Comments

Comm. KT: 1. According to I.B. Horner, this is not the well-known bandit whose verse is in the Theragāthā (Thag 16:8), and after whom MN 86 is named. She notes that the word nāma: ‘named’, along with an endquote, is missing. But the same is true of Sañjaya the wanderer, Sāriputta the wanderer, and Moggallāna the wanderer, when they enter the story of the Buddha for the first time [Mv.I.23.1]. Also, this origin story, unlike the others in this section, doesn’t mention Aṅgulimāla going to the monks and getting them to ordain him. The Commentary passage quoted below implies that the Buddha gave him the Going-forth, as he did the Aṅgulimāla of the aṅgulimālattheragāthā. Also, there is nothing in the Commentary to indicate that this might be a different monk.

пали	91.Tena kho pana samayena coro aṅgulimālo bhikkhūsu pabbajito hoti.
Khematto Bhikkhu	Now at that time Aṅgulimāla1 the criminal had gone forth among the monks.