Samyuttanikaya 22.8.4: 6. Sīhasuttavaṇṇanā

In the sixth, 'lion': there are four kinds of lions—the grass lion, the black lion, the yellow lion, and the maned lion. Among them, the grass lion resembles a cow the colour of a pigeon and is grass-eating. The black lion resembles a black cow and is also grass-eating. The yellow lion resembles a cow the colour of a withered leaf and is meat-eating. The maned lion has a face, the tip of its tail, and the edges of its four feet as if treated with lac-dye; beginning from the top of its head, as if drawn with a brush dipped in lac-dye, three stripes run down the middle of its back and stand turning to the right between its thighs; on its neck is a mass of mane like a wrapped cloak worth a hundred thousand [pieces]; the rest of its body is pure white, the colour of rice flour, chank-shell powder, or cotton wool. Among these four lions, it is this maned lion that is meant here.

'King of beasts': king of the host of animals. 'From his lair': it means that he comes out from his dwelling place, either from a golden cave, or from a cave of silver, crystal, or red arsenic. Coming out, he comes out for four reasons: either oppressed by darkness, for the sake of light; or oppressed by excrement and urine, for their discharge; or oppressed by hunger, for the sake of pasture; or oppressed by desire, to engage in unrighteous practice. Here, however, it is meant that he comes out for the sake of pasture.

'Stretches himself': having placed his two hind feet evenly on a golden surface or on one of the surfaces of silver, crystal, or red arsenic, stretching out his front paws in front, drawing back the rear part of his body, thrusting forward the front part, bending his back, lifting his neck, snorting with his nostrils as if making the sound of a thunderbolt, and shaking off the dust clinging to his body, he stretches himself. And on the stretching ground, he gallops back and forth like a young calf. While he is galloping, his body appears like a firebrand swirling in the dark.

'Surveys all around': why does he survey all around? Out of compassion for others. When he roars his lion's roar, it is said that animals such as elephants, gaur, and buffalo wandering in rough places like cliffs and pits fall into the cliffs and pits; out of compassion for them, he surveys all around. But can there be compassion in one whose deeds are cruel and who feeds on the flesh of others? Yes, there is. For he thinks, 'What is the point of many being killed by me?' Even for the sake of his own prey, he does not seize small creatures; in this way he shows compassion. And this has also been said: 'May I not cause destruction to small creatures that have gone onto uneven ground.'

'Roars a lion's roar': first he roars a fearless roar three times. And when he roars standing on the stretching ground in this manner, his voice makes an area of three leagues resound in a single roar; hearing his roar, the herds of two-footed and four-footed creatures within three leagues are unable to stand in their places. 'Sets out for pasture': he goes for food. How? For standing on the stretching ground, leaping to the right or to the left, he covers a distance of an usabha; leaping upward, he leaps four or even eight usabhas; bounding straight on level ground, he bounds a distance of sixteen or even twenty usabhas; bounding down from a cliff or a mountain, he bounds a distance of sixty or even eighty usabhas; seeing a tree or a mountain on the way, avoiding it to the left or to the right, he veers away by even an usabha. Having roared the third lion's roar, he is seen at a place three leagues away along with the roar itself. Having gone three leagues, standing and turning around, he hears the echo of his own roar. Thus he sets out with swift speed.

'Mostly': for the most part. 'Fear, terror, and trembling' are all just names for agitation of mind. For upon hearing the sound of a lion, many beings are afraid; few are not afraid. But who are they? An equal lion, a thoroughbred elephant, a thoroughbred horse, a thoroughbred bull, a thoroughbred man, and one whose taints are destroyed. But why are they not afraid? An equal lion is not afraid, thinking: 'I am his equal in birth, clan, family, and courage'; the thoroughbred elephant and the others are not afraid due to the strength of their identity view; one whose taints are destroyed is not afraid because identity view has been abandoned.

