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Supplemental materials gathered primarily from The Pali Text Society's Dictionary of Pali Proper Names and The Psalms of the Early Buddhists, used with permission.
[258] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who first took Refuge (saranam gacchantinam) is Sujata Senanidhita.
(DPPN: Daughter of Senani, a landowner of the village of Senani near Uruvela. She made a promise to the god of the Banyan-tree near by that she would offer a meal of milk-rice to the god if she gave birth to a son. Her wish was fulfilled, the son was born, and she sent her maid, Punna, to prepare the place for the offering. This was on the very day of the Buddha’s Enlightenment, and Punna, finding Gotama sitting under the Banyan, thought that he was the tree-god present in person to receive the offering. She brought the news to Sujata, who, in great joy, brought the food in a golden bowl and offered it to him. Gotama took the bowl to the river bank, bathed at the Suppatitthita ford and ate the food. This was his only meal for forty-nine days (J.i.68).
Sujata’s meal was considered one of the most important of those offered to the Buddha, and the devas, therefore, added to it divine flavors.
Yasa was Sujata’s son, and when he attained arahantship his father, who had come in search of him, became the Buddha’s follower and invited him to a meal. The Buddha accepted the invitation and went with Yasa to the house. The Buddha preached at the end of the meal, and both Sujata and Yasa’s wife became sotapannas. On that day Sujata took the threefold formula of Refuge. She thus became foremost among lay women who had taken the threefold formula.
[There is something not right about this story. If Sujata’s son was an early Arahant (becoming such at Isipatana in the Deer Park while still a layman -- I believe he was the sixth to enter the Order) and his father the first of laymen to take the full 3 refuges -- Tapassu and Bhalluka only took the first two), then it is difficult to place Sujata as the new mother of Yasa at the time of the Buddha’s enlightenment. But the fact that Yasa was Sujata’s son is apparently only claimed by the commentary.]
[259] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who is a giver (dayikanam) is Visakha Migaramata (Migara’s Mother).
(DPPN: The chief among the female lay disciples of the Buddha and declared by him to be foremost among those who ministered to the Order (dayikanam). Her father was Dhananjaya, son of Mendaka, and her mother Sumana. She was born in the city of Bhaddiya in Anga. When she was seven years old, the Buddha visited Bhaddiya with a large company of monks, out of compassion for the brahmin Sela and others. Mendaka gave Visakha five hundred companions, five hundred slaves, and five hundred chariots, that she might visit the Buddha. She stopped the chariots some distance away and approached the Buddha on foot. He preached to her and she became a sotapanna. For the next fortnight Mendaka invited the Buddha and his monks daily to his house, where he fed them.
Later, when, at Pasenadi’s request, Bimbisara sent Dhananjaya to live in Kosala, Visakha accompanied her parents and lived in Saketa. The messengers, sent by Migara of Savatthi to find a suitable bride for his son Pannavaddhana, saw Visakha on her way to the lake to bathe on a feast-day. At that moment there was a great shower. Visakha’s companions ran for shelter, but Visakha herself, walking at her usual pace, came to the place where the messengers, already greatly impressed, were awaiting her. When they asked her why she did not run to seek shelter and so preserve her clothes, she answered that she had plenty of clothes in the house, but that if she ran she might damage a limb which would be a great loss. "Unmarried girls," she said, "are like goods awaiting sale, they must not be disfigured." The messengers offered her a bouquet of flowers, which she accepted as a proposal of marriage, and then went onto her father’s house. The messengers followed and laid Punnavaddhana’s suit before Dhananjaya. The proposal was accepted and confirmed by an exchange of letters.
When Pasenadi heard of it, he offered to accompany Punnavaddhana to Saketa, as a mark of signal favor. Dhananjaya welcomed the king and his retinue, Migara, Punnavaddhana and their followers, with all honor, attending personally to all the details of hospitality. He persuaded the king to stay with him during the rains, providing all that was necessary. Five hundred goldsmiths were engaged to make the Mahalatapasadhana (ornament) for the bride; three months passed, but it was still unfinished. The supply of firewood ran out, and orders were given that the wood of dilapidated houses should be used. This wood lasted for a fortnight, and then the storehouses containing clothes were opened, the cloths soaked in oil and used for cooking the food. The ornament was finished in four months.
