Deep Commentary

This verse was taught by the Buddha concerning the ascetic Upaka of the Ajivaka sect. After attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha stayed there for seven weeks. He then set out on an eighteen-mile journey to Varanasi to turn the Wheel of Dharma. On the way, he met an ascetic of the Ajivaka sect. The ascetic asked: "Friend, your faculties are so serene, your complexion so bright. Under whom did you become a renunciant? Who is your teacher? Whose teaching do you follow?" The Buddha replied: "The Tathagata has no ordination teacher, nor any teaching master." He then spoke this verse. Upaka neither agreed nor disagreed, but just shook his head, clicked his tongue, and turned onto a side path, going to a hunter's hut. The Buddha is the Awakened One, the Great Enlightened One. He has conquered all armies of Mara. In Buddhism, four kinds of Mara are often mentioned: the Mara of defilements, the Mara of the five aggregates, the Mara of death, and the devaputra Mara. Simply put, there are internal Maras and external Maras. All these Maras were conquered by him. Hence the Buddha said: "A victor am I over all." The Buddha also has the epithets "Omniscient One" or "One of All-Knowing Wisdom," meaning he thoroughly understands all phenomena. There is nothing he does not know at its root. Thus he said: "All have I known." Having conquered all ignorance and defilements, he remains unattached to any phenomenon. Hence he said: "Yet unattached am I to all that is conquered and known." Attachment means being bound by sensory objects. If one were attached, how could one be called a Buddha? Therefore, the Buddha's life is completely free, autonomous, and liberated. He said: "Abandoning all, I am freed through the destruction of craving. Having thus directly comprehended all by myself, whom shall I call my teacher?" This statement clarifies "wisdom without a teacher, self-awakened." The scriptures speak of two kinds of wisdom: wisdom with a teacher and wisdom without a teacher. Wisdom with a teacher is wisdom that still relies on teachers and friends for learning. Through learning, one develops conditioned wisdom, which has limitations. Conversely, wisdom without a teacher is innate wisdom. This wisdom is another name for Buddha-nature or the Dharma body. Because it is innate, after thoroughly purifying and transforming all ignorance and defilements, this wisdom manifests. Therefore, the Buddha said he did not rely on any teacher for instruction. Living fully in this clear, pure wisdom, he is called the Buddha or the Great Awakened One.