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Commentary on the Chapter on Desires Difficult to Abandon
119. In the first of the third fifty, "hopes" means craving. "Difficult to abandon" means difficult to give up, difficult to remove. Because of the difficult-to-abandon nature of the hope for material gain, beings for even ten years, twenty years, or even sixty years, thinking "Today we shall gain, tomorrow we shall gain," attend upon the king, do agricultural work and so on, plunge into battle massed on both sides, proceed along goat paths, stake paths and so on, and enter the great ocean by boat. Because of the difficult-to-abandon nature of the hope for life, even when the time of death has arrived, they imagine themselves to be ones who will live a hundred years. He, even while seeing kamma, the sign of kamma and so on, when being told by compassionate ones "Give a gift, make an offering," does not heed anyone's word, due to the hope "I shall not die, I shall live."
120. In the second, "one who acts first" means one who is the doer of help first. "Grateful and thankful" means one who, having known what was done by him, is the doer afterwards. Among those, one who acts first holds the perception "I am giving a loan," and the one who acts afterwards holds the perception "I am repaying a loan."
121. In the third, "one who is satisfied and one who satisfies": the Individually Enlightened One and the disciple of the Truth-finder who has eliminated the mental corruptions are called satisfied; the Truth-finder, the Worthy One, the One Enlightened by himself is both satisfied and one who satisfies.
122. In the fourth, "hard to satisfy" means hard to satisfy by a donor, not easy to satiate. "Lays aside" means stores away, does not use. "Gives away" means gives to others.
123. In the fifth, "does not give away" means he does not give everything to others, but having taken just enough for his own sustenance, he gives the remainder.
124. In the sixth, "the sign of the beautiful" means a desirable object.
125. In the seventh, "the sign of aversion" (paṭighanimitta) means an undesirable sign.
126. In the eighth, "the utterance of another" means the hearing of untrue teaching from another's presence.
127. In the ninth, "the utterance of another" means the hearing of the Good Teaching from another's presence. The remainder is of manifest meaning everywhere.
The Chapter on Difficult to Abandon Wishes is the first.