Dhananjaya gave his daughter, as dowry, five hundred carts full of money, five hundred with vessels of gold, five hundred each of silver, copper, various silks, ghee, rice husked and winnowed; also ploughs, ploughshares, and other farm implements, five hundred carts with three slave women in each, everything being provided for them. The cattle given by him filled an enclosure three quarters of a league in length and eight rods across, standing shoulder to shoulder, and in addition to these, sixty thousand bulls and sixty thousand milch cows escaped from their stalls and joined the heard already gifted to her [this likely no accident, but a staged show of indifference to wealth--mo]. . .
On the following day Dhananjaya appointed eight householders to be sponsors to his daughter and to enquire into any charges which might be brought against her. When she left, Dhananjaya allowed any inhabitants of his fourteen tributary villages to accompany her if they so wished. As a result the villages were left empty; but Migara, fearing that he should have to feed them, drove most of them back. Visakha entered Savatthi standing in her chariot, so that all might see her glory. The citizens showered gifts on her, but these she distributed among the people.
Migara was a follower of the Niganthas, and soon after Visakha’s arrival in his house, he sent for them and told her to minister to them. But Visakha, repulsed by their nudity, refused to pay them homage. The Niganthas urged that she should be sent away, but Migara bided his time. One day, as Migara was eating, while Visakha stood fanning him, a monk was seen standing outside his house. Visakha stood aside, that Migara might see him, but as Migara continued to eat without noticing the monk, she said to the latter, "Pass on, Sir, my father-in-law eats stale fare." Migara was angry and threatened to send her away, but, at her request, the matter was referred to her sponsors. They enquired into the several charges brought against her and adjudged her not guilty. Visakha then gave orders that preparations should be made for her return to her parents. But Migara begged her forgiveness which she granted, on condition that he would invite to the house the Buddha and his monks. This he did, but, owing to the influence of the Niganthas, he left Visakha to entertain them, and only consented to hear the Buddha’s sermon at the end of the meal from behind a curtain. At the conclusion of this sermon, however, he became a sotapanna. His gratitude towards Visakha was boundless; henceforth she was to be considered as his mother and to receive all the honor due to a mother; from this time onwards she was called Migrarmata. Migara got made for her everyday use an ornament called ghanamatthaka, at a cost of one hundred thousand. On the day of the presentation of this ornament, Migara held for her a special festival in her honor, and she was made to bathe in sixteen pots of perfumed water.
Visakha had ten sons and ten daughters, each of whom had a similar number of children, and so on down to the fourth generation. Before her death, at the age of one hundred and twenty, she had eighty-four thousand and twenty direct lineal descendents, all living. She herself kept, all her life, the appearance of a girl of sixteen. She had the strength of five elephants, and it is said that once she took the trunk of an elephant, which was sent to test her, between her two fingers and forced him back on his haunches. Visakha owned such a great reputation for bringing good fortune that the people of Savatthi always invited her to their houses on festivals and holidays.
Visakha fed five hundred monks daily at her house. In the afternoon she visited the Buddha, and, after listening to his sermon, would go round the monastery inquiring into the needs of the monks and nuns. . . Visakha begged for, and was granted, eight boons by the Buddha: that as long as she lived she be allowed to give robes to the members of the order for the rainy season; food for monks coming into Savatthi; food for those going out; food for the sick; food for those who wait on the sick; medicine for the sick; a constant supply of rice-gruel for any needing it; and bathing robes for the nuns.
With the construction of the Migaramatupasada [Migara’s Mother’s terraced abode -- most often translated "The Palace of Migara’s Mother"] in the Pubbarama Visakha’s ambitions were fulfilled, and it is said that when the monastery was completed and the festival of opening in progress, as the evening drew on she walked round the monastery accompanied by her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren, and in five stanzas sang her joy, saying ‘Now is entirely fulfilled the prayer which I prayed in times of yore.’
