Hi Nina and folks - Just a minor footnote from the Chinese
translation of the Mahaparinirvana-sutra (Dirghagama): For
sukkaramaddava the Chinese text in Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo
Vol1, pg 18b reads "mei t'an shu erh" ( a type of tree fungus?).
The Pali commentary you provided is fascinating! Thank you!
With great difficulty I am struggling to follow along with the Pali
grammatical analysis. Much appreciated!
-Rodney
--- In
Pali@yahoogroups.com, nina van gorkom <nilo@...>
wrote:
> Dear friends,
> On Dhamma Study Group list we had a long discussion about
the Buddha's last
> meal, Mahaaparinibbaana sutta, Diighanikaaya.
> Some people believe that the Buddha became sick because of
the
> sukkaramaddava (tender pork) Cunda gave him. The
Commentaries interprete: he
> became sick, not because of,
> but after the meal. Then we returned to the sutta text itself and
studied
> the Pali with the grammar. Suan helped us with the grammar
and quoted rules
> of the Saddaniitii. Since several of you are interested in the
Saddaniiti, I
> will, with Suan's kind permission, reproduce our
correspondence in different
> sections.
> First I shall give some quotes from the commentaries.
> It was discussed what the súkaramaddava consisted of.
> In the Commentary to the 3Mahåparinibbåna Sutta2 (Ch 4,
translated by
> Yang-Gyu An) it is said:
>
> 3Pork stew (súkaramaddava): the fresh meat (pavattama.msa)
from a prize pig
> that is neither too young nor too old. That, people say, is both
tender and
> succulent. The meaning is that he had it prepared and carefully
cooked. But
> some teachers say that súkaramaddava1 is the name of a
recipe for cooking
> soft-boiled rice with the five liquid products of the cow, just as
cow1s
> milk is the name of a beverage. Others say that
súkaramaddava1 is the name
> for a kind of elixir.2
> .......
> 3 Cunda prepared the súkaramaddava with an elixir, thinking,
Let the
> Blessed One not attain parinibbåna1. And the deities of the
four great
> continents and their twothousand surrounding islands infused
nutritive
> essence into it.2
>
> The same Commentary explains the words of the Sutta text:
3Bhuttassa ca
> súkara-maddavenå2, and after he had eaten from the súkara-
maddava, a dire
> sickness fell upon him...2 We read:
>
> 3It happened to him when he had eaten, but not because he
had eaten. If he
> had not eaten, the pains would have been too strong ; but
because he had
> eaten the succulent food, his pain was slight, which is why he
was able to
> walk on foot.2
>
> We read in 3The Questions of King Milinda2 (175) that King
Milinda discussed
> the last meal with the venerable Någasena. Milinda said:
3How could that
> alms, Någasena, be of great fruit when it turned to poison,
gave rise to
> disease...2
> Nagasena answered:2 ...For that alms is full of virtue, full of
advantage.
> The gods, O king, shouted in joy and gladness at the thought:
This is the
> last meal the Tathågata will take,1 and communicated a divine
power of
> nourishment to that tender pork. And that was itself in good
condition,
> light, pleasant, full of flavour, and good for digestion. It was not
because
> of it that any sickness fell upon the Blessed One, but it was
because of the
> extreme weakness of his body, and because of the period of
life he had to
> live been exhausted, that the disease arose, and grew worse
and worse....So
> this was not, O king, the fault of the food that was presented,
and you can
> not impute any harm to it."
> (to be continued)
> Nina.