15.

Commentary on the Exposition of the Attadaṇḍa Sutta

170. In the fifteenth, the exposition of the Discourse on Self-Violence, the meaning of the first verse "from self-violence fear is born" - Whatever fear has arisen for the world, whether pertaining to the present life or pertaining to the future life, all that fear is born from self-violence, arisen because of one's own misconduct. Even this being so, see the people in quarrel; see these people beginning with the Sākiyans, mutually quarrelsome, harmful, and obstructive. Having thus rebuked those opposing and wrongly practising people, in order to generate anxiety in them by showing his own right practice, he said "I will explain the anxiety, as I was stirred by it." The intention is: formerly, when he was still a Bodhisatta.

"Three" is a delimitation by counting. "Violence" means misconduct. "Bodily violence" means bodily misconduct. In the case of verbal violence and so on too, the same method applies. "Threefold bodily misconduct" means the threefold misconduct that is bodily misconduct - conduct occurring from the body beginning with killing living beings, badly practised, or which has obtained the name "badly practised conduct" because of being putrid with mental defilements. "Fourfold" means the fourfold beginning with lying. "Threefold" means the threefold beginning with covetousness. "Pertaining to the present life" means that which is to be experienced in this very life, in this very individual existence. "Pertaining to the future life" means that which is to be experienced in a future individual existence. "A criminal" means an evil-doer, an offender. "The king abuses him" means the king abuses the evil-doer, arouses fear. "Experiences suffering and displeasure" means he undergoes bodily pain and mental displeasure. "This fear, suffering and displeasure" means such fear and suffering and displeasure. "Whence for him" means whence has it arisen for that thief. "Born from self-violence" means arisen from misconduct done by oneself.

"At least" means at the lowest. "Makes him subject to command 'you are not allowed to depart from here'" means it is not allowable to go from here, from this village and so on. "It is not possible to go out" means he makes an impediment, an attachment. "On account of the loss of wealth also" means also because of the cause of the decline of wealth. The king has various bodily punishments inflicted on him. "He flogs him with whips" means he strikes him with whip-sticks. "He flogs him with canes" means he strikes him with thorny cane creepers. "With half-clubs" and so on are according to the method stated below. "He has him eaten by dogs" means having not given food for several days, he has him eaten by starving dogs. They, in a moment, reduce him to just a skeleton. "He impales him on a stake" means he puts him on a stake. "The king is lord of these four punishments" means the king is able to carry out these four commands.

"By his own action" means by action done by oneself. "The guardians of hell" - here certain elder monks say: "There are no such things as guardians of hell; just like a machine, action itself carries out the torture." That view of theirs has been refuted in the Abhidhamma itself by the method beginning with "Are there guardians of hell in the hells? Yes. And are there torturers?" For just as in the human world there are those who carry out the torture of punishment, just so in the hells there are guardians of hell. "A red-hot iron stake" means having laid the body measuring three leagues face upward on a blazing iron ground, they drive into the right hand an iron spike the size of a palm tree, and likewise into the left hand and so on. And just as they lay him face upward, so too having laid him on his chest, on his left side, and on his right side, they inflict that very same torture.

"Having laid him down" means having laid the body measuring three leagues on a blazing iron ground. "With axes" means they plane with large axes the size of half a roof of a house; blood flows becoming a river; flames rise up from the iron ground and seize the planed place; great suffering arises; but while planing, having marked with a string, they make it octagonal and hexagonal like timber. "With adzes" means with adzes the size of a large winnowing basket. "Having yoked to a chariot" means having yoked to a chariot ablaze on every side, together with yoke, straps, spokes, wheels, pole, and goad. "Great" means the size of a great pinnacle building. "They make him climb" means they make him climb by striking with blazing iron hammers. "Once upward" means like rice grains thrown into a well-boiled pot, he goes upward, downward, and across. "The great hell" means in the Avīci great hell.