The monks herd her sing and told the Buddha; he related to them how, in the time of Padumuttara Buddha, Visakha had been the friend of the principal women benefactors of that Buddha. In the time of Kassapa Buddha she was Sanghadasi, youngest of the seven daughters of Kiki, and for long after her marriage she gave alms and performed other good works with her sisters.
According to the Viharavimanavatthu, Visakha was born, after death among the Nimmanaratideva [The Gods of Creation] as the consort of the deva-king Sunimmita. Buddhaghosa says that Visakha, like Sakka and Anathapindika, will enjoy one hundred and thirty-one kappas of happiness in the Brahma worlds before she finally passes away into Nibbana.
The books contain numerous suttas preached by the Buddha to Visakha during her frequent visits to him, chief among such suttas being the famous discourse on the keeping of the Uposatha[A.i.205], the discourse of the eight qualities which win for women power in this world and power and happiness in the next[A.iv.269], and eight qualities which win for a woman birth among the Manapakayika-devas[A.iv.267] [The Gods of Lovely Form -- able to assume any color radiance, produce any sound, and obtain any happiness -- with a SNAP of the fingers.]
[260] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who has heard much (bahussutanam) is Khujjuttara.
(DPPN: She was born of a nurse in the house of the banker Ghosita, and later became a slave of Queen Samavati. The queen gave her daily the eight pieces of money allowed to her by the king for the purchase of flowers. Khujjuttara bought flowers with four pieces from the gardener Sumana, the remaining four pieces she kept. One day the Buddha visited Sumana, and Khujjuttara, having heard the Buddha preach to him, became a sotapanna. That day she spent the whole amount on flowers. The queen asked her how she had obtained so many, and she told her the whole story. From that time Samavati showed Khujjuttara all honor, bathed her in perfumed water, and heard the Dhamma from her. Khujjuttara became, as it were, a mother to Samavati, and going regularly to hear the Dhamma, would return and preach it to her and her five hundred attendant women. Under the instruction of Khujjuttara they all became sotapannas. When Samavati expressed a desire to see the Buddha, Khujjuttara suggested that she should pierce holes in the walls of the palace and gaze on the Buddha as he passed along the street. After the death of Samavati, Khujjuttara seems to have spent all here time in religious works, listening to the preaching of the Dhamma. The Buddha declared her foremost among lay women by reason of her extensive knowledge (bahussutanam).
[261] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who lives in Friendly Vibrations (mettaviharinam) is Samavati.
(DPPN: One of the three chief consorts of King Udena. She was the daughter of the setthi Bhaddavatiya of Bhaddavati, who was a friend of Ghosaka of Kosambi. When plague broke out in Bhaddavati, she and her parents fled to Kosambi, and there obtained food from the alms-hall provided by Ghosaka. On the first day Samavati asked for three portions, on the second two, on the third only one. For her father had died after the meal on the first day, her mother on the second. When, on the third day, she asked for only one portion, Mitta, who was distributing alms, teased her, saying: "Today you know the capacity of your belly." She asked what he meant, and when he explained his words, she told him what had happened. Mitta pitied her and adopted her as his daughter.
One day, when she arrived at the refectory, she found a great uproar going on, people rushing everywhere to get alms. She asked to be allowed to bring order into this chaos, and had a fence erected round the refectory with separate doors for entrance and exit. This put an end to the disturbances. Ghosaka, hearing no noise in the refectory as before, inquired the reason, and, finding out what Samavati had done, adopted her as his own child. Samavati’s original name was Sama, but after building the fence (vati) round the refectory she was called Samavati.
On a festival day Udena saw Samavati going to the river to bathe, and, falling in love with her, asked Ghosaka to send her to the palace. But Ghosaka refused, and the king turned him and his wife out of doors and sealed up his house. When Samavati discovered this, she made Ghosaka send her to the palace, and Udena made her his chief consort. Some time afterwards Udena took Magandiya also as consort.
