6.
Commentary on the Naked Ascetic Chapter
157-163. "The rough practice" in the subsequent passages from here means strong, hard, firm grasping through the influence of greed. "Scorched" means well burnt, heated, and tormented through the influence of the pursuit of self-mortification. "Middle" means neither hard nor burnt, existing in the middle. "A naked ascetic" means clotheless, 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 while just standing, eats hard food, and eats soft food. "Licking his hands" means when almsfood on his hand is finished, he licks his hand with his tongue; even having defecated, perceiving his hand itself as a stick, he scrapes it with his hand. 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.'" Even when told "Then 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." "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 even 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? "In dependence on me, the pots and bowls receive a blow from a ladle." "Not across a threshold" means he does not accept what is being given having made a threshold as an intermediary. Why? "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. "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" and so on, 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 - thus he does not accept. "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 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? "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; food that comes by turns of days, thus: by a turn of one day, by a turn of two days, by a turn of seven days, by a turn of a fortnight. "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. "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.
"Observing the body in the body" and so on should be understood in the manner already stated below in the commentary on the Book of Ones. "This is called, monks, the middle practice" means, monks, this should be understood as the middle practice that has not approached the two extremes of the pursuit of sensual happiness and the pursuit of self-mortification, or that is liberated from the extremes of eternalism and annihilationism.
The Chapter on Naked Ascetics is sixth.