The Second Treatise on the Perfections – 2716
and November (
Kattikā
) without a break is a wonderful Observance Day
(
pāṭihāriya-uposatha
), whereas other teachers say that the Observance Day
observed for each of the three months of July (
Āsāḷha
), November (
Kattikā
) and
March (
Phagguṇa
) without a break is called the wonderful Observance Day.
Still other teachers say that, according to the Pāḷi texts, there are three ordinary
observance (
pakati-uposatha
) days: the eighth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth
of each fortnight of a month. If, in addition to those three ordinary Observance
Days (
pakati-uposatha
), four more days: the seventh before the eighth and the
ninth, the thirteenth before the fourteenth and the first day after the fifteenth
are observed, such Observance Days are called wonderful Observance Days
(
pāṭihāriya-uposatha
). The commentator remarks that for the benefit of the
good people, who wish to acquire good merit, all kinds of precepts are
mentioned to enable them to observe whichever they like.
Of the three views shown in the Anthology of Discourses (
Sutta-nipāta
)
commentary, the commentator’s own view was that: “The Observance Day
observed for five months is the
wonderful Observance Day (
pāṭihāriya-
uposatha
),” and he agrees in essence with the Collection of the Numerical
Discourses (
Aṅguttara-nikāya
) commentary, where the period of continuous
observance is shown as three months, whereas in the Anthology of Discourses
commentary, it is five months. That is the only difference.
The third view from the Anthology of Discourses commentary is in agreement
with that of the commentaries on the Birth Story about King Nimi (
Nimi-jātaka
,
Ja 541), the Story about Uttara’s Heavenly Mansion (
Uttara-vimāna-vatthu
, Vv
15), the Verses of the Elder Monks (
Thera-gāthā
, no further ref. given) and the
Birth Story about Suruci, King of Mithilā (
Suruci-jātaka
, Ja 489).
However, according to the commentary on the Collection of the Thematic
Discourses (
Saṁyutta-nikāya
, PTS 1.307), the wonderful Observance Day in
each fortnight of the month are the seventh, the ninth, the thirteenth, and the
first waning or waxing day after the fifteenth and the half month after the Rains
Retreat (
Vassa
), i.e., from the first waning to the new-moon day of October
(
Assayuja
).
[1583]
Herein, there is one thing to consider: Even though the commentaries on the
Collection of the Numerical Discourses (
Aṅguttara-nikāya
), the Anthology of
Discourses (
Sutta-nipāta
), the Birth Stories (
Jātaka
), and the Collection of the