When the Buddha visited Kosambi at the request of Ghosaka, Kukkuta and Pavariya, Khujjutara, the servant-woman of Samavati, heard him preach and became a sotapanna. She had been on her way to the gardener, Sumana, to buy flowers for Samavati, with the eight pieces of money given to her daily by the king for this purpose. On Sumana’s invitation, she had gone to hear the Buddha at his house. On other days she had spent only half the money on flowers, appropriating the rest for herself; but this day, having become a sotapanna, she bought flowers with the whole amount and took them to Samavati, to whom she confessed her story. At Samavati’s request, Khujjuttara repeated to her and her companions the sermon she had heard from the Buddha. After this, she visited the Buddha daily, repeating his sermon to Samavati and her friends. Having learnt that the Buddha passed along the street in which the palace stood, Samavati had holes made in the walls so that she and her friends might see the Buddha and do obeisance to him. Magandiya heard of this during a visit to Samavati’s quarters, and, because of her hatred for the Buddha, she determined to have Samavati punished.
[SIDEBAR: (also from DPPN: Magandiya was a brahmin of the Kuru country. He had a very beautiful daughter, called Magandiya. Many men of high station sought her hand, but the brahmin did not consider them worthy. The Buddha, one day, became aware that both Magandiya and his wife were ready for conversion, so he visited their village (Kammasadamma -- a potter’s village, where several famous suttas were delivered, the foremost being The Satipatthana Sutta) Magandiya saw him, and, noting the auspicious marks on his body, told him of his daughter and begged him to wait til she could be brought. The Buddha said nothing, and Magandiya went home and returned with his wife and daughter arrayed in all splendor. On arriving, they found the Buddha had gone, but his footprint was visible, and Magandiya’s wife, skilled in such matters, said that the owner of such a footprint was free from all passion. But Magandiya paid no attention, and, going a little way, saw the Buddha and offered him his daughter. The Buddha thereupon told them of his past life, his renunciation of the world, his conquest of Mara, and the unsuccessful attempts of Mara’s very beautiful daughters to tempt him. Compared with them, Magandiya was, he said, a corpse, filled with thirty-two impurities, an impure vessel painted without; he would not touch her with his foot. At the end of the discourse, Magandiya and his wife became anagamins (and later left the world, joined the Order and became arahants). Magandiya, was, as you can imagine, somewhat bent out of shape at all this.]
At first her plots miscarried, and Udena, convinced of Samavati’s goodness, gave her a boon, and she chose that the Buddha be invited to visit the palace daily and to preach to her and her friends. But the Buddha sent Ananda instead, and they provided him with food every day and listened to the Law. One day they presented him with five hundred robes given to them by the king, who, at first, was very angry, but on hearing from Ananda that nothing given to the monks was lost, he gave another five hundred robes himself.
In the end, Magandiya’s plot succeeded, and Samavati and her companions were burned to death in their own house. Udena was in his park, and, on his arrival, he found them all dead. When the Buddha was asked, he said that some of the women hat attained to the First Fruit of the Path, others to the second, yet others to the third. It is said that in a previous birth Samavati and her friends had belonged to the harem of the king of Benares. One day they went bathing with the king, and, feeling cold when they came out of the water, they set fire to a tangle of grass near by. When the grass burned down, they found a Pacceka Buddha [Usually translated "Silent Buddha", my understanding that this is an individual who has attained complete self awakening without the direct or indirect aid of a Buddha, but, lacking the extensive training that is part of the awakening process of a Sammasambuddha, a Pacceka Buddha is unable to lead a large following. They are not "Silent," nor are they unable to teach individuals; they simply do not possess the requisites for leading a large following.] seated in the tangle, and fearing that they had burnt him to death, they pulled more grass, which they placed round his body, and, after pouring oil on it, set fire to it so that all traces of their crime might be destroyed. The Pacceka Buddha was in Samadhi and nothing could therefore harm him, but it was this act which brought retribution to Samavati and her companions.
[262] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who has mastered the Burnings (jhayinam) is Uttara Nandamata.
(DPPN: Chief of the lay-women disciples who waited on the Buddha. In the Anguttara Nikaya, she is described as the best of women disciples in the meditative power (jhayinam), but this may refer to another Uttara. She is again mentioned in a list of eminent lay-women disciples, who observed the fast (uposatha) of the eight precepts.
