains the fruit of non-returning, one is reborn in the Pure Abodes; and if one reaches the path of arahantship, one attains the destruction of the taints.
SUTTA 121
1137 Suññatāvihāra. The discourse will gradually make it clear that this refers to the fruition attainment of voidness (suññataphala-sam̄patti), the fruition attainment of arahantship that is entered by focusing upon the void aspect of Nibbāna. See n.458.
1138 MA: He attends to the perception of forest dependent on the single forest itself, thinking: “This is a forest, this a tree, this a mountain, this a grove.” In the next sentence I read with BBS and SBJ adhimuccati, as against PTS vimuccati.
1139 MA and MṬ explain the sense of this passage thus: The disturbance of defilements—attraction and repulsion—that arise through perception of people are not present here. But there is still the disturbance caused by the occurrence of gross states due to lack of the necessary tranquillity.
1140 MA: He abandons the perception of forest and attends to the perception of earth because one cannot achieve any distinction in meditation through the perception of forest, neither access concentration nor full absorption. But earth can be used as the preliminary object for kasi˚a, on the basis of which one produces jhāna, develops insight, and attains arahantship.
1141 Having used the perception of earth to attain the four jhānas, he extends the earth-kasi˚a and then removes the kasi˚a sign to attain the base of infinite space. See Vsm X, 6–7.
1142 Animitta cetosamādhi. MA: This is the concentration of the mind in insight; it is called “signless” because it is devoid of the signs of permanence, etc.
1143 See MN 52.4. MA calls this “counter-insight” (paṭivipassanā), i.e., the application of the principles of insight to the act of consciousness that exercises the function of insight. On the basis of this he attains arahantship.
1144 Here the words “supreme and unsurpassed” (paramānuttarā) have been added. MA says that this is the arahant’s fruition attainment of voidness.
SUTTA 122
1145 This sutta together with its full commentary has been published in translation by Ñm as The Greater Discourse on Voidness.
1146 MA: This was a dwelling built in Nigrodha’s Park by Kā˘akhemaka the Sakyan. Beds, chairs, mattresses, and mats were prepared, and they were so close together that