3.
The Chapter on Perils
1.
Commentary on the Self-Censure Discourse
121. In the first of the third, "fear of self-censure" means the fear that arises for one who censures oneself. "Fear of censure by others" means the fear that arises from censure by another. "Fear of punishment" means the fear that arises dependent on the thirty-two bodily punishments. "Fear of an unfortunate realm" means the fear that arises dependent on the four realms of misery. Among "This is called, monks, fear of self-censure" and so on, for one who reviews fear of self-censure first, shame arises internally, and that generates restraint in the three doors; restraint in the three doors becomes the fourfold purification morality. He, having established himself in that morality, having developed insight, becomes established in the highest fruition. But for one who reviews fear of censure by others, moral fear arises externally, and that generates restraint in his three doors; restraint in the three doors becomes the fourfold purification morality. He, having established himself in that morality, having developed insight, becomes established in the highest fruition. For one who reviews fear of an unfortunate realm, shame arises internally, and that generates restraint in his three doors; restraint in the three doors becomes the fourfold purification morality. He, having established himself in that morality, having developed insight, becomes established in the highest fruition.
2.
Commentary on the Wave-Peril Discourse
122. In the second, "for one entering the water" means for one descending into the water. "To be expected" means to be anticipated. "The danger of fierce fish" means the danger of ferocious fish. "They are, methinks, putting an obstruction over our mouths" means they are as if making a closing of the mouth. "Of gluttony" means of the state of having a big belly, of the nature of eating much. In the passage beginning with "with body unguarded": with body unguarded due to the absence of the threefold restraint at the body-door. With speech unguarded due to the absence of the fourfold restraint at the verbal door.
3.
Commentary on the First Discourse on Difference
123. In the third, "he enjoys that" means he enjoys that meditative absorption with the gratification of happiness. "Desires" means aspires. "Finds happiness" means reaches contentment. "Inclined to that" means inclined to that, or intent upon that. "Dwelling in it frequently" means dwelling frequently with that meditative absorption. "Is reborn in the company" means goes to the state of being together; the meaning is that one is reborn there. "One cosmic cycle is the life-span" - here the first meditative absorption is of three kinds: there is the inferior, there is the middling, and there is the superior. Therein, for those arisen by the inferior, a third portion of a cosmic cycle is the life-span; by the middling, half a cosmic cycle; by the superior, one cosmic cycle. With reference to that, this was said. "Goes to hell" means because the action leading to hell has not been abandoned, one goes again and again, not immediately after. "Attains final nibbāna in that very existence" means having remained in that very fine-material existence, one attains final nibbāna; one does not descend below. "That is to say, regarding destination and rebirth" means this: regarding destination and rebirth, the learner noble disciple, without descending below by way of conception in rebirth, attains final nibbāna in that very fine-material existence in a certain one among the second, third, and other Brahma worlds above; but for the worldling, there is going to hell and so on - this is the difference; such is the meaning.
"Two cosmic cycles" - here too the second meditative absorption is threefold in the manner already stated. Therein, for those reborn by the superior development, eight cosmic cycles is the life-span; by the middling, four; by the inferior, two. With reference to that, this was said. "Four cosmic cycles" - here, what was stated below as "one cosmic cycle, two cosmic cycles," that too should be brought in and the meaning understood. "Cosmic cycle" is also a name for a multiplier. Therefore, "one cosmic cycle, two cosmic cycles, four cosmic cycles" - the meaning here should be understood thus. This is what is meant - The cosmic cycle stated first, having counted two times, by one multiplier becomes two cosmic cycles; by the second, four. Again, those four cosmic cycles, multiplied by these four multipliers: by one multiplier they become eight; by the second, sixteen; by the third, thirty-two; by the fourth, sixty-four. Thus here it should be understood that sixty-four cosmic cycles are taken by way of the superior meditative absorption. "Five hundred cosmic cycles" - this is said by way of the superior rebirth meditative absorption only. Or, in the case of the gods of Great Fruit, because of the absence of three Brahma worlds as in the planes of the first meditative absorption and so on, just this much is the life-span. Therefore it was stated thus.