According to the Anguttara Commentary, she was the daughter of Punnasiha (Punnaka) a servitor of Sumana-setthi of Rajagaha. Later, when Punnasihi was made dhana-setthi because of the immense wealth he gained by virtue of a meal given to Sariputta, he held an almsgiving for the Buddha and his monks for seven days. On the seventh day, at the end of the Buddha’s sermon of thanksgiving, Punnasiha, his wife and daughter, all became Sotapanna.
When Sumana-setthi asked for Uttara’s hand for his son, his request was refused because Sumana’s family did not belong to the Buddha’s faith. Punna sent word to Sumana that Uttara was the Buddha’s disciple and daily offered flowers to the Buddha, costing a kahapana. Later, however, when Sumana promised that Uttara should be given flowers worth two kahapanas, Punna agreed and Uttara was married. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain her husband’s permission to keep the fast, as she had done in her parents’ house, she got from her father fifteen thousand kahapanas and with these she purchased the services of a prostitute named Sirima, to look after her husband for a fortnight, and with his consent she entered on a fortnight’s uposatha. On the last day of the fast, while Uttara was busy preparing alms for the Buddha, her husband, walking along with Sirima, saw her working hard and smiled, thinking what a fool she was not to enjoy her wealth. Uttara, seeing him, smiled at the thought of his folly in not making proper use of his wealth. Sirima, thinking that husband and wife were smiling at each other, regardless of her presence, flew into a fury and, seizing a pot of boiling oil, threw it at Uttara’s head. But Uttara was at that time full of compassion for Sirima, and the oil, therefore, did not hurt her at all. Sirima, realizing her grievous folly, begged forgiveness of Uttara, who took her to the Buddha and related the whole story, asking that he should forgive here. The Buddha preached to Sirima and she became a Sotapanna.
After death Uttara was born in Tavatimsa in a vimana [a fantasy palace]. Moggallana saw her in one of his visits to Tavatimsa and, having learnt her story, repeated it to the Buddha.
Uttara’s story is given in the Vissuddhimagga to prove that fire cannot burn the body of a person who lives in love, and again, as an instance of psychic power being diffused by concentration.
[263] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who gives plentiful food (panitadayikanam) is Suppavasa Koliyadhita.
(DPPN: Mother of Sivali. Before he was born, she lay for seven days in labor suffering great pain, and it was not till the Buddha blessed her that she was able to bring forth the child. It is said that the child was seven years in her womb . . .Suppavasa was the daughter of the raja of Koliya. Her husband was the Licchavi Mahali, and she lived in the Koliyan village of Sajjanela, where the Buddha visited her and preached to her on the efficacy of giving food. She was described by the Buddha as foremost among those who gave excellent alms (panitadayikanam). . .
She is included in a list of eminent upasikas, and is mentioned with Anathapindika, Culla Anathapindika and Visakha, as givers of gifts which were gladly accepted by the monks.
[264] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who looks after the sick (gilanupatthakinam) is Suppiya the Upasika.
(DPPN: An upasika of Benares. Her husband was Suppiya, and they were both greatly devoted to the Order. One day, while on a visit to the monastery, Suppiya saw a sick monk who needed a meat broth. On her return home, she sent an attendant to fetch meat; but there was none to be had in the whole of Benares. She therefore, with a knife, cut a piece of flesh from her thigh and gave it to her servant to make into soup for the monk. She then went to her room and lay on her bed. When Suppiya returned and discovered what had happened he was overjoyed, and, going to the monastery, invited the Buddha to a meal the next day. The Buddha accepted the invitation, and when, on the next day, he arrived with his monks, he asked for Suppiya. On hearing that she was ill, he desired that she be brought to see him. At the moment when the Buddha saw her the wound was healed, covered with good skin, on which grew fine hairs as on the rest of her body.
It was as a result of this incident that the Buddha lay down a rule forbidding monks to eat human flesh, even when willingly given.
Suppiya is given as an example of one whose good deeds bore fruit in this very life. She was declared by the Buddha foremost among women who waited on the sick . . .
[265] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who is of uninterrupted faith (aveccappasannanam) is Katiyani.
