[Peter Masefield]

"He who is the most excellent of speakers amongst Manu's breed (note 1)". This is Chattamāṇava's Vimāna.

Note 1: manujesu, literally amongst those born of Manu; cp VvA 19.

At that time there was in Setavyā (note 2) a brahmin youth named Chatta, the hard-gotten son of a certain brahmin.

note 2: A town in Kosala, near Ukkaṭṭhā, and the first halting place on the road from Sāvatthi to Rājagaha.

Despatched when he came of age by his father, he went to Ukkaṭṭhā (note 3) and in the presence of the brahmin Pokkharasāti (note 4) he not long afterwards, due to his intelligence and industry, picked up the mantras and the branches of knowledge (note 5) and reached perfection in the brahmin art.

note 3: The village given by the Kosalan king Pasenadi to the brahmin Pokkharasāti - cp D i 87 and notes at Dial i 108.

note 4: Teacher of Ambaṭṭha - see Ambaṭṭha Sutta (D i 87ff) in which he is said to have gained the Dhammacakkha and thus become a sāvaka (D i 110). A brahmin in the time of the Buddha Kassapa, he gained birth in the devaloka and thereafter, scorning birth in the womb of a woman, sprang to life in a lotus - hence the name.

note 5: Perhaps the four such: (1) the three Vedas; (2) ānvikṣikī, logic and metaphysics; (3) daṇḍa-nīti, the science of government; and (4) vārittā, practical arts such as agriculture, commerce, medicine etc. Manu vii 43 adds a fifth - ātmavidyā, knowledge of the Self; whilst classifications of items numbering fourteen, eighteen, thirty-three and sixty-four are also attested - cp SED sv vidyā - eighteen such (but unspecified) being mentioned at J i 259.

He greeted the master and said, "I have become trained in this art in your presence; what am I to give you (note 6) as the donation to the guru (note 7)?"

note 6: Reading kiṃ vo with Se Be for text's kim te

note 7: gurudakkhinaṃ; Be reads garu- throughout. On this institution see e.g. Manu ii 245f and compare how the Buddha refuses to accept offerings for chanting verses at S i 167 = Sn 81 = 480.

Chattamāṇava (note 8) greeted the master, went to Setavyā, saluted his mother and father and as he was being welcomed (note 9) by them extended them a friendly greeting and informed his father of the matter, adding that should he give to him that which to be given he would give it that same day and return (note 10) (home).

note 8: Literally the (brahmin) youth Chatta but seemingly used throughout as a proper name; it also occurs on occasion as Chattamāṇavaka.

note 9: abhinandiyamāno: this sense is not listed by PED but cp CPD sv.

note 10: Reading āgamissāmi with Se Be for text's gamissāmi.

His mother and father told him, "It is too late today, son; go tomorrow", got out the kahāpaṇas (note 11), tied them up into a bundle and set this aside.

note 1: Reading kahāpaṇe with Se Be for text's kahāpaṇāni.

The Lord, who was surveying the world upon emerging, towards dawn, from the meditation of the great compassion, saw Chattamāṇava's (future) establishment in the Refuges and the Precepts, his coming into being (note 12) in the devaloka upon being murdered by the robbers and the penetration of Dhamma, upon his return from there together with his vimāna, for the company that had come together (note 13) there and then went on ahead and seated himself at the foot of a certain tree on the path to be followed by the youth.

note 12: Reading nibbattiṃ with Be (Se nibbattataṃ) for text's nibbattassa.

note 13: Reading sannipatitaparisāya with Se Be for text's sannipatitassa parisāya.

When the Lord asked (note 14) him where he was going he said, "I am going to Ukkaṭṭhā, master Gotama, to give the donation to the guru to my master Pokkharasāti".

note 14: Se Be read vutto for text's vutte.

Then the Lord said, "But do you, young man, know the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts?" (note 15) When he said, "I do not knwo them; whta purpose do they serve and what are they like?", (the Lord said), "It is like this", explained the advantages (note 16) of the fruits of going for refuge and undertaking the precepts and then said, "Young man, you should learn the method of going for refuge"; and, being begged by him saying, "Very well, I will learn it; may the Lord talk (thereon), Lord", spoke three verses pointing out to him, by way of verses so combined as to suit his inclinations, the method of going for refuge:

note 15: That he was on his way to pay his donation to the guru indicates that his training was complete. But from a Buddhist point of view he was, so long as he remained ignorant of these (and other) facts, without those qualities rendering one a true brahmin - cp Dhp 383-423 and also CU VI.1.1-3 for a similar criticism.

note 16: Be read phalānisaṃsaṃ for text's Se phalānisaṃse.

