DN16: Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta

Notes

1. There is a play on words in this sentence, between Tathāgata (“one truly gone,” or “one who has become true”) and vi-tathaṁ, “untruthfully.”

2. Notice that Vassakāra, by addressing the Buddha as “Master Gotama,” shows a lesser degree of respect to the Buddha than King Ajātasattu had told him to. Vassakāra also appears in MN 108, AN 4:35, and AN 4:183, and in each instance displays a limited understanding of the Dhamma.

3. According to the Commentary, that is precisely what Vassakāra did, thus enabling King Ajātasattu to defeat the Vajjians without bloodshed. In addition to being ironic—showing how benighted Ajātasattu was, trying to get military advice from the Buddha—this passage has a poignant meaning for the Saṅgha. As the following passage shows, the conditions of no decline in the Saṅgha are not that different from those for no decline in the Vajjians. And although those conditions may prevail in the Saṅgha, the example of the Vajjians shows that they can easily be abandoned. This passage thus serves as a warning not to be heedless. See also AN 5:77–80.

4. See AN 7:21.

5. See MN 29–30.

6. See MN 53 and AN 7:63.

7. See SN 46:51 and SN 46:53.

8. See AN 10:60.

9. The Burmese edition does not contain the word, “further,” here.

10. See MN 48 and AN 6:12.

11. See MN 61.

12. See AN 10:95.

13. See Ud 8:6.

14. The translation here follows the Burmese and Sri Lankan editions of the text. The PTS version of the passage doesn’t state the time of day, whereas the Thai version states that the Buddha went to the rest-house hall in the morning—which, given the events that follow, doesn’t seem right, for he would have spent the entire day teaching the lay followers of Pāṭali Village.

15. Pāṭaliputta later became the capital of King Asoka’s empire. The “breaking open of the seed-pods (pūṭa-bhedana)” is a wordplay on the last part of the city’s name.

Archaeological evidence from what may have been part of Asoka’s palace in Pāṭaliputta shows burnt wooden posts buried in mud—perhaps a sign that the palace burned and then was buried in a flood.

16. The five lower fetters are self-identification views, uncertainty, grasping at habits & practices, sensual desire, & ill will. The five higher fetters, abandoned by the arahant in addition to the lower five, are passion for form, passion for what is formless, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. See AN 10:13.

17. The four pairs are (1) the person on the path to stream entry, the person experiencing the fruit of stream entry; (2) the person on the path to once-returning, the person experiencing the fruit of once-returning; (3) the person on the path to non-returning, the person experiencing the fruit of non-returning; (4) the person on the path to arahantship, the person experiencing the fruit of arahantship. The eight individuals are the eight types forming these four pairs.

18. For another way to gauge whether one has attained stream-entry, see MN 48. Notice that in this Dhamma-mirror, the Buddha gives criteria only for gauging one’s own level of attainment, and not that of others. On this point, see AN 10:75.

19. Ambapālī apparently ordained as a nun later in life. Her verses are recorded in Thig 13:1.

20. Following the Thai edition. The Sinhalese and PTS editions have “we’ve been totally defeated (parājitamhā)” rather than “cheated” (vañcitamhā); the Burmese edition has Little Mango (Ambakā) instead of Little Ambapālī (Ambapālikā).

21. In other words, the Buddha had no esoteric version of the Dhamma that he taught only to an inner circle or a select class of privileged beings. The Dhamma that he taught to his close disciples was consistent with the Dhamma he taught at large.

22. In other words, he did not hold back any teachings from his students until he was about to die. As the narrative of this sutta makes clear, the teachings he taught up to the night of his unbinding were identical to the teachings he had taught for his entire career.

23. As the text will make clear, these are some of the locations where, in the past, the Buddha had commented to Ven. Ānanda on how refreshing the location was, implying that living on would not be a burden, and that he could, if he so desired, extend his life. The reference to these locations was apparently to remind Ānanda of what he had said there.

24. “And what is the base of power? Whatever path, whatever practice, leads to the attainment of power, the winning of power: That is called the base of power.

“And what is the development of the base of power? There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on desire & the fabrications of exertion. He develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on persistence… concentration founded on intent… concentration founded on discrimination & the fabrications of exertion. This is called the development of the base of power.” — SN 51:26

25. An eon, in the Buddhist cosmology, is an immensely long stretch of time. According to the Commentary here, it can also mean the full lifespan of a human being in that particular period of the eon (Buddhist cosmology allows for a huge fluctuation in human lifespans over the course of an eon). The Commentary adopts this second meaning in this passage, and so takes the Buddha’s statement here as meaning that a person who has developed the bases of power could live for a full lifespan or for a little bit more. In this case, the Pali for the last part of this compound, kappāvasesaṁ, would mean, “an eon plus a remainder.”

26. DN 11 defines the miracle of instruction as instruction in training the mind to the point of where it gains release from all suffering and stress.

27. In other words, the Buddha relinquished the will to live longer. It was this relinquishment that led to his total unbinding three months later.

