1"Just as, bhikkhus, in this Jambudīpa, [n.183] Jambudīpa: the "Rose-Apple Continent," the southern continent in Buddhist geography. The other three continents are Aparagoyana to the west, Uttarakuru to the north, and Pubbavideha to the east. Mp says Jambudīpa is named after the "great rose-apple tree" in the Himalayas, which is a hundred yojanas wide, with branches fifty yojanas long and a trunk fifteen yojanas in diameter. PED estimates a yojana to be seven miles; SED gives several alternatives but takes nine miles to be the most accurate. delightful parks, groves, landscapes, and lotus ponds are few, while more numerous are the hills and slopes, rivers that are hard to cross, places with stumps and thorns, and rugged mountains, so too those beings are few who are born on dry ground; more numerous are those beings who are born in water."

(334) " … so too those beings are few who are reborn among human beings; more numerous are those beings who have been reborn elsewhere than among human beings."

(335) " … so too those beings are few who are reborn in the middle provinces; more numerous are those who have been reborn in the outlying provinces among the uncouth foreigners." [n.184] The "middle provinces" (majjhimā janapadā) correspond roughly to the northeastern and north-central states of present-day India. Mp cites Vin I 197,20–29, for an exact specification of its boundaries. It is said that Buddhas, paccekabuddhas, great disciples, etc., are born only here. Everything beyond these bounds is called the "outlying provinces" (paccantimā janapadā). That the definitions are flexible is seen in Mp's statement that all of Jambudīpa can also be called the middle region and the other continents the outlying provinces. In Sri Lanka (in the time of the commentators), the Anurādhapura district was considered the middle region and the rest of the country the outlying provinces. On mleccha (the Skt equivalent of Pāli milakkha), SED offers: "a foreigner, barbarian, non-Āryan, man of an outcast race, any person who does not speak Sanskrit and does not conform to the usual Hindu institutions."

(336) " … so too those beings are few who are wise, intelligent, astute, able to understand the meaning of what has been well stated and badly stated; more numerous are those who are unwise, stupid, obtuse, unable to understand the meaning of what has been well stated and badly stated."

(337) " … so too those beings are few who are endowed with the noble eye of wisdom; more numerous are those beings who are confused and immersed in ignorance." [n.185] Mp: "The noble eye of wisdom (ariya paññācakkhu): the path together with insight."

(338) " … so too those beings are few who get to see the Tathāgata; more numerous are those beings who do not get to see him."

(339) " … so too those beings are few who get to hear the Dhamma and discipline expounded by the Tathāgata; more numerous are those who do not get to hear it."

(340) " … so too those beings are few who, having heard the Dhamma, retain it in mind; more numerous are those who, having heard the Dhamma, do not retain it in mind."

(341) " … so too those beings are few who examine the meaning of the teachings that have been retained in mind; more numerous are those who do not examine the meaning of the teachings that have been retained in mind."

(342) " … so too those beings are few who understand the meaning and the Dhamma and then practice in accordance with the Dhamma; more numerous are those who do not understand the meaning and the Dhamma and do not practice in accordance with the Dhamma." [n.186] Ce and Be ete va sattā bahutarā ye atthamaññāya dhammamaññāya dhammānudhammaṁ na paṭipajjanti; Ee ete va sattā bahutarā ye na atthaṁ aññāya na dhammaṁ aññāya dhammānudhammaṁ na paṭipajjanti. I assume that in Ce and Be the negation na preceding the finite verb is intended to apply distributively to the preceding absolutives. The Ee reading is supported by an older Sri Lankan printed edition.

(343) " … so too those beings are few who acquire a sense of urgency about things inspiring urgency; more numerous are those who do not acquire a sense of urgency about things inspiring urgency." [n.187] Saṁvejaniyesu ṭhānesu saṁvijjanti. On a sense of urgency (saṁvega), see AN3.128, AN4.113. The commentaries enumerate "eight bases of the sense of urgency" (aṭṭha saṁvegavatthūni): birth, old age, illness, death; the suffering in the realms of misery; the suffering rooted in one's saṁsāric past; the suffering to be encountered in one's saṁsāric future; and the suffering rooted in the search for nutriment.

(344) " … so too those beings are few who, when inspired with a sense of urgency, strive carefully; more numerous are those who, when inspired with a sense of urgency, do not strive carefully."

(345) " … so too those beings are few who gain concentration, one-pointedness of mind, based on release; more numerous are those who do not gain concentration, one-pointedness of mind, based on release." [n.188] Mp: "Based on release (vavassaggārammaṇaṁ karitvā): release is nibbāna. The meaning is: having made that the object. Gain concentration (labhanti samādhiṁ): they obtain concentration of the path and concentration of the fruit." I am not sure the expression vavassaggārammaṇaṁ karitvā need be interpreted in the technical sense (employed in the Abhidhamma) of the path and fruition cittas taking nibbāna as their object. The expression is also used in the definition of the concentration faculty at SN 48:9–10 (V 197,14–16, V 198,24–25). It may originally have meant simply a state of samādhi motivated by the aspiration for release. In SN, the noble eightfold path, the seven enlightenment factors, and five spiritual faculties are often described as vossaggapariṇāmiṁ, "evolving toward release" or "maturing in release," vossagga and vavassagga being alternative forms of the same word.

(346) " … so too those beings are few who obtain the exquisite taste of delicious food; more numerous are those who do not gain such food but subsist on scraps brought in a bowl."

(347) " … so too those beings are few who obtain the taste of the meaning, the taste of the Dhamma, the taste of liberation; more numerous are those who do not obtain the taste of the meaning, the taste of the Dhamma, the taste of liberation. [n.189] Mp identifies the "taste of the meaning" (attharasa) with the four fruits, the "taste of the Dhamma" (dhammarasa) with the four paths, and the taste of liberation (vimuttirasa) with the deathless nibbāna (amatanibbāna). See AN8.19: "This Dhamma and discipline has but one taste, the taste of liberation" (ayaṁ dhammavinayo ekaraso vimuttiraso). Again, Mp seems to impose on the sutta technical distinctions formulated only in a later period. Therefore, bhikkhus, you should train yourselves thus: ‘We will obtain the taste of the meaning, the taste of the Dhamma, the taste of liberation.’ It is in such a way that you should train yourselves."