"Four-cornered" means resembling a quadrangular casket. "Divided" means divided by means of four gates. "Divided into sections, measured" means divided by placing section by section by means of the gate-streets. "Surrounded" means fenced. "With iron" means covered above with an iron plate nine yojanas in extent. "Having pervaded a hundred yojanas all around, it stands" means it stands having pervaded thus, such that for one standing a hundred yojanas all around and looking, the eyes come out like a pair of balls. "Terrible torments for the miserly" means all those eight great hells together with their projections are miserly, constantly tormenting - thus "terrible torments for the miserly." Terrible because of the intensity of suffering. Flaming because of the existence of flames lasting for an aeon. Difficult to approach because of the difficulty of assailing and striking. "Merely seeing or merely hearing, the hairs bristle" means causing horripilation. Fearsome because of their dreadfulness. Terrifying because of their generating fear. Painful because of the absence of happiness.

Of the verses beginning with "From the eastern wall," making "thus is the Avīci hell" the conclusion, this is the meaning in brief - There is no interval of fire-flames, or of beings, or of their suffering here - thus it is Avīci. For there, a mass of flames having arisen from the eastern and other walls, burning the evil-doing persons, strikes against and hits the western and other walls, and having pierced through those walls, extends a hundred yojanas beyond; flames arisen from below strike above; flames arisen from above strike below. Thus, for now, here there is no interval of flames whatsoever. But its interior, a space of a hundred yojanas, is continuously filled with beings like a measure filled with the flour of the milk-creeper; there is no measure of beings being tormented in the four postures, and they do not harm one another; they are tormented in their own place only. Thus here there is no interval of beings whatsoever. But just as six drops of honey on the tip of the tongue become negligible because of the intensity of the burning of a seventh drop of molten copper, so there, because of the intensity of the burning, the remaining six unwholesome-resultant equanimities become negligible; suffering alone is continuously evident. Thus here there is no interval of suffering whatsoever. Hell is so called in the meaning of without gratification.

"There beings greatly cruel" means beings reborn there, greatly cruel. "Doers of great wickedness" means doers of great and terrible deeds. "Absolutely evil doers" means definitively evil-doers. "They are cooked but do not die" means they are cooked amidst the six flames, but they do not die. "The body is like fire" means their bodies are similar to fire. "Of those hell-dwellers" means of those evil-doers dwelling in hell. "See the firmness of their actions" means look at the stability of their evil deeds. "There is neither ash nor soot" means there is neither ashes nor embers. "To the east" means when that gate is open, then they run facing towards it; there their skin and so on burn. And when they have reached near the gate, that one closes for them, and the western one appears as if open. This same method applies everywhere. "Those hoping to escape" means those whose hope is to go out from hell - thus "hoping to escape." "Seeking release" means seeking and searching for a means of freeing. "They do not obtain to go out from there, because of their kamma" means those beings do not find a door of exit from hell because of their evil deeds. "And their evil deeds, unripened, done in abundance" means there exists for those beings inferior and cruel action, without result having ripened, manifold, of many kinds, with result not yet given, done and accumulated.

"Anxiety" means agitation. "Excitement" means moving from one's established place. "Terror" means alarm, inability to settle. "Fear" means the terrifying of the mind. "Oppression" means striking. "Striking" means causing oppression. "Misfortune" means calamity. "Danger" means obstruction.

171. Now, showing the manner in which he was stirred by it, he said beginning with "trembling." Therein, "trembling" means trembling through craving and wrong view. "In little water" means in little water. "Having seen them in conflict with one another" means having seen various beings opposed to one another. "Fear entered me" means fear entered into me.

"Trembling with the trembling of mental defilements" means moving with the agitation of mental defilements beginning with lust. "Action" means bodily, verbal, and mental action.

"Opposed" means having come into opposition. "Opposed in return" means having become face to face and come into opposition, or thoroughly opposed. "Struck" means struck and beaten by wrath. "Struck back" means having become a rival wrestler and struck. "Injured" means knocked against. "Injured in return" means knocked against with distinction. "They attack with fists" means they strike with hands.

172. "The world is without substance all around": making hell the starting point, the world all around is without substance, devoid of the substance of permanence and so on. "All directions are set in motion": all directions are shaken by impermanence. "Wishing for a dwelling for myself": wishing for shelter for oneself. "I did not see one uninhabited": I did not see any place not occupied by ageing and so on.