28. Reading tulaṁ as a present participle.

29. The image is of splitting a coat of mail with an arrow.

30. Anupādisesa-nibbāna-dhātu. Unbinding as experienced by an arahant at death. According to Iti 44, there are two unbinding properties: that with fuel remaining, and that with no fuel remaining. The first refers to unbinding as experienced before death. The second, to unbinding as experienced after death. Thag 15:2 hints at the image behind these terms. The first unbinding property corresponds to a fire that has gone out but whose embers are still glowing. The second, to a fire so totally out that no glowing embers remain. See the discussion in The Mind Like Fire Unbound, chapter 1.

31. This list is apparently a description both of the ways in which beings on different levels of the cosmos are percipient, and of experiences that a meditator—particularly one who is inclined to visions—might have. AN 10:29 adds this comment to the list:

“Now, of these eight dimensions of mastery, this is supreme: when one percipient of the formless internally sees forms externally as white, white in their color, white in their features, white in their glow. And there are beings who are percipient in this way. Yet even in the beings who are percipient in this way there is still aberration, there is change. Seeing this, the instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with that. Being disenchanted with that, he becomes dispassionate toward what is supreme, and even more so toward what is inferior.”

32. This, too, is a list of the stages of meditation as experienced by one who is inclined to visions.

These lists of eight factors are not randomly chosen. They all highlight the grandeur of the Buddha’s attainment, and add to the marvelous savor of this entire passage.

33. These are the 37 bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammas. For a full account, see The Wings to awakening.

34. The Buddha will repeat these two statements as his last exhortation before his total unbinding. On the topic of heedfulness, see SN 35:97 and SN 55:40. On the topic of consummation, see MN 53.

35. The Mātikā is a list of dhamma-topics—such as the 37 Wings to awakening—that formed the basis for the Abhidhamma.

36. The Commentary notes a wide range of opinions on what “pig-delicacy” means. The opinion given in the Mahā Aṭṭhakathā—the primary source for the Commentary we now have—is that pig-delicacy is tender pork. Other opinions include soft bamboo shoots or mushrooms that pigs like to nibble on, or a special elixir. Given that India has long had a history of giving fanciful names to its foods and elixirs, it’s hard to say for sure what the Buddha ate for his last meal.

37. This style of narrative—in which prose passages alternate with verses retelling parts of what was narrated in the prose—is called a campū. This is one of the few passages in the Canon where this style is used, two others being the Kuṇāla Jātaka (J 5:416-456) and Udāna 8:5, which also narrates these events, minus the Buddha’s conversation with Pukkusa Mallaputta. The fact that this is the only section of this sutta using this style suggests that perhaps the version of the narrative given in Ud 8:5 was composed first as a separate piece and then later incorporated into this sutta.

38. Ven. Ānanda’s description of the water is alliterative in the Pali: sātodakā sītodakā setodakā.

39. The narrative in Ud 8:5 skips from this poem to the place in the narrative where the Buddha goes to the Kakudha River, skipping over the story of Pukkusa Mallaputta.

40. Āḷāra Kālāma was the teacher from whom the Buddha, before his awakening, learned how to attain the dimension of nothingness, one of the formless attainments. See MN 26. The Vibhaṅga to Pārājika 4 indicates that the purity of one’s mastery of any of these formless attainments can be measured by the extent to which one does not hear sounds while in that attainment. The same passage also indicates that if one does hear sounds, that does not mean that one has not achieved that attainment, simply that one’s mastery of the attainment is not entirely pure. It further indicates that “purity” here does not mean purity from defilements. After all, in the Vibhaṅga to Pārājika 4, Ven. Mahā Moggallāna’s attainment of the formless states is said to be impure, and yet he is an arahant. “Purity” refers instead to the strength of one’s concentration.

41. Āyasmant: This is a term of respect usually reserved for senior monks. The Buddha’s using it here was probably meant to emphasize the point that Cunda’s gift of the Buddha’s last meal should be treated as a very honorable thing.

42. Up to this point in the sutta, the standard phrase describing the Buddha’s act of lying down to rest ends with the phrase, “having made a mental note to get up.” Here, however, the Buddha is lying down for the last time and will pass away in this posture, so he makes no mental note to get up.

43. SN 12:67 states: “If a monk practices for the sake of disenchantment, dispassion, & cessation with regard to aging-&-death… birth… becoming… clinging/sustenance… craving… feeling… contact… the six sense media… name-&-form… consciousness… fabrications… ignorance, he deserves to be called a monk who practices the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” SN 22:39 states: “For a monk practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma, what accords with the Dhamma is this: that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to form, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to feeling, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to perception, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to fabrications, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to consciousness.” SN 22:40–41 add that this is to be done by remaining focused on stress, inconstancy, and not-self with regard to the five aggregates.

