3.
The Chapter on Five Factors
1.
Commentary on the First Agārava Discourse
21. In the first of the third, "not courteous" means endowed with a dissimilar, unlike livelihood. "Fundamentals of conduct" means morality laid down by way of duties, being the highest conduct. "Trainee state" means the morality regulated for a trainee. "Moralities" means the four great moralities. "Right view" means insight right view. "Right concentration" means both path-concentration and fruition-concentration. In this discourse, morality and so on have been spoken of as mixed.
2.
Commentary on the Second Agārava Discourse
22. In the second, "aggregate of morality" means the heap of morality. In the remaining two as well, the same method applies. But these three aggregates too were spoken of as mixed only.
3.
Commentary on the Upakkilesa Sutta
23. In the third, "nor luminous" means nor radiant. "And is brittle" means having the intrinsic nature of breaking apart. "Iron" means black metal. "Copper" means setting aside the four mentioned here, the remaining metal. "Sajjha" means silver. "Of the mind" means of the wholesome consciousness of the four planes. Let them be impurities of the three-plane for now; how are they impurities of the supramundane? By not allowing it to arise. For to the extent that they do not allow it to arise, to that very extent they are called impurities of both the mundane and the supramundane. "And is brittle" means having the intrinsic nature of breaking apart by way of reaching the state of being crushed to bits regarding the object. "Rightly becomes concentrated for the elimination of mental corruptions" means it becomes concentrated by cause, by reason, for the purpose of arahantship, which is termed the elimination of mental corruptions. To that extent, having purified the mind, he shows one who has eliminated the mental corruptions, established in arahantship. Now, showing the penetration of direct knowledge for him, he said beginning with "towards whatever." That is of manifest meaning only.
4.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Immoral
24. In the fourth, "with its proximate cause destroyed" means with its decisive support destroyed, with its cause destroyed. "Knowledge and vision of things as they really are" means young insight beginning with the knowledge of discerning mentality-materiality. "Disenchantment and dispassion" means disenchantment and dispassion. Therein, disenchantment is strong insight, dispassion is the path. "Knowledge and vision of liberation" means fruition-liberation and reviewing knowledge.
5.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Unsupported
25. In the fifth, "right view" means insight right view. In the passage beginning with "having liberation of mind as its fruit," "liberation of mind" means the concentration of path and fruition. "Liberation by wisdom" means fruition knowledge. "Supported by morality" means supported by morality, safeguarded. "Supported by learning" means supported by great learning. "Supported by discussion" means supported by discussion of the Teaching. "Supported by serenity" means supported by unified focus of mind.
Now, for the elucidation of this meaning, a man should be illustrated who, having planted a sweet mango seed, having made a boundary all around, having poured water from time to time, having cleaned the roots from time to time, having removed fallen insects from time to time, and having pulled out spider webs from time to time, tends the mango tree. For that man's planting of the sweet mango seed should be seen as insight right view; the making of the boundary as supporting by morality; the pouring of water as supporting by learning; the cleansing of the roots as supporting by discussion; the removal of insects as supporting by serenity by way of clearing the obstacles to meditative absorption and insight; the pulling out of spider webs as supporting by powerful insight; just as a tree thus supported quickly grows and gives fruit, so it should be understood that the fundamental right view supported by these factors beginning with morality quickly grows by means of the path and gives the fruit of liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom.
6.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Bases of Liberation
26. In the sixth, "planes of liberation" means causes of liberation. "Where" means in those planes of liberation. "The Teacher teaches the Teaching" means he teaches the Teaching of the four truths. "One who experiences the meaning" means of one who knows the meaning of the Pāḷi text. "One who experiences the Teaching" means of one who knows the Pāḷi text. "Gladness" means young rapture. "Rapture" means strong rapture that has become a mode of satisfaction. "Body" means the mental body. "Becomes calm" means is allayed. "Feels happiness" means obtains happiness. "The mind becomes concentrated" means becomes concentrated through the concentration of the fruition of arahantship. For this one, while listening to that Teaching, knows the meditative absorptions, insight, path and fruitions at each point as it comes; for him knowing thus, rapture arises. He, not allowing that rapture to draw back in between, having become one practising the access meditation subject, having developed insight, attains arahantship. With reference to that it was said - "The mind becomes concentrated." The same method applies in the remaining ones too. But this is the distinction - "Sign of concentration" means among the thirty-eight objects, a certain concentration itself is the sign of concentration. In "rightly grasped" and so on, it has been well grasped by one learning the meditation subject in the presence of a teacher, well attended to, well considered. "Thoroughly understood with wisdom" means well made evident through wisdom. "In that teaching" means in that teaching of the Pāḷi text on the meditation subject. Thus in this discourse, all five planes of liberation have been spoken of as bringing to arahantship.
7.