“Dwelling in holes” means snakes, mongooses, monitor lizards, and the like, which lie in holes, dwelling in holes. “Dwelling in water” means fish, turtles, and the like, which dwell in water. “Dwelling in forests” means elephants, horses, nilgai, deer, and the like, which dwell in forests. “They enter” means looking back along the path, thinking, “Now he will come and seize [us],” they enter. “By strong” means by firm ones. “By straps” means by leather ropes. In “of great psychic power” and so forth: having stood on their stretching ground, [their] leaping to the right flank and so on to the extent of an usabha, or leaping straight ahead to the extent of twenty usabhas and the like, is their being of great psychic power; being sovereign over other deer is their being of great majesty; and [the fact that others] flee upon hearing their roar all around up to three leagues is to be understood as their being of great might.

"In just the same way, friends": the Blessed One described himself in various ways in various discourses. In this discourse, first of all: "'Lion,' bhikkhus, is an epithet for the Tathāgata, the arahant, the Fully Enlightened One," he described himself as similar to a lion. In this one: "'Physician and surgeon,' Sunakkhatta, is an epithet for the Tathāgata," as similar to a physician. In this one: "'Brahmin,' bhikkhus, is an epithet for the Tathāgata," as similar to a brahmin. In this one: "'A man skilled in the path,' Tissa, is an epithet for the Tathāgata," as similar to a man who shows the way. In this one: "A king am I, Sela," as similar to a king. But in this discourse, making himself similar to a lion, speaking of himself, he said this.

Here, this is the similarity: like the time of the lion's living in golden caves and the like, so should be seen the Tathāgata's time of living in the three mansions, who had made his resolution at the feet of Dīpaṅkara, fulfilled the perfections for an immeasurable time, shaken the ten-thousandfold world system by taking rebirth and by coming forth from his mother's womb in his final existence, and, having grown up, was enjoying fortune comparable to divine fortune. Like the time of the lion's emergence from the golden cave and the like, so should be seen the time up to his giving the promise to the king to come first to the kingdom of Magadha after attaining full enlightenment—when, in his twenty-ninth year, having mounted Kaṇḍaka through the open gate, having gone forth accompanied by Channa, having crossed three kingdoms, having put on the ochre robes given by a Brahmā at the bank of the Anomā River and gone forth, having gone on the seventh day to Rājagaha, walked for alms there, and completed his meal at the slope of Mount Paṇḍava.

Like the time of the lion's stretching, so should be understood the Tathāgata's time from his going to Āḷāra Kālāma after giving his promise, up to his consuming the milk-rice given by Sujātā in forty-nine portions. Like the lion's shaking of his mane, so should be understood the shaking of the ten-thousandfold world system by the power of his penetration of the knowledge of omniscience, when, in the evening, having taken the eight handfuls of grass given by Sotthiya, praised by the deities of the ten thousand world-systems, honoured with scents and the like, circumambulating the Bodhi tree three times, ascending the terrace of enlightenment, spreading the grass-mat at a place fourteen cubits high, and sitting down having resolved upon the fourfold effort, having repelled Māra's army in that very moment, having purified the three knowledges during the three watches, and churning the great ocean of dependent origination forwards and backwards with the churning stick of twin knowledge.

Like the lion's looking in the four directions, so should be seen the looking toward the group of five monks for the teaching of the Dhamma by him who had penetrated the knowledge of omniscience, who had dwelt for seven weeks at the terrace of enlightenment, who had consumed the meal of barley-gruel and honey, who had accepted the request of the Great Brahmā to teach the Dhamma at the foot of the Ajapāla banyan tree, and who, while dwelling there on the eleventh day, at dawn, thought: 'Tomorrow will be the full moon of Āsāḷha; to whom now should I first teach the Dhamma?', and having known that Āḷāra and Udaka had passed away. Like the time of the lion's going three leagues for prey, so should be seen the time of his going along the road of eighteen leagues, having taken his bowl and robe and risen from the Ajapāla banyan tree in the afternoon, thinking: 'I will set rolling the wheel of the Dhamma for the group of five monks.'

Like the time of the lion's roar, so should be understood the Tathāgata's time of setting rolling the wheel of the Dhamma, having gone the eighteen-league road, persuaded the group of five monks, sat on the unshakeable cross-legged posture, surrounded by the assembly of deities gathered from the ten thousand world-systems, in the manner beginning: 'These two extremes, bhikkhus, should not be pursued by one who has gone forth.' And when this passage was being taught, the Dhamma sound of the Tathāgata-lion enveloped the ten-thousandfold world system, reaching from the Avīci hell below to the peak of existence above. Like the time of small creatures falling into panic at the sound of the lion, so should be understood the time of the arising of intellectual panic in long-lived deities, while the Tathāgata was expounding the Dhamma, explaining the three characteristics and analysing the four truths in sixteen modes and sixty thousand ways.