4.
Commentary on the Second Discourse on Difference
124. In the fourth, "pertaining to matter" means matter itself. The same method applies to the remaining terms as well. In the terms beginning with "as impermanent": as impermanent in the sense of non-existence after having been; as a disease in the sense of affliction; as a boil in the sense of corrupting within; as a dart in the sense of having penetrated; as misery in the sense of being accompanied by suffering; as an affliction in the sense of oppression; as alien in the sense of being uncontrollable; as disintegrating in the sense of crumbling; as empty in the sense of being without a being; as non-self in the sense of not being subject to control. And here it should be understood that by the two terms "as impermanent" and "as disintegrating," the characteristic of impermanence is stated; by the two terms "as empty" and "as non-self," the characteristic of non-self; and by the remaining terms, the characteristic of suffering is stated. "Regards" means sees with knowledge. Thus, having applied the three characteristics to the five aggregates and seeing, one realizes the three paths and three fruitions. "Is reborn in the company of the gods of the Pure Abodes" means steady in that, having developed the fourth meditative absorption, one is reborn.
5-6.
Commentary on the Pair of Discourses on Friendliness
125-126. In the fifth, friendliness is shown by means of the first meditative absorption, and compassion and so on are shown by means of the second and so on. The sixth should be understood by the method already stated in the fourth.
7.
Commentary on the First Discourse on the Marvels of the Truth-finder
127. In the seventh, "with the manifestation" means by way of manifestation. "Descends into the womb" here means "has descended into the womb" - this is the meaning. For when he has descended, it is thus, not while he is descending. "Immeasurable" means of growing measure; the meaning is "extensive." "Eminent" is a synonym for that very thing. Regarding "the divine power of the gods" here, this is the power of the gods - the radiance of their worn garments pervades twelve yojanas, likewise of their bodies, likewise of their mansions - surpassing that is the meaning. "World-interstices" means between every three world-circles there is one world-interstice each, like the space in the middle of three cart-wheels or bowls placed touching one another. That world-interstice hell is eight thousand yojanas in extent. "Miserable" means permanently open. "Uncovered" means without support even below. "Dark" means become darkness. "Of blinding darkness" means endowed with a darkness that produces blindness by preventing the arising of eye-consciousness. There, it is said, eye-consciousness does not arise. "So powerful" means the moon and sun, it is said, are visible in three continents all at once - so powerful are they. In each direction they dispel nine hundred thousand yojanas of darkness and show light - so mighty are they. "Do not reach with their radiance" means their radiance is not sufficient. They, it is said, travel through the middle of the world-circle mountain, and the world-interstice hells are beyond the world-circle mountain. Therefore their radiance does not reach there.
"Those beings who are there" means those beings who have been reborn in that great world-interstice hell. But having done what action are they reborn there? Having committed a grave and cruel offence against their mother and father and righteous ascetics and brahmins, and having done other violent deeds such as the killing of living beings day after day, they are reborn there, like the Abhaya-robbers, Nāga-robbers, and others in the island of Tambapaṇṇi. Their individual existence is three leagues in size; they have long claws like bats. They cling to the foot of the world-circle mountain with their claws, like bats on trees. When, creeping along, they have come within arm's reach of one another, then thinking "We have found food," striving there, they turn upside down and fall into the world-sustaining water; even when the wind strikes, they break off like madhuka fruits and fall into the water; as soon as they have fallen, they dissolve in the extremely alkaline water like a lump of flour. "So there are indeed other beings, friend" means: "Friend, just as we experience great suffering, so other beings too, it is said, have been reborn here for the purpose of experiencing this suffering" - on that day they see this. But this light does not last even for the time of drinking one bowl of rice gruel. It lasts for as long as one who has slept and awakened makes clear an object - that much time. But the reciters of the Long Collection say: "Having flashed forth merely for the duration of a finger-snap, like a flash of lightning, it disappears even as they are saying 'What is this?'"