Commentary on the Concentration Sutta
27. In the seventh, "immeasurable" means supramundane, devoid of states that create measure. "Prudent and mindful" means having become endowed with discretion and mindfulness. "Five knowledges" means five reviewing knowledges. "Arise individually" means they arise within oneself. In "this concentration is pleasant in the present" and so on, the concentration of the fruition of arahantship is intended. Some say it is also the concentration of the path. For it is pleasant in the present because of its pleasantness at each and every moment of attainment; it has pleasant results in the future because each former is a condition for each latter concentration-happiness; it is noble because of being far from mental defilements; it is spiritual because of the absence of the bait of sensual pleasure, the bait of the round of rebirths, and the bait of the world. It is not practised by inferior persons because of being practised by great persons such as the Buddha and others. It is peaceful because of the tranquillity of its factors, the tranquillity of its object, and the tranquillity of the disturbance of all mental defilements; it is sublime in the sense of not causing torment. It is obtained through tranquillity because of being obtained through the cessation of mental defilements, or because of having obtained the state of cessation of mental defilements. For "tranquillised" and "tranquillity" are one in meaning. Or it is obtained through tranquillity because of being obtained by a Worthy One whose mental defilements have been tranquillised; it is attained to unification because of being attained through unification, or because of having attained unification itself. Unlike concentration that is not well-practised and has mental corruptions, it is not reached by forceful suppression and restraint because it has not been attained by suppressing opposing states and warding off mental defilements through exertion, with effort, with a striving mind. Because of having attained the expansion of mindfulness when entering that concentration or emerging from it, one enters mindfully and emerges mindfully. Or one enters mindfully and emerges mindfully according to the predetermined time limit. Therefore, whatever knowledge arises here individually, not relying on others, for one who reviews thus: "This concentration is pleasant in the present and has pleasant results in the future" - that is one knowledge. The same method applies in the remaining cases. Thus these five knowledges arise individually.
8.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Fivefold
28. In the eighth, "of a noble one" means of one who stands far from mental defilements abandoned by way of suppression. "I will teach the development" means I will make known the cultivation, the growth. "This very body" means this body born of impurity. "Drenches" means moistens, steeps, makes rapture and happiness occur everywhere. "Steeps" means flows all around. "Fills" means fills as if filling a bellows with air. "Pervades" means touches all around. "Of his entire body" means there is no place whatsoever in this monk's body with all its parts, even a spot as tiny as an atom, pervaded by skin, flesh, and blood at the place where the continuity of what is clung to occurs, that is not touched by the happiness of the first meditative absorption.
"Skilled" means clever, competent to make, prepare, and knead bath powder. "In a bronze dish" means in a vessel made of whatever metal. But an earthenware vessel is not firm; it breaks when one kneads in it. Therefore he does not show that. "Sprinkling again and again" means having sprinkled again and again. "Might knead" means having taken the bronze dish with the left hand, sprinkling again and again a proper measure of water with the right hand, while rubbing, he would make a ball. "Permeated with moisture" means permeated by the moisture of water. "Pervaded by moisture" means encompassed by the moisture of water. "Within and without" means together with the inner part and the outer part, pervaded by the moisture of water everywhere in every place - this is the meaning. "Does not drip" means water does not drip drop by drop; it is possible to take it up with the hand or with two fingers, and even to make it into a waist-pouch - this is the meaning.
In the simile of the happiness of the second meditative absorption, "a spring" means one whose water has sprung up, not water that has burst up from below and rises. But the meaning is water that springs up from within itself. "Inflow" means a channel of arrival. "Rain god" means a cloud. "From time to time" means at each time, the meaning is either fortnightly or every ten days. "Showers" means rain. "Were not to send down" means were not to let in, the meaning is were not to rain. "Cool streams of water having sprung up" means cool streams of water having sprung up while filling that lake. For water rising up from below, having risen up, agitates the water as it breaks; water entering from the four directions agitates the water with old leaves, grass, sticks, twigs, and so on. Rain water agitates the water with the falling of streams and water bubbles; but having become settled, the water arising as if created by supernormal power pervades this area - there is no such thing as "it does not pervade this area." Therefore there is no place called unpervaded. Therein, the lake is like the material body, the water is like the happiness of the second meditative absorption; the remainder should be understood by the former method.
In the simile of the happiness of the third meditative absorption, "a pond of water lilies" means water lilies are present here. The same method applies to the remaining two terms as well. And here, among white, red, and blue, whatever waterlily is simply a waterlily. A white lotus has fewer than a hundred petals; a lotus has a hundred petals. Or, without the restriction on petals, a white one is a lotus, a red one is a white lotus - this is the judgment here. "Not risen above the water" means not risen from the water. "Nourished while submerged within" means having been submerged within the surface of the water, they are nourished; the meaning is they grow. The remainder should be understood by the former method.
