Samyuttanikaya 12.7.1: 1. Assutavāsuttavaṇṇanā

In the first [discourse] of the Great Division: 'unlearned' means devoid of learning, questioning, and discerning concerning the aggregates, elements, sense bases, dependent origination, foundations of mindfulness, and so forth. 'An ordinary person': one is an ordinary person (puthujjana) because of producing various, manifold defilements and so forth. For this has been said: 'They are ordinary persons because they produce manifold defilements'—all this should be elaborated. Moreover, one is an ordinary person because of being included among the many persons beyond enumeration, who have their backs turned on the noble Dhamma and engage in base practices; or one is an ordinary person because one is reckoned as separate, disconnected from the noble persons endowed with qualities such as virtue and learning. Thus, of those who are described by these two words 'unlearned ordinary person'—

'Two ordinary persons have been spoken of
by the Buddha, the Kinsman of the Sun:
one is the blind ordinary person,
and one is the noble ordinary person'—

between the two ordinary persons spoken of, the blind ordinary person is meant here. 'In this': he points to this present, visible body. 'Composed of the four great elements': in the body of the four great elements; the meaning is: born of the four great elements, made of the four great elements. 'Might become disenchanted': might become weary. 'Might become dispassionate': might not lust. 'Might be liberated': might desire to be freed. 'Growth' is increase. 'Decline' is loss. 'Uptake' is birth. 'Laying down' is dissolution.

'Therefore': because these four—increase, loss, birth, and dissolution—are evident, therefore, on account of that, is the meaning. Thus, the Blessed One made form in this body composed of the four great elements seem unsuitable for grasping, while making the formless seem suitable for grasping. Why? Because those bhikkhus had a strong, excessive attachment to form; therefore, showing that their grasp on form was something to be comprehended, and drawing them away [from it], he spoke thus in order to establish them in the formless.

'Mind' and so forth are all designations for the mind base itself. For it is called 'mind' (citta) because of being a varied basis, having varied objects, and having varied associated states; 'intellect' (mano) in the sense of measuring; and 'consciousness' (viññāṇa) in the sense of cognizing. 'Is not fit': is not capable. 'Clung to': swallowed and thoroughly grasped through craving. 'Cherished': grasped as 'this is mine' through the possessiveness of craving. 'Misapprehended': grasped through misapprehension by wrong view. 'This is mine' is the grasp of craving; by that, the hundred and eight ways of craving's roaming are grasped. 'This I am' is the grasp of conceit; by that, the nine conceits are grasped. 'This is my self' is the grasp of wrong view; by that, the sixty-two wrong views are grasped. 'Therefore': because it has been grasped thus for a long time, therefore one is not capable of becoming disenchanted.

Why did he say, 'Better, bhikkhus'? First, indeed, he made form seem unsuitable for grasping and the formless seem suitable; then, knowing that 'the grasp of those bhikkhus has departed from form and gone to the formless,' in order to draw it away, he undertook this teaching. There, 'might assume as self': might take as self. 'Even longer': even beyond a hundred years. But why did the Blessed One say this? Does form really last for more than a hundred years? Indeed, does not form occurring in the first stage of life fail to reach the middle stage of life? Does not that occurring in the middle stage of life fail to reach the last stage of life; that occurring before a meal fail to reach after the meal; that occurring after a meal fail to reach the first watch; that occurring in the first watch fail to reach the middle watch; and that occurring in the middle watch fail to reach the last watch? Likewise, that occurring in walking does not reach standing; that occurring in standing does not reach sitting; that occurring in sitting does not reach lying down. Even in a single posture, [form] occurring in lifting the foot does not reach carrying forward; that occurring in carrying forward does not reach moving sideways; that occurring in moving sideways does not reach lowering; that occurring in lowering does not reach placing down; that occurring in placing down does not reach resting down; right there, at each limit, in each section, conditioned phenomena break up crackling like sesame seeds thrown onto a hot griddle, do they not? That is true. But just as the light born of a burning lamp does not go beyond that particular section of the wick, but breaks up right there, yet by virtue of the continuity of the series it is said, 'The lamp burned all night'—so here too, by virtue of continuity, this body is shown as if it were long-lasting.