"Without substance" means not substance, or devoid of substance. "Unsubstantial" means entirely in every way devoid of substance. "Devoid of substance" means gone away from substance. "By the substance of permanence or" means by the substance reckoned as constant substance, or. The same method applies to the two terms above as well. "Whatever activities there are in the eastern direction" means whatever activities are produced by conditions having come together and assembled in the eastern direction. "They too are shaken" means those activities too are shaken. "Set in motion" means completely shaken. "Moved" means gone to movement. "Struck" means oppressed by rise and fall. "By impermanence" means by the state of non-existence after having been. "Followed by birth" means entered into by rebirth. "Spread by ageing" means spread over by the maturation of ageing. "Overpowered by illness" means submerged by illness arisen from the four abnormalities. "Afflicted by death" means struck and beaten by Death. "Without shelter" means devoid of protection. "Without rock cell" means devoid of rock cell. "Without refuge" means there is no refuge for them, thus without refuge. "Having become without refuge" means they themselves do not perform the function of refuge, thus having become without refuge.

"A dwelling for oneself" is the synopsis term of the analytical explanation term. "Shelter" means protection. "Rock cell" means a place of shelter. "Refuge" means the removal of suffering. "Destination" means support. "Ultimate goal" means the further path. "I saw only what was inhabited" means I saw only what was crushed by ageing and so on. "All youth": the state of being young is youth; all youth of those possessing consciousness. "Ended by ageing" means concluded and crushed by the maturation of ageing. Thus everywhere.

173. "Having seen beings in conflict at the very end, discontent arose in me" means having seen beings whose minds were struck, in conflict through ageing and so on, at the very end, at the very final point, at the very destruction of youth and so on, discontent arose in me. "Then here the dart" means then the dart beginning with lust in those beings. "Lodged in the heart" means dependent on consciousness.

"Ageing brings youth to an end" means ageing makes it pass away, destroys it. Thus everywhere.

174. "What is the power of the dart?" if asked - The verse is "Overcome by which dart." Therein, "runs about in all directions" means one runs in all directions of misconduct and also in the directions beginning with the east and in the intermediate directions. "Having pulled out that very dart, one neither runs nor sinks" means having pulled out that very dart, one neither runs in those directions, nor sinks in the four mental floods.

In "not knowing" and so on, not knowing and non-seeing are the opposites of knowledge and vision. Having turned to face, one does not come together with, does not meet with the Teaching - thus it is non-full realization. One understands phenomena in a suitable manner - thus it is understanding. By being the opposite of that, it is non-understanding. Having connected with impermanence and so on, one does not understand fully - thus it is non-highest enlightenment. One understands what is non-existent and unequal - this too is non-highest enlightenment. One does not penetrate the Teaching of the four truths - thus it is non-penetration. Among matter and so on, one does not include even a single phenomenon under the similarity of impermanence and so on - thus it is non-inclusion. One does not thoroughly investigate that very phenomenon - thus it is non-thorough investigation. One does not observe equally - thus it is non-equal observation. One does not look back towards the intrinsic nature of phenomena - thus it is non-reviewing.

Due to perverted conduct regarding wholesome and unwholesome actions, or due to the absence of grasping the intrinsic nature, not even a single action is directly visible to this one, or there is no such thing as making any phenomenon directly visible by oneself - thus it is non-realization. If this were not to arise, the continuity of consciousness would be pure, clean, and cleansed; this makes that purity impure - thus it is dullness. The state of the foolish is folly. "One is deluded" (muyhati) thus it is delusion (moha). A stronger delusion is bewilderment (pamoha). "One is deluded all around" - thus it is confusion (sammoha). Because of being the opposite of true knowledge, it is not true knowledge - thus it is ignorance (avijjā). The meaning of mental flood and mental bond has already been stated. It lies latent in the sense of having become firmly established - thus it is an underlying tendency (anusaya). It prepossesses consciousness, overcomes it - thus it is prepossession (pariyuṭṭhāna). Due to the absence of grasping what is beneficial, one is unable to go towards what is beneficial; rather one merely hobbles - thus it is a bar (laṅgī); the meaning is "one limps." Or it is a bar in the sense of being difficult to unfasten. Just as a bar reckoned as a great cross-bar is difficult to unfasten, so too this is like a bar - thus it is a bar. The remainder is of clear meaning.

