1. Buddhist tradition has it that there are 84,000 sections of the Teaching (or units of text; dhammakkandha). See "The Expositor" (Commentary to Dhammasangani), vol. I, pp. 22,34 (PTS).

1. Theo truyền thống của Phật giáo thì có 48,000 pháp môn tudhammakkandha). See "The Expositor" (Commentary to Dhammasangani), vol. I, pp. 22,34 (PTS).

2. As, in ancient India, the way of learning and studying was not through books, but by the oral instruction of the teacher, the words "he has heard much (or not)" are, in this context, equivalent to "he is very learned (or not)."

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3. Dhamma: literally, the truth, the law. Used for the Buddha's teaching.

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4. Skillful in grammar and in other items. According to the commentary, this refers to the four "analytical knowledges" (patisambhida), of which two are mentioned in these verses, namely "grammar" (or language) and "meaning"; while the words "other items" refer to the remaining two, the analytical knowledges of the law (or conditionality) and of ready wit (perspicuity).

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5. Sangha: the company of monks following the Buddha and his teaching

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6. Once-returner: the second stage of enlightenment, which still requires one rebirth in the world of fivefold sense experience.

6. Quả Nhất Lai (Tư đà hàm, sakadagami): Tầng thứ hai của bậc giác ngộ, Bậc Thánh vẫn còn tái sanh vào cõi người chỉ một lần nữa mà thôi. Tuy vị nầy không tận diệt được thêm một ô nhiễm nào khác, nhưng những ô nhiễm còn lại trong tâm trở nên yếu đi. Do đó, vị nầy chỉ còn lại hai lần tái sinh vào cõi sắc giới mà thôi, tức là sau khi mãn kiếp, sẽ tái sinh vào cõi trời và sau khi mãn kiếp chư Thiên, vị nầy sẽ trở lại cõi người trong kiếp cuối cùng để đạt Giác Ngộ.

7. Stream-entry: the first stage of enlightenment, where the first glimpse of Nibbana is gained, and the first three fetters abandoned.

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8. During the monsoon rains in India (approximately July-September) the Buddha decreed that the monks should stay in one place under shelter and intensify their practice. This is followed to this day.

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9. The five aggregates are the aspects of mind and body, which make up what is called a person: form (body), feeling, perceptions, mental formations (volitions, etc.), and consciousness.

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10. "Crossing the stream to the other shore" is often used as an analogy for those monks and lay people who have left ordinary reactions and emotions behind, and have purified themselves to the extent of becoming "noble ones."

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11. Sekha, lit. "a learner" or "one who trains himself." This denotes one who has attained to the three lower stages of sanctity, i.e., a stream-winner, once-returner and non-returner.

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12. See The Life of Sariputta, The Wheel Nos. 90/91/92.

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13. See The Roots of Good and Evil, The Wheel Nos. 251/252/253, p. 61.

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14. By walking about without proper care he destroyed the "young corn" of the Sangha.

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15. By allowing unrestrained young monks to come into contact with supporting families, he made the latter disaffected.

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16. Brahma: Pali for those gods who enjoy states equivalent to the four deep meditations, or jhana (see later footnote).

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17. Tathagata (lit. "one who has thus gone" or "thus come") is an epithet of the Buddha used by him when speaking of himself; generally translated as "the perfect one."

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18. See MN 122 in The Wheel No. 87.

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19. Dukkha: Pali for every kind of unsatisfactoriness, including gross and subtle suffering.

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20. Jataka tales: 547 stories of the Buddha's past lives.

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21. Reaching path and fruit: this expression means that a person not only knows the Noble Eightfold Path, but becomes the Noble Eightfold Path, and gains the fruits of this attainment, which is holiness.

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22. Combines the function of toothbrush and toothpick.

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23. Three knowledges: knowledge of past lives;  knowledge of the arising and passing away of beings according to their kamma; exhaustion of the taints. (The taints are (a) sensual desire, (b) craving for being, (c) ignorance.)

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24. AAneñja-samadhi: This is the concentration connected with the highest fruit  attainment (arahatta), based on the fine-material or immaterial absorptions.

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25. Five hindrances: Sensual desire, ill will, lethargy and drowsiness, restlessness and worry (distraction), and skeptical doubt.

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26. Even today in modern Burma there are monks who remember by heart the Discipline, Discourses, and Abhidhamma — the Three Baskets of the Buddhist Scriptures — and can recite them. Printed they fill forty-five volumes!

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27. At one time the Buddha was staying in the park of the Gosinga sala tree, also described as the Gosinga Wood, or Forest, with a number of experienced elder disciples. The venerable Sariputta mentions that this wood is a delightful place, with the sala trees all in bloom and their scent pervading the air as if in heaven. He then poses the above question to all the elder disciples and each one answers according to his own "specialty" in Dhamma.

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28. Monks, nuns, and male and female lay devotees.

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29. It seems that the Buddha did not absolutely refuse Maha-Pajapati Gotami, but perhaps wished to test her determination. It would have been a very difficult thing for aristocratic ladies in those days to do — to become nuns and live a hard life in the forest, subsisting on almsfood. Ladies then had no experience in looking after themselves or organizing anything, as their social scope under Brahmanism was very much restricted.