44. From Vedic times, it has been considered auspicious in India to gaze on a holy person or heavenly being, and to be gazed on by such a being as well. Here the fact that heavenly beings themselves want to gaze on the Buddha indicates the high regard they have for him (this is also the motive for their Great Meeting in DN 20); the phrase later in this paragraph, “the One with Eyes,” indicates that they also regarded his gaze as highly auspicious for them. Later passages in this discourse indicate that human beings have similar feelings about the auspiciousness of the Buddha’s gaze and the Buddha as an object of one’s own gaze. A great deal of the later history of Buddhism in India—including devotional practice, Buddhology, meditation practice, and even the architecture of monasteries—grew out of the continuing desire to have a vision of the Buddha and to be gazed on by the Buddha, even after his Parinibbāna.

It is sometimes assumed, based on a passage in SN 22:87, that the Pali Canon is uniformly negative toward this aspect of Buddhist tradition. There, Ven. Vakkali, who is ill, states that “For a long time have I wanted to come & see the Blessed One, but I haven’t had the bodily strength to do so,” and the Buddha comforts him, “Enough, Vakkali. Why do you want to see this filthy body? Whoever sees the Dhamma sees me; whoever sees me sees the Dhamma.” It should be noted, however, that the Buddha’s treatment of this topic is sensitive to the context. In SN 22:87, he is talking to a monk who (1) is too sick to come see the Buddha on his own strength; and (2) is on the verge of arahantship. Here in DN 16, however, the Buddha dismisses Ven. Upavāṇa so as to honor the desire of the devas who want to see him in his last hour; and he sends Ven. Ānanda into Kusinārā to inform the lay people there so that they too will be able to see him in his last hour. His motive here may be similar to that given for encouraging the building of a burial mound dedicated to him: seeing him will help human & heavenly beings brighten their minds, and that will be for their long-term welfare & happiness. Thus the attitudes expressed on this topic in the Pali Canon, when taken in their entirety, are more complex than is generally recognized.

45. Reading chinna-pada with the Thai edition.

46. The desire to have one’s name announced to a holy person appears to have been a part of pre-Buddhist devotional practice in India. This passage, along with others in the Canon (see, for example, MN 89), indicates that it was quickly adopted into Buddhist devotional practice as well. It lived on in later Buddhist practice in the custom of having the donor’s name inscribed in bas-reliefs and other offerings placed near or on a stupa, even in locations where the name would not be visible to human eyes.

47. The commentary notes that Subhadda makes this statement based on non-Buddhist practices he knew from his previous sectarian affiliation.

48. The Cullavagga (XI.9) tells of how the monks at the First Council could not agree on which rules should be classed as lesser & minor. Ven. Ānanda himself confessed that he neglected to ask the Buddha on this point. One of the monks made a motion that—because many of the rules affect the laity, and the laity would look down on the monks for rescinding them after the Buddha’s death—none of the rules should be rescinded. This motion was adopted by the Council.

49. A monk named Channa is depicted at several spots in the Vinaya as despising all other monks on the grounds that “The Buddha is mine, the Dhamma is mine, it was by my young master that the Dhamma was realized.” (Saṅghādisesa 12) This would fit in with the post-canonical tradition identifying Channa as the horseman who accompanied the young Prince Siddhartha on the night of the latter’s Great Renunciation. Two rules in the Vinaya—Saṅghādisesa 12 & Pācittiya 12—depict him as devious & impossible to admonish. Cv.XI reports events after the Parinibbāna, telling of how news of the brahma-penalty shocked Channa to his senses. As a result, he changed his ways and eventually became an arahant. As Ven. Ānanda then explains in that passage, the brahma-penalty was automatically lifted at the moment of Ven. Channa’s final attainment. SN 22:90 tells a different version of how Ven. Channa changed his attitude and broke through to the Dhamma.

50. Ven. Ānanda, assuming that the Buddha has passed away, addresses Ven. Anuruddha—his senior—as “venerable sir,” in line with the Buddha’s instructions.

51. This is one of the earthquakes forecast in Part III.

52. See AN 5:49 and AN 5:57.

53. This apparently refers to the devas who are non-returners, living in the Pure Abodes.

54. A different Subhadda from the Buddha’s last direct-witness disciple.

55. In Cullavagga XI.1, Ven. Mahā Kassapa cites this statement as good reason to hold a council for standardizing the Dhamma & Vinaya “before what is not-dhamma shines out and dhamma is obscured, before what is not-discipline shines out and discipline is obscured; before those who speak what is not-dhamma become strong and those who speak what is dhamma become weak; before those who speak what is not-discipline become strong and those who speak what is discipline become weak.” Thus the First Council was held during the Rains retreat following the Buddha’s Parinibbāna.

56. The commentary notes that Ven. Mahā Kassapa entered the fourth jhāna, which he used as the basis for a feat of psychic power so that the Buddha’s feet would appear out of their extensive wrappings.

57. Up to this point in the narrative, the Buddha’s body is called a sarīra (singular). Here the noun becomes plural—with the meaning of “relics”—and remains plural for the remainder of the narrative.

58. According to the Commentary, this closing poem was added to the sutta by elder monks in Sri Lanka. The Thai, Sri Lankan, and Burmese editions end the sutta with a further, fairly anticlimactic, verse that appears to be an even later composition:

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