"Whatever such uncertainty" - here, uncertainty is by way of being uncertain. "It brings uncertainty" - thus "the act of being uncertain." For the former uncertainty brings about further uncertainty. Or this was said by way of manner. The mind endowed with uncertainty, because it is pervaded by uncertainty, is called "being uncertain." The state of that is "the state of being uncertain." "Doubt" means departed is understanding - thus doubt. "Sceptical doubt" means departed is remedy - thus sceptical doubt; or, investigating intrinsic nature, one is troubled and wearied by it - thus sceptical doubt. It has the characteristic of doubt, the function of trembling, the manifestation of indecisiveness, or the manifestation of not grasping with certainty, with unwise attention as its proximate cause; it should be seen as creating an obstacle to practice.

In the sense of trembling, it wavers in two ways - thus "uncertainty." By preventing practice, it is like a forked path - thus "crossroad." Due to the occurrence of "Is this permanent or impermanent?" and so on, due to the inability to remain established in one manner, it lies all around - thus "wavering." Due to the inability to grasp with certainty, it is not a definite grasping - thus "lack of definite grasping." Being unable to determine, it retreats from the object - thus "trembling." Being unable to plunge in, it crawls about from all sides - thus "crawling about." Due to the inability to thoroughly penetrate - thus "non-penetration." Due to the inability to proceed regarding the object by way of determination, there is trepidation of consciousness; the meaning is the state of rigidity. For sceptical doubt, having arisen, makes consciousness rigid; but since it, when arising, having seized the object, is as if scratching the mind, therefore it is called "mental perplexity."

"Pierced" means one who has received a blow from a dart. "Touched" means struck. "Overcome by" means afflicted. "Runs" means goes forward. "Runs about" means goes in manifold ways. "Transmigrates" means runs with speed. "Wanders on" means moves here and there.

"A naked ascetic" means clotheless; the meaning is naked. "Of loose habits" means of unrestrained conduct; devoid of the conduct of worldly sons of good family in matters of defecation and so on, he defecates while just standing, urinates, eats hard food, and eats soft food. "Licking his hands" means when almsfood remains on his hand, he licks his hand with his tongue; or having defecated, perceiving his hand itself as a stick, he scrapes it with his hand. They, it is said, declare a stick to be "a being." When told "Come, venerable sir" for the purpose of receiving almsfood, he does not come - thus he is "not one who comes when asked 'Come, venerable sir.'" Accordingly, even when told "Stop, venerable sir," he does not stop - thus he is "not one who stops when asked 'Stop, venerable sir.'" Both of those, it is said, he does not do, thinking "this person's word will have been carried out."

"Brought to him" means almsfood taken and brought beforehand. "Specifically prepared" means almsfood announced thus: "This was prepared dedicated to you." "Not an invitation" means even almsfood to which he has been invited thus: "Please enter such and such a family or street or village" - he does not consent to, he does not accept. "Not from the mouth of a pot" means he does not accept almsfood being given having been taken out from a pot. "Not from the mouth of a bowl" means a "kaḷopī" is a cooking pot or a hand-basket; from that too he does not accept. Why? Because "in dependence on me, the pots and bowls receive a blow from a ladle." "Not across a threshold where a goat stands" means he does not accept what is being given having made a threshold as an intermediary. Why? Because "this one, in dependence on me, receives the function of being an intermediary." In the case of a stick and a pestle too, the same method applies.

"Not from two" means when two are eating, if one rises and gives, he does not accept. Why? Because "there is an obstacle to a mouthful." But in the passages beginning with "not from a pregnant woman," he does not accept, thinking "the child in the womb of a pregnant woman suffers," "for a nursing woman, there is an obstacle to milk for the child," "for a woman who has gone among men, there is an obstacle to delight." "Not from where food has been collected" means at meals prepared by collecting. During a time of famine, it is said, disciples of the naked ascetics, for the sake of the naked ascetics, having instigated people here and there to give rice-grain and so on, cook food; a superior naked ascetic does not accept even from that. "Not where a dog" means where a dog is standing by thinking "I shall obtain almsfood," he does not accept what has been brought without giving to it there. Why? Because there is an obstacle to almsfood for this one. "Swarming" means moving in swarms and swarms. For if, having seen a naked ascetic, people enter the food-house thinking "we shall give almsfood to this one," and as they enter, flies that were hidden in the mouths of bowls and so on fly up and move about in swarms. He does not accept almsfood brought from there. Why? Because in dependence on me, an obstacle to the feeding ground of the flies has arisen. "Rice-water" means sour gruel made from the ingredients of all kinds of grain. And here, only the drinking of liquor is blameworthy, but this one perceives all of them as blameworthy.