(DPPN: A lay devotee, declared by the Buddha to be most eminent among women for unwavering loyalty (aveccappasada).
In this age she was born in the city of Kuraraghara and she had a devoted friend called Kali. One day she went with Kali to hear the Thera Sona Kutikanna preach to his mother, and while she was there thieves entered her house. The servant girl, who was sent to fetch oil for lighting the lamps, brought news of the presence of the thieves, but Katiyani refused to leave until the Thera’s sermon should be finished. The leader of the thieves, who had watched the incident, was so pleased with her that he gave orders that all the goods stolen from her house should be restored. At the end of the sermon Katiyani became a sotapanna. The next day the thieves came and asked her forgiveness. She took them to the elder, who ordained them, and there they all became arahants.
[266] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who uses the intimate mode (vissasikanam) is Nakulamata the Gahapatani.
(Her story is given with that of Nakulapita gahapati above.)
[267] At the top, Beggars, of those of my Female Upasakas who realized faith as a consequence of overhearing the word being passed along [not a great translation, I admit! This is really the word which describes the way we are all here picking up the Dhamma, by word of mouth, not by learning face to face with a master] (anussavappasannanam) is Kali upasika Kurara-gharika.
(Called Kururagharika, described among laywomen as the best of those who believe even from hearsay (anussavappasannanam). She was the mother of Sona Kutikanna, and her husband belonged to Kururaghara in Avanti. When with child, she came to her parents in Rajagaha, and there, while enjoying the cool breeze on the balcony above her roof, she overheard the conversation which took place between Satagira and Hemavata on the excellences of the Buddha and of his teaching; as she listened, faith in the Buddha grew in her and she became a sotapanna. That same night Sona was born. Later, Kali returned to Kururughara and there waited on Maha Kaccana. When Sona entered the Order under Kaccana and visited the Buddha, she gave him a costly rug to be spread in the Buddha’s chamber. When Sona returned home after this visit, Kali asked him to preach to her in the same way as he had earlier preached to the Buddha, earning the applause of the Buddha himself and of the devas of the ten thousand worlds.
Kali was considered most senior among the women who became sotapannas. She was the constant companion and staunch friend of Katiyani.
A conversation between her and Maha Kaccana is related in the Kali Sutta.
From: PTS, Woodward, trans., The Book of the Gradual Sayings, The Book of the Tens
Once the venerable Kaccana the Great was staying among the Avanti at Kuraraghara (Ospreys’ Haunt) on a sheer mountain crag.
On that occasion the lay-follower Kali came to see the venerable Kaccana the Great, and on coming to him she saluted him and sat down at one side. So seated she said this to him:
‘Sir, this was said by the Exalted One in The Maiden’s Questions: (Footnote: Answer to the question: ‘Why makest thou no friends among the folk?’ of the personified Tanha at S.i., 126; K.S.i, 158.
On winning of my weal, my peace of heart,
(Routing the host of sweet and pleasant shapes)
Musing alone I have attained to bliss.
Therefore I make no friendship with the folk.
Friendship with anyone is not for me.
Pray, sir, how is the full meaning of this briefly put saying of the Exalted One to be viewed?’
‘Some recluses and brahmins, sister, highly expert in the attainments of the earth-device, have wrought their weal thereby. But the Exalted One has thoroughly comprehended to its utmost reach excellence in the attainment of the earth-device. By thus thoroughly comprehending it the Exalted One saw origination, saw the danger, saw the escape, saw the knowledge and insight into the Way and Not-way.
Some recluses and brahmins, sister, highly expert in the attainment of the water-device . . . the heat-device . . . the air-device . . . the blue-green . . . the yellow . . . the red- . . . the white . . . the space-device . . . the intellection-device [the Dhamma device, the device those of us here are using . . . we can hope], have wrought their weal thereby. But the Exalted One has thoroughly comprehended to its utmost reach excellence in the attainment of the intellection-device; thus thoroughly comprehending he saw the origination, saw the danger, saw the escape, saw the knowledge and insight into the Way and Not-way. As a result of so seeing, the attainment of his weal and peace of heart were seen by him. Thus, sister, as to what was said by the Exalted One in the Maiden’s Questions . . . this is how the full meaning of the Exalted One’s briefly put saying is to be viewed.’
