The first recitation section, on the allowances for medicines, is finished.

1. This incident is also reported in the origin story to Pc 46

1. Apparently divā here means late in the morning, otherwise the monks wouldn’t be able to receive the food anyway.

1.‘Making allowable’ here refers to cutting, etc., not to formally offering.

1. The fact that there would be none available on a non-killing day seems to indicate that butchers didn’t store meat overnight, but slaughtered animals as needed—which makes sense in a time without refrigeration. There is a parallel term, pavattaphala: ‘natural fruit’, which means fruit that has fallen from the tree. But if pavattamaṁsaṁ meant ‘meat from an animal that died of natural causes’, then the fact that it was a non-killing day wouldn’t make any difference.

2. According to the Commentary, an order had been sent out that killing was not allowed that day.

The second recitation section, on Suppiya, is finished.

1. In other words, watch and take note of what people are offering.

respectfully, on occasions,

to those restrained ones,

consumers of the gifts of others,

Life and beauty, ease and strength;

hunger, thirst, and wind are driven out;

cleansed are his intestines, digested his food.

This medicine is praised by the Well-gone One.

by one aiming at human happiness,

or desiring heavenly pleasures,

or wanting human prosperity.

1. Apparently this word means to give them even more than they would politely accept.

1. Note that they don’t bow or circumambulate the Blessed One.

a wise person makes his dwelling,

—there providing food

for the virtuous,

the restrained,

leaders of the holy life—

to the devas there.

They, receiving honor, will honor him;

being respected, will show him respect.

like that of a mother for her child, her son.

A person with whom the devas sympathize

always meets with auspicious things.”

1. The order of events here is the reverse of DN 16: There he sees the people afterwards.

having made a bridge, avoiding the swamps

—while people are binding rafts—

intelligent people

have already crossed.”

as they have come to be—

of the four noble truths,

we have wandered a long time

simply in these births & those.

the guide to becoming is removed,

crushed is the root of suffering & stress.

There is now no further-becoming.”

1. The order of events is switched here too—in DN 16 he goes to Nādika before meeting Ambapālī. They must be near each other, and it may be that ‘staying as long as he liked’ is this case means he spent the afternoon in Koṭi village and then walked over to Nādika in the evening.

The Recitation Section on the Licchavis is finished.

1. This word also has the literal meaning, ‘non-doing’, which the Buddha will play with below. In fact, at AN 3:26, the Buddha argues that the Nigaṇṭha doctrine of action is actually a doctrine of inaction. Also, cf. Upāli story in MN 56.

1. The noun ‘vāda’ (doctrine) is derived from the verb here, ‘vadāmi’ (declare). It could also be translated ‘teaching of inaction’ and ‘I teach inaction’.

1. The term ‘ayya’ is usually a form of address for one of a higher social status, and thus has been translated as ‘master’. Here it seems unlikely that the man is of higher social status than General Sīha, so ‘mister’ seems more appropriate.

1. 1 doṇa = 4 aḷhaka.

1. Apparently this was an idiom for fresh milk and the stream refers to the stream of milk coming out of the udder. The Burmese edition has taruṇena, meaning ‘fresh’.

the Sāvitti1, the chief of Vedic hymns2,

a king, chief among human beings,

the ocean, chief among rivers,

1. This is apparently a reference to Ṛgveda iii, 62, 10, an invocation addressed to Sāvitrī, or the Sun:

tat savitur vareṇ(i)yaṁ

bhargo devasya dhīmahi

dhiyo yo nah pracodayāt

“Let us meditate on the glory

of the excellent deva Sāvitrī,

that he may inspire our thoughts.”

This verse, in the Gāvitrī meter, is recited during the upanayana ceremony, when a young brahman is invested with the sacred thread that initiates him into the status of a “twice-born” brahman and he begins his study of the Vedas. Although similar passages were recited when young men of other castes began their education, Ṛgveda iii, 62, 10 was reserved exclusively for brahmans. It was also the subject of many meditations on its esoteric meaning, some of which can be found in the major Upaniṣads: Bṛhad-āraṇyaka 6.3.6; śvetāśvatara 4.18; and Maitrī 6.7 and 6.34.

SnA suggests that the Buddha’s question about this verse surprises Sundarika, making him suspect that the Buddha knows more about brahmanical lore than he does, which is why he changes his tone with the following question. SnA also asserts that the Buddhist equivalent to the Sāvitti—three lines, 24 syllables—is the expression of homage to the Triple Gem: Buddhaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi, Dhammaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi, Saṅghaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi.

2. Chandas. This term normally means “meter,” but it also means Vedic hymn. [BMC]

the sun, chief of things that burn, Dhp 387

and for those who sacrifice, wishing for merit,

the Saṅgha, truly, is chief.”

1. This parallels the origin story to NP 10

1. According to the Sub-commentary, he means for them to cut people’s hair so that they will offer these ingredients.

1. yāma usually refers to one of the three watches of the night. Here it means from noon until the following dawn.

Here, in the case of right-time (food), night-watch-time (juice), and (tonics) that have gone past seven days, offenses should be understood to be under the rules againt (consuming) staple food at the wrong time (Pc 37) and the rule against (keeping) tonics past seven days (NP 23). Of these four time-(categories), “right-time (food) and night-watch-time (juice)”: Just this pair is (potentially) stored indoors and stored-up. It’s allowable to keep a seven-day (tonic) and lifetime (medicine) even not in a food-storage hut, and it doesn’t produce [i.e., count as] storing-up.

The Medicine Khandhaka, the sixth, is finished.

In this khandhaka there are 106 cases.

tallow, along with roots, also ground,

with astringent-decoctions—leaves, fruit,

resin, salt, and dung.

ointment, powdered,

an ointment box, fancy, open,

a stick, a stick-case.

oil for the head, and a nose-treatment,

a nose-tube and smoke,

a (smoke-inhaling) tube, lid, bag.

too much put in, rubbing oil,

a flask, sweat, and ingredients,

as well as a great hemp-water.

moxibustion, foot-rub,

foot-salve, a knife, and an astringent,

sesame paste, a compress.

fumigating, and with a salt crystal,

wound-oil, an old piece of cloth,

and filthy things, received.

an alkaline,

urine and yellow myrobalan,

scents and a purgative,

clarified, clear, slightly thick.

a monastery attendant, and for seven days,

sugar lumps, green-gram, and loṇasocīraka,

cooked by oneself, and reheated.

fruit, sesame, and non-staple food,

before the meal, a body-inflammation,

spit-out, a hemorrhoid.

human flesh,

elephant, horse, and dog,

snake, lion, tiger, and leopard.

a turn, and conjey,

newly confident, a certain place,

sugar lumps,

Sunīdha, the rest-house.

the Discussion of the Truths at Koṭi

Ambapālī and the Licchavis,

made for him,

well-stocked with food again,

he rescinded them.

products of the cow, with provisions,

Keṇiya, mango, rose-apple, seed-banana,

seedless banana, madhu, grape, water-lily.

at Ātumā, the barber,

at Sāvatthī, fruit, seed,

under what condition,

and in the right time.