"A one-house man" means one who, having obtained almsfood at just one house, turns back. "A one-morsel man" means one who sustains himself with just one morsel. In the case of "a two-house man" and so on too, the same method applies. "With even one small dish" means with one small dish. A "datti" is a small bowl in which they place the choicest almsfood and keep it. "Once a day" means with an interval of one day. "Once a fortnight" means with an interval of a fortnight. "Eating food in rotation" means eating food by turns; by a turn of one day, by a turn of two days, by a turn of seven days, by a turn of a fortnight - thus food brought by turns of days.

"One who feeds on vegetables" and so on are of already stated meaning. "One who stands upright" means one who stands upward. "Devoted to the striving of squatting" means engaged in the energy of squatting. Even when going, he goes by squatting and hopping up again and again. "One who lies on thorns" means he drives iron thorns or natural thorns into the ground, spreads a hide over them, and performs standing, walking, and so on there. "Sleeping place" means even when lying down, he makes his sleeping place right there. "Sleeping place on a plank" means a sleeping place on a wooden plank. "Sleeping place on bare ground" means a sleeping place on bare ground, on a high place on the earth. "One who lies on one side" means he sleeps on one side only. "A wearer of dust and dirt" means having smeared the body with oil, he stands in a place where dust rises; then dust and dirt clings to his body, and he wears that. "One who uses whatever seat is assigned" means without disturbing the seat obtained, he has the habit of sitting down in whatever he receives, right there. "One who eats filth" means one who has the habit of eating filth; "filth" is called faeces. "One who abstains from drinking" means one who has rejected the drinking of cool water. "The evening being the third" means three times including the evening. In the morning, at midday, and in the evening - thinking "I shall wash away evil" three times a day, he dwells devoted to the practice of going down into the water.

"He generates those darts" means he brings into existence those seven darts beginning with lust. "Generating" means bringing into existence. "By the power of dart-generation" means by the cause of bringing darts into existence. "Runs to the eastern direction" means he goes to the eastern direction. "Those dart-generated volitional activities have not been abandoned" means these dart activities beginning with lust have not been abandoned. "Because the dart-generated volitional activities have not been abandoned" means by the state of not having been abandoned of the dart activities. "Runs regarding destination" means he runs in destination. "Destination to destination" means from destination to destination.

"Does not sink" means does not plunge in. "Does not sink down" means does not plunge in on all sides. "Does not sink in" means does not draw back. "Does not subside" means does not retreat. "Does not go down" means does not go below.

175. And when beings are overcome by the dart of such great majesty - "There trainings are sung about, which are bound to in the world" is the verse. Its meaning is - Those which in the world are called "bound to" because people are greedy for the attainment of the five types of sensual pleasure, or are called "bound to" because of having been practised for a long time. There, on that account, many trainings such as elephant-training and so on are spoken about or are learnt. See how capable this world is, wherefore a wise son of good family should not be intent upon those things bound to or upon those trainings, but rather, having become disenchanted through seeing impermanence and so on, with regard to sensual pleasures in every respect. One should train for one's own Nibbāna itself.

"Having penetrated" means having emerged through knowledge or having pierced through.

176. Now, showing how one should train for Nibbāna, he said beginning with "one should be truthful." Therein, "truthful" means endowed with truth of speech, truth of knowledge, and truth of the path. "Rid of slander" means one who has abandoned slander. "Avarice" means stinginess.

177. "One should overcome sleep, weariness and sloth": one should overcome these three states, namely dozing, bodily laziness and mental laziness. "A man whose mind is set on Nibbāna" means one whose mind is slanting towards Nibbāna.

