Dighanikaya 13.555

13.555

Ullumpatu bhavaṃ gotamoti uddharatu bhavaṃ gotamo. Brāhmaṇiṃ pajanti brāhmaṇadārakaṃ, bhavaṃ gotamo mama brāhmaṇaputtaṃ apāyamaggato uddharitvā brahmalokamagge patiṭṭhapetūti attho. Athassa bhagavā buddhuppādaṃ dassetvā saddhiṃ pubbabhāgapaṭipadāya mettāvihārādibrahmalokagāmimaggaṃ desetukāmo ‘‘tena hi vāseṭṭhā’’tiādimāha. Tattha ‘‘idha tathāgato’’tiādi sāmaññaphale vitthāritaṃ. Mettāsahagatenātiādīsu yaṃ vattabbaṃ, taṃ sabbaṃ visuddhimagge brahmavihārakammaṭṭhānakathāyaṃ vuttaṃ. Seyyathāpi vāseṭṭha balavā saṅkhadhamotiādi pana idha apubbaṃ. Tattha balavāti balasampanno. Saṅkhadhamoti saṅkhadhamako. Appakasirenāti akicchena adukkhena. Dubbalo hi saṅkhadhamo saṅkhaṃ dhamantopi na sakkoti catasso disā sarena viññāpetuṃ, nāssa saṅkhasaddo sabbato pharati. Balavato pana vipphāriko hoti, tasmā ‘‘balavā’’tiādimāha. Mettāya cetovimuttiyāti ettha mettāti vutte upacāropi appanāpi vaṭṭati, ‘‘cettovimuttī’’ti vutte pana appanāva vaṭṭati. Yaṃ pamāṇakataṃ kammanti pamāṇakataṃ kammaṃ nāma kāmāvacaraṃ vuccati. Appamāṇakataṃ kammaṃ nāma rūpārūpāvacaraṃ. Tañhi pamāṇaṃ atikkamitvā odissakaanodissakadisāpharaṇavasena vaḍḍhetvā katattā appamāṇakatanti vuccati. Na taṃ tatrāvasissati na taṃ tatrāvatiṭṭhatīti taṃ kāmāvacarakammaṃ tasmiṃ rūpāvacarārūpāvacarakamme na ohīyati, na tiṭṭhati. Kiṃ vuttaṃ hoti – taṃ kāmāvacarakammaṃ tassa rūpārūpāvacarakammassa antarā laggituṃ vā ṭhātuṃ vā rūpārūpāvacarakammaṃ pharitvā pariyādiyitvā attano okāsaṃ gahetvā patiṭṭhātuṃ na sakkoti. Atha kho rūpāvacarārūpāvacarakammameva kāmāvacaraṃ mahogho viya parittaṃ udakaṃ pharitvā pariyādiyitvā attano okāsaṃ gahetvā tiṭṭhati. Tassa vipākaṃ paṭibāhitvā sayameva brahmasahabyataṃ upanetīti. Evaṃvihārīti evaṃ mettādivihārī.

"May the master Gotama lift up" means may the master Gotama raise up. "The brahmin generation" means the young brahmin; the meaning is: may the master Gotama raise my brahmin son up from the path to states of deprivation and establish him on the path to the Brahmā realm. Then, wishing to show the arising of a Buddha together with the preliminary path, and to teach the path leading to the Brahmā realm beginning with abiding in loving-kindness, the Blessed One said: "Well then, Vāseṭṭha," and so on. In that passage, "Here a Tathāgata..." and so forth have been elaborated in the Sāmaññaphala Sutta. Whatever should be said in passages beginning with "with a mind accompanied by loving-kindness" has all been said in the Visuddhimagga in the explanation of the meditation subjects of the divine abodes. However, the passage beginning with "Just as, Vāseṭṭha, a strong conch-blower..." is new here. There, "strong" means endowed with strength. "A conch-blower" is one who blows a conch. "With little difficulty" means without trouble, without hardship. For a weak conch-blower, even while blowing a conch, is unable to make it known in the four directions with his voice, nor does the sound of his conch pervade everywhere. But that of a strong one is far-reaching; therefore he said "strong" and so forth. In "liberation of mind through loving-kindness," when "loving-kindness" is spoken of here, both access [concentration] and absorption are applicable; but when "liberation of mind" is spoken of, only absorption is applicable. "Whatever action has been done with a limit": that which is done with a limit refers to [action] belonging to the sense sphere. Action that is measureless refers to [action] belonging to the fine-material and immaterial spheres. For, having overcome that limit, having expanded it by way of specified and unspecified pervasion of directions, it has been done, and is therefore called "measureless." "It does not remain there, it does not persist there" means that that sense-sphere action does not lag behind in that fine-material or immaterial action, nor does it remain. What is meant? That sense-sphere action is not able to cling or stand in the midst of that fine-material or immaterial action, nor can it pervade and exhaust that fine-material or immaterial action, take its place, and remain established. Rather, it is the fine-material and immaterial action alone that, like a great flood over a little water, pervades and exhausts the sense-sphere [action], takes its place, and persists. Having obstructed its result, it leads on its own to companionship with Brahmā. "One who abides thus" means one who abides thus in loving-kindness and the rest.