"When" (yadā) means at what time. "Tathāgata": the Blessed One is the Tathāgata for eight reasons—he is the Tathāgata because he has come thus (tathā āgato); he is the Tathāgata because he has gone thus (tathā gato); he is the Tathāgata because he has arrived at the real characteristic (tathalakkhaṇaṃ āgato); he is the Tathāgata because he has awakened to real things as they truly are (tathadhamme yāthāvato abhisambuddho); he is the Tathāgata because of seeing the real (tathadassitāya); he is the Tathāgata because of speaking the real (tathāvāditāya); he is the Tathāgata because of acting in accordance with reality (tathākāritāya); and he is the Tathāgata in the sense of overcoming [all] (abhibhavanaṭṭhena). The detailed explanation of these is stated in both the Brahmajālasutta commentary and the Mūlapariyāyasutta commentary. "In the world" (loke) means in the world of beings. "Arises" (uppajjati): from the initial aspiration up to the seat of awakening or the knowledge of the path of arahantship, he is said to be arising; but when the fruition of arahantship is reached, he is said to have arisen. "Arahant, Fully Enlightened One," and so forth are explained in detail in the Visuddhimagga in the explanation of the recollection of the Buddha.

"Such is form" (iti rūpaṃ): this is form, this much is form, there is no form beyond this. By this much, everything consisting of the four great essentials and the derived form dependent upon the four great essentials has been shown—by way of individual nature, function, limit, delimitation, and defining. "Such is the origination of form" (iti rūpassa samudayo): this is the origination of form. For by this much, everything such as "with the origination of nutriment comes the origination of form" has been shown. "Such is the disappearance of form" (iti rūpassa atthaṅgamo): this is the disappearance of form. By this as well, everything such as "with the cessation of nutriment comes the cessation of form" has been shown. The method is the same in "such is feeling" and the rest.

"Possessing beauty" (vaṇṇavanto) means possessing beauty of physical appearance. "Having heard the Dhamma teaching" (dhammadesanaṃ sutvā) means having heard this Dhamma teaching of the Tathāgata adorned with the fifty characteristics in the five aggregates. "Mostly" (yebhuyyena): who is excluded here? Noble disciple deities. For since their taints are destroyed, even fear arising from mental distress does not arise in them, nor does the emotional agitation of knowledge, since what was to be attained through the proper exertion of one who is emotionally agitated has already been attained. But for other deities, as they attend to impermanence—thinking, "This indeed is terror, monks!"—fear arising from mental distress arises, and at the time of strong insight, the fear of knowledge also arises. "Sir" (bho) is merely a customary form of address. "Included in individual existence" (sakkāyapariyāpannā) means included within the five aggregates. Thus, when the Fully Enlightened One teaches the Dhamma showing the defects of the round of existence and making it struck by the three characteristics, what is called the fear of knowledge descends upon them.

"Having directly known" (abhiññāya) means having understood. "The Wheel of the Dhamma" (dhammacakkaṃ) refers both to the knowledge of penetration and to the knowledge of teaching. The knowledge of penetration is the knowledge by which, seated upon the seat of awakening, he penetrated the four truths in sixteen modes and sixty thousand methods. The knowledge of teaching is the knowledge by which he set rolling the Wheel of the Dhamma, with its three turnings and twelve aspects. Both are indeed knowledge born in the breast of the Possessor of the Ten Powers. Among these, the knowledge of teaching is to be taken here. And he is said to be setting it rolling so long as the fruition of stream-entry has not yet arisen for the elder Aññāsikoṇḍañña along with eighteen crores of brahmās. When that has arisen, it should be understood as having been set rolling. "Without a counterpart" (appaṭipuggala) means devoid of an equal person. "Glorious" (yasassino) means possessed of a retinue. "To such a one" (tādino) means to one who is the same in the face of gain and loss, etc. The sixth.