Footnote: Edited from a Discussion of this Sutta:
MO: I believe that for purposes of this discussion the Woodward translation is sufficient.
First, let us establish the context: This sutta is the explanation by Kaccana the Great to Kali of a sutta uttered in brief by The Buddha.
Second, I believe it is safe to say that the phrase "As a result of so seeing, the attainment of his weal and peace of heart were seen by him." Is sufficient to explain why "friendship with the folk, or anyone," is not for the Buddha: It is not through friendship with the folk or anyone that one's weal and peace of heart are attained. [That is, for the Buddha! For the rest of us, friendship with the folk can be foregone, but friendship with the wise is something we would do well to cultivate.]
My statement that: "It is easy to see this sutta as a discussion of the various kasinas, or concentration devices; I think this was just Maha Kaccana's way of describing 'friends' or the ways of practitioners of other systems." Was intended to explain why Maha Kaccana chose to explain why friendships were not for the Buddha by way of explaining the Kasinas. In other words, he took this long way around not to talk about the Kasinas, but to show Kali that "Folks" would all fall into those who attained their satisfactions from one or another of these disciplines and that the Buddha had encompassed and surpassed these and found his satisfaction in the solitary practice of meditation.
Robert: "One aspect suggests the limitations of concentration meditation. That it is still tied to the world, still Dukkha. But the Buddha has fully understood all these meditations and seen them through vipasana insight and the noble truths."
Here the text would not support this argument. It states: ". . . thus thoroughly comprehending [the kasinas] he saw the origination, saw the danger, saw the escape, saw the knowledge and insight into the Way and Not-Way."
This indicates that it was a consequence of his mastery of the different kasinas that he attained his knowledge and [again the word here is not vipasana, it is dassana, seeing] insight into the way, not that he has seen the limitations of the various meditations through knowing and seeing and the Way.
Finally, I am not sure what you have in mind when you speak of concentration meditation. While the kasinas are called in translation "concentration" devices, and their initial use is to enable concentration by focusing the mind on a single object, the nature of that object is always universal: Earth, Water, etc, such that an utterly encompassing comprehension of the device is (in it's broadest sense down to it's deepest roots), (like the "Lessons" given in The Course here), sufficient to lead one to the Goal. In the sutta in brief, the kasinas are not mentioned, what is being spoken of is Jhana, or Burning, which is classified under Samadhi, which is sometimes (I believe erroneously) translated concentration. Concentration (one-pointedness of mind, focus) is an aspect of the Burnings, and therefore of Samadhi, but Samadhi is not limited to concentration. [In the phrase "A Man of View," in the following, "View" is, "Ditthi" and goes beyond the meaning I usually give to this word, that is, hypothetical view, or opinion. This clearly is the attainment of one who knows and sees.]
[268] [XV. 26] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should hold that some Confounded Thing [sankharam] is Permanent [nicca]; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for it to be seen that the Common Man holds some Confounded Thing as Permanent; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[269] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should hold that some Confounded Thing is The Attainment of Bliss [sukha]; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for it to be seen that the Common Man holds some Confounded Thing as The Attainment of Bliss; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[270] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should hold that some Phenomena [dhamma] is The True Self [atta]; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for it to be seen that the Common Man holds some Phenomena as The True Self; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[271] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should deprive his mother of life; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man to deprive his mother of life; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[272] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should deprive his father of life; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man to deprive his father of life; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[273] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should deprive an Arahant of life; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man to deprive an Arahant of life; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[274] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should, with anger in his heart, draw the blood of the Tathagata; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man, with anger in his heart, to draw the blood of the Tathagata; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[275] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should rend the Sangha; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man to rend the Sangha; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[276] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a Man of View should take Another Master (annam sattharam uddiseyya; to indicate, point to, a teacher of different views as fully enlightened or able to lead one to full enlightenment); such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for the Common Man to take another master; in the Common man this is both possible and to be seen.