In the simile of the fourth meditative absorption, regarding "with a pure and bright mind" - here it should be understood that "pure" is in the sense of being free from impurities, and "bright" is in the sense of being luminous. "With a white cloth" - this is stated for the purpose of showing the pervading of temperature. For with a soiled cloth there is no pervading of temperature, but with one washed and purified at that very moment the pervading of temperature is powerful. For in this simile, the material body is like the cloth, and the happiness of the fourth meditative absorption is like the pervading of temperature. Therefore, just as for a well-bathed man who has wrapped himself in a pure cloth up to the head and is seated, the temperature from the body pervades the entire cloth, and there is no part of the cloth unpervaded, so too, by the happiness of the fourth meditative absorption, there is no part of the monk's material body unpervaded - thus the meaning here should be understood. Or alternatively, the consciousness of the fourth meditative absorption itself is like the cloth, and the matter originating from it is like the pervading of temperature. For just as even when the white cloth does not touch the body at some places, the body is pervaded everywhere by the temperature originating from it, so too, by the subtle matter originated from the fourth meditative absorption, the monk's body is pervaded everywhere - thus the meaning here should be understood.
"The sign of reviewing" means the reviewing knowledge itself. "Rightly grasped" means just as the meditative absorptions, insight, and paths are well grasped by him, so the sign of reviewing is well grasped by repeated signs of reviewing. "One person might review another" means one person reviews another single person, for indeed oneself is not obvious to oneself. "One standing might review one seated" means even to one standing, one who is seated is obvious; therefore it was said thus. The same method applies in the remaining ones too. "Water jar" means a water pot with a girdle. "Filled to the brim" means evenly filled. "So that a crow could drink from it" means drinkable by a crow having sat down on the rim without even bending its neck.
"On level ground" means on even ground. But in "one might plant seeds on level ground, in a good field, with stumps removed," here "level ground" has come in the sense of smooth ground. "At a crossroads" means at the place where two highways have pierced through and met. "A chariot harnessed to thoroughbreds" means a chariot with trained horses. "With goad lying ready" means a goad placed crosswise resting on a support, such that it can be taken by one standing after having mounted the chariot. "A trainer" means a horse trainer. "He who drives horses to be tamed" is a charioteer of horses to be tamed. "Wherever he wishes" means by whatever road he wishes. "However he wishes" means whatever pace he wishes. "Might drive forward" means he would send it straight ahead. "Might drive back" means he would turn it back.
Having thus spoken of the preliminary work for attainment with the five factors below, and having shown the benefit of well-practised attainment with these three similes, now in order to show the succession of direct knowledges of one who has eliminated the mental corruptions, he said beginning with "If he wishes." That is of manifest meaning only.
9.
Commentary on the Discourse on the Walking Path
29. In the ninth, "one becomes capable of enduring journeys" means one who is going on a long highway endures, is able to accept it. "Capable of striving" means capable of energy. "Concentration attained through walking meditation" means a certain concentration among the eight attainments, attained by one who determines upon walking meditation. "Is long-lasting" means it lasts for a long time. For the sign grasped by one standing disappears for one seated, and the sign grasped by one seated disappears for one lying down. But the sign grasped on a moving object by one who determines upon walking meditation does not disappear whether one is standing, seated, or lying down.
10.
Commentary on the Discourse on Nāgita
30. In the tenth, "loud" because of rising upwards, and "great sound is theirs" because of the heap-like nature - thus "making loud sounds and great sounds." For when those most eminent ones - wealthy warriors, wealthy brahmins, and so on - came having brought great honour, when it was said "Give place to so-and-so, give place to so-and-so," the sound of those speaking to each other thus: "We came first, I came first, there is no place" was both loud and great. "Like fishermen, methinks, at a fish haul" means like fishermen at a fish haul. For indeed, at the selling place of those who had come having taken fish baskets, such a sound arises from the great multitude saying "Give to me, give to me." "Filthy happiness" means impure happiness. "The pleasure of torpor" means the pleasure of sleep. "The happiness of material gain, honour and praise" means happiness arisen in dependence on material gain and honour as well as the speaking of praise.
"Inclined towards that will go" means they will go to that very place where the Blessed One has gone; the meaning is that they will indeed follow. "For such, venerable sir, is the Blessed One's morality and wisdom" means because such is your morality and knowledge - this is the meaning. "Nor let fame come together with me" means let not fame come together with me either. "Of dear ones" means of dear people. "This is its outcome" means this is the result of the state of being dear. "The pursuit of the sign of foulness" means the pursuit of the meditation subject of foulness. "The sign of beauty" means a desirable object that is a basis for lust. "This is its outcome" means this is the result of that pursuit of the sign of foulness. Thus in this discourse, insight alone has been spoken of in these five instances.
The Chapter on the Fivefold is third.