"Unwieldiness of the body" means the state of being sick of the mental body reckoned as the triad of aggregates. For one who is sick is called "unwell." In the Vinaya too it is said - "I am not, venerable sir, unwell." "Unfitness for work" means the condition of unfitness for work reckoned as bodily sickness. "Covering" means it covers the body like a cloud covers space. Covering from every side is enveloping. "Obstructing internally" means internal obstruction. "It fattens" means torpor; the meaning is it injures by the state of unfitness for work. "They sleep by means of it" means sleeping. "Nodding" means it causes the state of nodding of the eyelids and so on. "The act of sleeping, the state of having slept" are descriptions of manner and state. "Sluggishness" means the condition of sluggishness. The second term is augmented by way of a prefix. "Shrinking" means contracted through non-diffusion. The other two are descriptions of manner and state. "Sloth" means standing in a state of compactness through non-diffusion, like a lump of ghee. "Being slothful" is a description of manner. The state of what is slothful is the state of sloth; the meaning is rigidity by way of non-diffusion.

"From the element of all activities" means one whose mind is slanting towards Nibbāna, from the element reckoned as all the three planes. "Having turned away the mind" means having caused the mind to turn back. "This is peaceful" means this is Nibbāna. Peaceful by the calming of mental defilements. Sublime in the sense of being unsurpassable.

"The wise do not for the sake of the happiness of clinging" means the intelligent ones do not give gifts for the sake of sensual happiness. "But surely they for the utter elimination of clinging" means definitely those wise ones give gifts for the elimination of sensuality, for the purpose of casting off sensuality. "For non-rebirth" means for the sake of Nibbāna. "They develop meditative absorptions" means they cultivate the first meditative absorption and so on. "For rebirth" means as a cause for rebirth. Those wise ones give gifts having turned towards Nibbāna.

178. "Violence" (sāhasā) means the doing of violence through the distinctions of conduct of lust and so on of one who is infatuated with lust. The description is clear in meaning.

179. "One should not delight in the old" means one should not delight in past matter and so on. "New" means in the present. "Declining" means perishing. "One should not be attached to space" means one should not be dependent on craving. For craving is called "space" because of its reaching towards matter and so on.

"Ceasing to exist" means not being. "Departing" means going away.

"Ākāsati" and "ākassati" - there is a twofold reading.

180. If one asks, for what reason should one not be attached to space? The verse is "I call it greed." Its meaning is - For I call this craving reckoned as space "greed," I say "greed," because of longing for matter and so on. And what is more - I call it "mental flood" in the sense of sweeping away, and "rushing" in the sense of rushing forward, and "whispering" because of the whispering "this is mine, this is mine," and "object" in the sense of being difficult to release from, and "trembling" in the sense of causing to tremble, and this very one is "the mire of sensual pleasure difficult to pass over" in the sense of being an impediment to the world and in the sense of being difficult to transcend.

"Rushing" means it rushes, it runs without conception - thus rushing; because of being the root of the round of rebirths, this is a designation for craving that gives conception in rebirth. "Whispering" means longing; this is a designation for craving. "Object too is called craving" means craving arisen in objects such as matter and so on is spoken of as "object" in the sense of being unable to release from. "The mire of sensual pleasure" means mud in the sense of sinking. "Mud" means mud in the sense of attachment. Mental defilement in the sense of tormenting. A marsh in the sense of causing to stick, like resin. An impediment in the sense of holding by obstructing. Thus this exposition of greed and so on, independent of space.

181. The verse "Not deviating from truth." Its meaning is - Not deviating from the threefold truth stated before, having gone to the reckoning of "sage" through the attainment of moral perfection, the brahmin stands on the dry ground of Nibbāna; he indeed, such a one, having given up all sense bases, is called "peaceful." In the analytic explanation there is nothing to be said.

182. And what is more - the verse "He indeed is wise." Therein, "having known the teaching" means having understood conditioned phenomena by the method of impermanence and so on. "Rightly conducting himself in the world" means rightly conducting himself in the world through the abandoning of mental defilements that cause wrong conduct.

183. And thus not coveting - the verse beginning with "One who here sensual pleasures." Therein, "attachment" means the sevenfold attachment that whoever has passed beyond. "Does not covet" means does not covet.