Herein:

1. He who (yo) is a relative pronoun, the demonstration of which is to be understood by the way of this 'to the (Sugata)' (note 22)

note 22: That is, the relative pronoun yo relates to the demonstrative pronouon taṃ; cp VvA 194.

Is the most excellent (pavaro): is the best, meaning is the utmost of talkers, is the most excellent speaker (note 23).

note 23: Se Be read vādīvaro for text's vādivaro.

Amongst Manu's breed (manujesu): this is a description by way of maximum definition (note 24), as with 'the Teacher of devas and men';

note 24: ukkaṭṭhaniddeso, citing the most excellent of the group pars pro toto; cp PvA 7.

moreover the Lord is quite the most excellent of devas and men, including Brahmās and all beings. Or alternatively (note 25) amongst Manu's breed (manujesu) was said on account of the Lord's having arisen amongst men in his final becoming.

note 25: Se Be read ca for text's vā.

he is a Sakyan through having been begotten in the Sakyan clan and a sage (muni) through possession of sagacity (moneyya) with respect to body and so on (note 26) and through being sagacious (munanato), without remainder, of things knowable -- thus is he the Sakyan sage.

note 26: Se Be read kāyamoneyyādīhi samannāgatato for text's kāyamoneyyādisamannāgatato; the others are sagacity with respect to speech and to mind - cp D iii 220; A i 273.

He is the lord for the four reasons such as his possession of that which is laudable and so on (note 27);

note 27: Bhagavā, rendered throughout as 'Lord', is derived from bhaga, fortune; he is the 'Fortunate One' (Bhagavā) since he is a posessor of fortune (bhaga + vant) -- and use of 'Lord'/'laudable', whilst not fully literal, hopefully sustains the pun and much of the sense. It is not clear what these other three reasons are - the passage would seem to be an allusion to Vism 20f (cp KhpA 107f) where, however, at least six such reasons are given. UdA 267 refers to these same reasons without specifying their number. Se Be agree with the reading of the text although it should be noted that one of Hardy's mss omitted catūhi.

he is he who has done what was to be done on account of his having done, on account of his having accomplished, what was to be done which is of sixteen kinds: the (four) divisions of full comprehension and so on (note 28) that are to be done by way of the four paths;

note 28: Cp VvA 73 on these; each of the four is repeated when each of the four supermundane paths arises, thus making sixteen in all.

he is one who has gone beyond since he has gone, since he has attained through the knowledge of a self-dependent one (note 29) to the beyond, to the further shore of the existing group (of khandhas) (note 30), to nibbāna;

note 29: Cp VvA 83.

note 30: sakkāyassa.

he is one who is provided with strength and energy on account of his being possessed of unparalleled bodily strength, of a strength of knowledge not shared by another and of that energy which is the four kinds of right effort (note 31);

note 31: See e.g. D iii 225f; they constitute the sixth rung on the eightfold path.

whilst he is the Sugata on account of his splendid manner (sobhana) of going (gamana) since it is to a lovely (sundaraṃ) place (note 32) that he has gone (gatattā), since he has rightly (sammā) gone (gatattā) and since he has rightly (sammā) enunciated (gaditattā) (note 33).

note 32: ṭhānaṃ, or condition, state, etc.

note 33: Reading sammāgatattā sammā ca gadittā with Se Be for text's sammāgatattā; cp KhpA 183 for a similar explanation. PED has no entry for gadati or gadita but cp Childers svv.

Come to, go to, the Sugata. the Perfect Buddha. for the sake of refuge, for refuge, for support, for protection from that dukkha that is the cycle of dukkha in the states of loss; thinking, "This Lord is my refuge, my protection, my shelter (note 34), my support (note 35), my destiny and mainstay (note 36)", participate in, embrace, (him) from this day henceforth by way of turning away from what is not to your well-being and of augmenting what is to your well-being; or meaning, alternatively (note 37), realise, awaken, in this way.

note 34: Reading leṇaṃ with Be for text's Se lenaṃ

note 35: Reading parāyaṇaṃ with Se Be; text omits.

note 36: Se Be read gati paṭisaraṇaṃ for text's gatipaṭisaraṇaṃ; I follow Be in taking the quotation as commencing with ayaṃ rather than with ajja as per text.

note 37: Reading vā with Se Be; text omits. This seems a reference to the notion found e.g. at KhpA 15, 19 to the effect that verbal roots expressing motion also have the meaning of 'awakening'.