8.
Commentary on the Second Discourse on the Marvels of the Truth-finder
128. In the eighth, "attachment" (ālaya) in the sense of what is to be clung to through craving and wrong view means the five types of sensual pleasure, or the entire round of rebirths. "They delight" (āramanti) "here" - thus it is a delight (ārāmo); attachment is her delight - thus "delighting in attachment" (ālayārāmā). Devoted to attachment - thus "rejoicing in attachment" (ālayaratā). Pleased with attachment - thus "pleased with attachment" (ālayasammuditā). "The Teaching on non-attachment" means the noble teaching that is opposed to attachment and is a support for the end of the round of rebirths. "Listens" means becomes willing to hear. "Lends an ear" means applies the ear. "Applies the mind to final liberating knowledge" means brings the mind to readiness for the purpose of knowing. "Conceit" means imagination; or in the sense of what is to be imagined, it is just the entire round of rebirths. "The Teaching on the removal of conceit" means the teaching on the removal of conceit. The opposite of peace is non-peace; or in the sense of being not at peace, the round of rebirths itself is called non-peace. "Leading to peace" means producing peace and supporting the end of the round of rebirths. Gone to ignorance, endowed with it - thus "gone to ignorance" (avijjāgatā). Because of being enveloped by the egg-sheath of ignorance, become like an egg - thus "become like an egg" (aṇḍabhūtā). Covered all around - thus "enveloped" (pariyonaddhā). "The removal of ignorance" - the removal of ignorance is called arahantship; the meaning is: when the teaching dependent upon that is being taught. Thus in this discourse, the round of rebirths is spoken of in four instances, and the end of the round of rebirths in four instances.
9.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Marvels of Ānanda
129. In the ninth, "an assembly of monks approaches Ānanda for an audience" means those who, wishing to see the Blessed One, approach the elder, and those who, having heard the elder's virtues thus: "The Venerable Ānanda, it seems, is all-pleasing, handsome, beautiful, very learned, an ornament of the monastic community," come - with reference to them it was said "an assembly of monks approaches Ānanda for an audience." This same method applies everywhere. "Delighted" means joyful, with gladdened minds, thinking "by hearing, seeing too is matched." "The Teaching" means such a manner of friendly welcome as: "Is it bearable, friend, is it endurable, do you do your work with wise attention, do you fulfil your duty to your teachers and preceptors?" Therein, in the case of nuns, "Do you, sisters, proceed having undertaken the eight rules of respect?" - this too is a difference. In the case of lay followers, he does not make a friendly welcome thus: "Welcome, lay follower, does your head or a limb not ail you, are your sons and brothers healthy?" but rather he does thus - "How do you, lay followers, keep the three refuges and the five moral precepts, do you observe the eight Observance days of the month, do you fulfil the duty of attendance upon your mother and father, do you look after righteous ascetics and brahmins?" For female lay followers too, the same method applies.
10.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Marvels of a Universal Monarch
130. In the tenth, "the assembly of nobles" means those of the warrior caste, both consecrated and unconsecrated. For they, having heard the talk of his virtues thus: "The king, the wheel-turning monarch by name, is handsome, pleasing, travelling through the sky, he instructs the kingdom, a righteous king of righteousness," are delighted when seeing matches with hearing. "Speaks" means he makes a friendly welcome thus: "How do you, dear ones, fulfil the duty of a king, do you preserve the tradition?" But in the case of brahmins, he makes a friendly welcome thus: "How do you, teachers, recite the sacred verses, do the pupils learn the sacred verses, have you received offerings or garments or morality?" In the case of householders, he makes a friendly welcome thus: "How are you, dear ones, is there no oppression from the royal family by way of punishment or imprisonment, does the rain god send down showers properly, are the crops succeeding?" In the case of ascetics, he makes a friendly welcome thus: "How is it, venerable sir, are the requisites of one gone forth easily obtained, are you not negligent in the duties of an ascetic?"
The Fear Chapter is the third.