Dear Nina,

Thanks for your thoughtful post. Your love and reverence for the
commentaries comes shining though!

My knowledge of the commentaries is extremely limited. I've never
read any myself (my Pali knowledge is not quite up to that yet). My
expereience of them is mostly through the notes to the suttas by Bh.
Bodhi or Maurice Walshe in the Wisdom Pubs sutta translations.
Sometimes I find what they say very helpful to my understanding of
the sutta, other times it seems more obscuring than enlightening -
which if course could be due to my own limited understanding.
Anyway, Nina, any time you share your wisdom of the commentaries
with this group, it is of great benefit - and we are all blessed to
have you with us.

With much metta,
John

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, nina van gorkom <nilo@...> wrote:
> Dear John,
> Today I would like to say something about the benefit of the
Commentaries.
> The oldest ones which are lost now were rehearsed at the great
Councils.
> Buddhaghosa was most conscientious to edit them and translate them
again
> into Pali. But apart from historical arguments, I would rather
speak about
> the immense benefit of studying them. But, I speak from my limited
> experience with the texts.
> Some time ago you gave us a beautiful Sutta, John, about five
things to be
> contemplated daily: old age, sickness, death, all that is dear is
subject to
> change, separation, we have to receive the result of our own kamma.
> You said that you daily meditate on this sutta. I checked the Co I
have in
> Thai. This does not teach anything other than the sutta, but gives
> additional explanations. It stresses that vipassana is taught
here, and the
> lokuttara magga of the arahat. After reading Co and then going
back to the
> sutta I find that we come more to the deep meaning that is
contained
> therein.
. . .