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30. In the Vinaya (monk's discipline) the Buddha is represented as saying this, but such a prophecy involving time is found only here. There is not other mention anywhere in the whole of the Vinaya (discipline) and the Suttas (discourses). This makes it suspect as an intrusion. The Commentaries, as well as many other later Buddhist writings; have much to say about the decline of the Buddha's Dispensation in five-hundred-year periods, but none of this is the word of the Buddha and only represents the view of later teachers.

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31. Dissatisfaction with celibacy.

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32. But obviously there are many discourses of the Buddha which were not recorded — for instance, the detailed exposition of his "graduated talk" which he gave so many times; also many occasions in the account of his last days when only the subject headings are mentioned.

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33. Causal arising: Dependent origination, see Wheel Booklet Nos. 15, 140; also 147/149).

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34. The wheel of life and death: Because each cause has an effect, and ordinary beings cannot see the impact of their cravings, they are caught in rebirth after rebirth, as if in a revolving wheel.

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35. The Four Noble Truths: The core of the Dhamma:

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1.     the noble truth of dukkha (unsatisfactoriness);

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2.     the noble truth of the cause of dukkha, which is craving;

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3.     the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha which is Nibbana;

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4.     the noble truth of the path to cessation, which is the Noble Eightfold Path.

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36. Jhana: Four deeply inward and purified levels of mind of a high degree of concentration, when there is no sense of awareness present but only a brilliant and mindful awareness within. The Pali term may be rendered by "meditative absorption."

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37. Uposatha, marking the four phases of the moon, when, especially on full moon, devout Buddhist lay men and lay women observe eight precepts.

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38. See Last Days of the Buddha (Maha-Parinibbana Sutta): The Wheel No. 67/69.

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39. See Sariputta's Lion's roar in The Life of Sariputta, The Wheel Nos. 90/92.

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40. Animitta-cetovimutti: a deep state of meditation that transcends the "signs," or marks, or conditioned existence.

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41. Four bases to success (iddhi-pada):  will (desire to practice); effort;  perseverance (repeatedly applying the mind); examination (leading to insight).

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42. The discussion that follows is based on the commentary's interpretation of ayukappa: that the Buddha potentially had the age or lifespan of an aeon. The author has followed this interpretation. However, ayukappa can also mean one's natural lifespan. In that case the Buddha could perhaps have willed himself to live to a hundred years of some years longer (120 is always given in Pali as representing extreme old age), but disease was already upon his body and perhaps he saw that it would be difficult to continue teaching, even though his mind would, of course, remain unaffected.

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43. Mara: The Buddhist "tempter" figure, the personification of evil, passion, and worldliness, obstructing people on their way to liberation.

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44. Four kinds of disciples: Monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen.

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45. For these groups of "eight," see The Last Days of the Buddha, The Wheel Nos. 67/69, pp.32-26.

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46. Translation of the verses from Last Days of the Buddha, The Wheel No: 67/69.

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47. Sutta: Discourse of the Buddha; literally "thread," threading together the gems of the words of the Buddha.

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48. For the three remaining of these so-called "Four great Authorities," see Last Days, p. 46

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49. It is not quite certain that this was a mushroom dish. See the thorough discussion in The Last Days of the Buddha. Arthur Waley also wrote on this subject from the Chinese sources (see the volume of collected poetry and articles published to honor his death). It may be assumed that the Buddha instructed Cunda not to give it to the other monks as he knew it would make them ill, while for himself this was not important, as death was near.

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50. Stupa: A reliquary monument used before the Buddha's days and akin to barrows and tumuli in western countries. The remains of the famous would be set in a central place and a great mound raised over them. In India this was surmounted in the case of kings with a parasol. This is the origin of the innumerable stupas, cetiyas, dagobas, and pagodas found now in Buddhist lands, all of which have some precious articles interred there. Not all, of course, hold Buddha-relics.

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51. Universal monarch (cakkavatti-raja): The ideal world ruler of Buddhist texts. He gains power by Dhamma and not by greed and so differs from most who are in authority.

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52. These verses are also found in DN 16 (IV); DN 17; SN XV.20; SN I.11; SN VI.15; SN IX.6; Jat 307.

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53. Friend; Pali avuso, lit. "One of long life" and more respectful than friend.

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54. Venerable Sir: Pali bhante, lit. "One who is auspicious."

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55. Giver of the Deathless: an epithet of the Buddha.

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56. The venerable Sariputta.

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57. "The old ones" means not only the Buddha but also such eminent disciples as Sariputta and Moggallana. Some of the newer disciples of the Buddha who were not yet ariya (noble ones) and may have caused some trouble in the Sangha were doubtless "the new ones."

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58. It is probable that also the actual order of the discourses within the various collections was standardized at this council.

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59. Ten higher qualities: Virtue and restraint according to the Vinaya — perfection in conduct; much learning, and remembering well; contentment with robes, almsfood, and shelter; ability at will to attain the four jhanas; supernormal abilities with the body as far as the heavenly realms; divine ear; seeing into the mind of other beings; recollection of past lives; divine eye; exhaustion of the taints.

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