The hot springs near Rājagaha were a popular place for monks to bathe, so much so that they prompted a rule ensuring that the monks did not monopolize the springs (Bu Pc 57). They are still in use and just as popular as ever.

Soon after he went forth, a deity in the same location tempted Samiddhi to enjoy sensual delights (SN 1.20). Had he succumbed, that would have been a case of “faltering amid presently arisen phenomena”. Samiddhi further appears in discourses at MN 136, where he had gone forth only three years, and AN 9.14 , where he seems more mature. In SN 4.22, Māra threatens to shake his faith, prompting him to ask the Buddha about Māra’s true nature (SN 35.65). This event is recalled in his verse at Thag 1.46.

The “verses” are, in fact, the same thing as the “recitation passage” mentioned above. The Tibetan and Chinese parallels lack the doubled question.

Though he set to teach the “recitation passage and analysis”, the Buddha omits the analysis, so the monks ask Mahākaccāna for the analysis. The same situation obtains in MN 138:4.2. In both cases the Chinese and Tibetan parallels avoid the problem, since the Buddha only says he will teach the verses. Contrast the situation at MN 137:2.1 and MN 139:2.1.

See note at MN 18:10.9.

As in MN 18:16.1 and MN 138:10.2, Kaccāna’s favored mode of analysis is through the six senses.

Dhamma is rendered here with “ideas”, namely those things which are known by the mind. Where it is rendered “phenomena”, it includes the “ideas” as well as all else that is known.