184. Therefore, even among you, whoever wishes to become one of such form, to him I say - "Whatever was before" is the verse. Therein, "whatever was before" means the type of mental defilement having the nature of arising referring to past activities, and past action. "Let there be no possession for you afterwards" means let there be no possession of lust and so on having the nature of arising referring to future activities also. "If you do not grasp in the middle" means if you do not grasp even the phenomena of matter and so on in the present. Thus you will live at peace.

"Make seedless" means by path knowledge do not make a seed. "The possession of lust" means the agitation of lust. In the case of the possession of hate and so on too, the same method applies.

185. Having thus shown the attainment of arahantship, now by way of praise of the Arahant, he spoke the verses henceforth. Therein, in the verse "in every respect," "appropriation" means the making of selfish attachment. Or a thing grasped as "this is mine." "And does not grieve over what is non-existent" means does not grieve due to a non-existing reason, due to a non-existent reason. "Does not decay" means does not attain loss.

"Alas, I had it" means I had it indeed. "Alas, that is not mine now" means what existed in the past, that is not mine now. "Alas, may it be mine" means what will be mine, "alas, I do not obtain that" means now I definitely do not attain it.

186. And what is more - the verse beginning with "For whom there is not." Therein, "possession" means any collection of phenomena beginning with matter and so on.

"Conditioned" means prepared by action. "Fashioned by volition" means categorised by consciousness. "Avijjāya tveva" means "of ignorance, but indeed." "With the remainderless fading away and cessation" means by the remainderless cessation through the path termed as dispassion.

"Regard the world as empty" means regard the world as empty in two ways - by way of discerning what proceeds without control, or by way of contemplating activities as hollow. "Having uprooted the view of self": having pulled out identity view. "Thus one would be a crosser over death" means thus one would be a crosser over death. "One who thus regards the world" means one who thus sees the world of aggregates. "The King of Death does not see" means the king of death does not look at, does not perceive.

"One does not desire anything else" means one does not desire, does not long for, even a trifle of anything else. "Except for non-rebirth" means setting aside Nibbāna. "Aññatrappaṭisandhiyā" - some also read it making it into one term.

187. And what is more - the verse beginning with "without envy." Therein, "without envy" means without jealousy. Some also read "aniṭṭharī." "Everywhere even" means even everywhere, the intention is equanimous. What is meant? He who does not grieve thinking "I have not," when questioned about that person who is unmoved, I declare this fourfold benefit regarding that person: without envy, not greedy, without longing, everywhere even.

"Harshness" means envious. The state of being harsh is harshness; the meaning is spitting, as if to say "in dependence on that, there is not even this much." "Harsh action" means the doing of harshness. For a householder living in dependence on a householder, or a monk living in dependence on a monk, having become angry over a mere trifle, as if spitting on him in dependence on that, saying "there is not even this much," and trampling with the foot, commits what is called harshness. That action of his is called "harsh action." "Envy" is a description of the intrinsic nature. The two beyond that are descriptions of manner and state. The other three are synonymous terms. But as regards its characteristic and so on, this envy has the characteristic of being jealous of others' success; its function is discontent therein; its manifestation is turning away therefrom; its proximate cause is others' success.

"Does not stir in gain" means does not waver in the gain of requisites. "In loss also" means even in the loss of requisites.

188. And what is more - the verse beginning with "without longing." Therein, "conditioned formation" means whatever activity among meritorious volitional activity and so on. For because it is conditioned or it conditions, therefore it is called "conditioned formation." "Various exertions" means various exertions such as meritorious volitional activity and so on. "Sees security everywhere" means he sees only safety everywhere.

"Exertions" means the first undertaking of actions. "Various exertions" means the arousal of energy by way of various undertakings again and again. This is a designation for actions productive of conception in the three existences. Therefore, abstaining from various exertions.

189. The verse beginning with "Thus seeing, not among equals." Therein, "does not speak" means through the power of conceit beginning with "I am equal," one does not speak of oneself among equals, nor among the inferior, nor among the superior. "Does not take up nor reject" means one does not grasp any phenomenon among matter and so on, nor forfeit it. The remainder is obvious everywhere, since the method has been stated in the respective places. Thus he concluded the teaching with the very pinnacle of arahantship.

In the Saddhammappajjotikā, the Commentary on the Mahāniddesa,

The commentary on the exposition of the Attadaṇḍa Sutta is completed.