[277] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that in one single world system, there should simultaneously (apubbam acarimam, not before, not after) arise two Arahant Number One Wide Awakened Ones (sammasambuddhas) [the way I hear it, this means that a new Buddha does not appear before the last vestige of the previous Buddha has died out (there are descriptions of this process; it comes down to one line of the true Dhamma being remembered by one individual, and then it dies out)]; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a single Arahant Number One Wide Awakened One to arise; this is both possible and to be seen.
[278] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that in one single world system, there should simultaneously arise two Really Rolling Dhamma Taking Wheeling Dealing Kings (rajano cakkavatti; Wheel-turning king); such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a single Wheel-turning King to arise; this is both possible and to be seen.
[279] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a woman is an Arahant Number One Wide Awakened One; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a man to become an Arahant Number One Wide Awakened One; this is both possible and to be seen.
[NOTE: It is not here being said that a person who is now a woman could never become a Buddha (or any of the other "Office Holders" that follow. In theory, such a person would "only" need to become a male prior to such a happening: the fact is that this is no easy change to make, and any being capable of making such a change would be more likely to devote the energy to becoming a "simple" Arahant. On the other side of the story, a being destined to become a Buddha will have undergone countless lives as a female. The statement exists that the Buddha’s mother, now residing in the Tussita Realm, is to become a future Buddha. I do not know how the commentaries deal with this. The Tussita Realm is the realm in which future Buddha’s wait their turn. The presumption is that in her descent into her final life in this world she will take birth as a male.]
[280] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a woman is made a Wheel Turning King; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a man to be made a Wheel Turning King; this is both possible and to be seen.
[281] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a woman is made Sakka, King of the Gods, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a man to be made Sakka, King of the Gods, this is both possible and to be seen.
[282] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a woman is made Mara, The Evil One, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a man to be made Mara, The Evil One, this is both possible and to be seen.
[283] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that a woman is made Brahma, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for a man to be made Brahma, this is both possible and to be seen.
[284] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Bodily Bad Conduct, should ripen to a welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Bodily Bad Conduct to ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[285] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Bad Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech, should ripen to a welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Bad Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech to ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[286] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Mental Bad Conduct, should ripen to a welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Mental Bad Conduct to ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[287] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Bodily Good Conduct, should ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Bodily Good Conduct to ripen to a welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[288] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Good Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech, should ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Good Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech to ripen to an welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[289] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that Mental Good Conduct, should ripen to an unwelcome, unpleasurable, unpleasing outcome; such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for Mental Good Conduct to ripen to an welcome, pleasurable, pleasing outcome; this is both possible and to be seen.
[290] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Bodily Bad Conduct should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth in a pleasant location, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Bodily Bad Conduct to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in an unpleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
[NOTE: The first idea here is that of habitual practice. While even a single unskillful act will have unpleasant kammic consequences, the outcome in terms of rebirth is largely dictated by the views and actions of the final moments, those, in turn, are most likely to be those which are habitually practiced by the individual. Think in terms of how you react to a sudden stress, an emergency, when overpowered by lust or anger or hunger, and so forth. The second idea here is that, in any case, it will not be because of an unskillful action that a good rebirth is found.]
[291] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Bad Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth in a pleasant location, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Bad Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in an unpleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
[292] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Mental Bad Conduct should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth in a pleasant location, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Mental Bad Conduct to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in an unpleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
[293] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Bodily Good Conduct should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth down the drain, in the way of Woe, The Second Fall, or Where the Sun Don’t shine, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Bodily Good Conduct to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in a pleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
[294] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Good Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth down the drain, in the way of Woe, The Second Fall, or Where the Sun Don’t shine, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Good Conduct in Word-Thought-and-Speech to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in a pleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
[295] It is impossible, Beggars, it cannot come to be that one’s downbound burning devotion to Mental Good Conduct should, at the breakup of the elements at death, be the cause of rebirth down the drain, in the way of Woe, The Second Fall, or Where the Sun Don’t shine, such a thing is not possible and is not to be seen.
It is possible, however, Beggars, for one’s downbound burning devotion to Mental Good Conduct to be the cause, at the breakup of the elements at death, of rebirth in a pleasant location, this is both possible and to be seen.
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