'By night and by day': during the night and during the day. For this genitive case is used in the sense of the locative. 'One arises and another ceases': what arises and ceases at night is one thing, and what arises and ceases by day is quite another—this is the meaning. But the meaning should not be taken as: 'One arises, and another ceases without having arisen.' 'By night and by day' is said only by virtue of continuity, taking a continuity that is smaller than the previous continuity; but no single mind is able to endure for a single night or a single day. For in a single snap of the fingers, many hundreds of thousands of koṭis of mind-moments arise. And this has also been said in the Questions of Milinda:

'If, great king, a cartload of rice grains, and half a cūḷa-load of carts, and seven ambaṇa-measures of rice grains, and two tumba-measures—if that many rice grains were marked one by one for the mind-moments occurring in a single snap of the fingers, they would be depleted and exhausted.'

"In the woodland" means in a great forest. "Letting go of that, it grasps another; letting go of that, it grasps another"—by this it is shown that it does not descend to the ground failing to find a branch to grasp. Rather, as it roams about in that great forest, it moves about continually grasping one branch after another: this is the meaning shown.

"Just so": here this is the application of the simile—for the forest of sense objects is to be understood like a great wild forest. The mind arising in the forest of sense objects is like the monkey roaming in that forest. Attachment to a sense object is like grasping a branch. Just as that monkey roaming in the forest, letting go of one branch after another, grasps another branch, so too this mind roaming in the forest of sense objects arises grasping sometimes a visual object, sometimes one of the sounds and so forth, sometimes the past, sometimes the future or the present, and likewise sometimes the internal, sometimes the external. And just as that monkey roaming in the forest cannot be said to have descended and sat on the ground without finding a branch, but rather sits only having grasped a leafy branch, even so the mind roaming in the forest of sense objects cannot be said to have arisen without finding an object to cling to, but rather it should be understood that it arises only having grasped an object of one kind or another. And thus the Blessed One, having removed attachment to the material, established it on the immaterial, and having removed attachment to the immaterial, established it on the material.

Now, wishing to pull [their grasp] away from both, he began the teaching: "Here, bhikkhus, an instructed noble disciple…" This meaning, however, should be illustrated by the simile of one bitten by a venomous snake: a man, it is said, was bitten by a venomous snake. Then a skilled physician, thinking, "I will remove his poison," arrived, induced vomiting, and reciting the mantra "Below the garuḷa, above the nāga," drove the poison upward. Knowing that it had ascended as far as the region of the eyes, he thought, "I will not allow it to climb higher than this; I will make it stay right at the bitten place." Reciting the mantra "Above the garuḷa, below the nāga," blowing into his ear, and striking with a stick, he brought the poison down and placed it right at the bitten place. Knowing that it had settled there, he crushed the poison with an antidote paste, bathed him, said, "Be well," and departed wherever he wished.

Here, the time when these bhikkhus had excessive grasping after the material is like the venom taking hold in the body of the one bitten by a venomous snake. The Tathāgata is like the skilled physician. The time when the Tathāgata, having removed their grasping from the material, established it on the immaterial is like the time when [the physician], reciting the mantra, drove the poison upward. The time when the Teacher, having removed these bhikkhus' grasping from the immaterial, established it on the material is like preventing the venom that had ascended as far as the eye region from climbing further upward, bringing it back down by the power of the mantra, and placing it right at the bitten place. The time when this teaching was begun in order to remove their grasp from both is to be understood as like crushing the venom remaining at the bitten place with an antidote paste. There, by "being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate," the path is stated; by "through dispassion, he is liberated," fruition; and by "when liberated," and so forth, reviewing. The first [discourse].