From: Ong Yong Peng
Message: 10463
Date: 2006-05-23
--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, nina van gorkom wrote:
> I believe the compilers of the suttas should be thinking of these 16
qualities as inspiring and giving comfort to the friends and followers
of monks with any or all of these qualities. One possible term for
pasaadakara is favorable, i.e. favorable qualities. What do you think?
N: Let us look at the whole chapter. The Buddha exhorts the monk to
jhaana, to metta, etc. and said: if he practises this even for a
fimgersnap he may be called a monk.
I think this sutta is above all an exhortation to the monk to lead the
monk's life in all its purity. Then he is a true recluse and eats the
almsfood to some purpose. Of course the one does not exclude the
other, it is the same as the reasons for the Vinaya: so that the
followers have confidence in monkhood. Purifying qualities is a
possibility.