[2] Nāma rūpa, a traditional Vedic term for "mind and Matter," the immortal and the perishable, borrowed by the Buddha to stand for the mental and bodily compound in the individual, cf. Buddhist Psychology, Mrs. C.A. Rhys-Davids, pp. 23-5.
[3] The body with its needs and passions (water in the boat) hampers the progress across the stream.
I. The first five fetters of delusion of self, doubt, ceremonial observance, lust and ill-will.
II. The second five fetters of desire for form, desire for the formless, pride, vanity and ignorance.
III. If the verb of the third clause, vuttaribhāvaye, be translated "pay attention to," as is possible, the meaning will be, "develop the five good qualities of faith, zeal, concentration, meditation, wisdom."
IV. This may refer to the second five fetters, by throwing off which one becomes an Arahat.
[5] "Toss thee," reading kāmagunā bhamiṁsu (for kāmagune bhamassu) as Prof. Dines Andersen suggests (p. 192, Glossary to Dhammapada. Pt. 2).
[6] Cf. v. 107. One of the tortures in the hells.
[7] "ecstasy," jhāna. There are four stages of mystic meditation leading to rebirth in the higher worlds.
[8] "Empty cell," suññāgāram, may refer to the meditation in the "cave of the heart," when all thought vibrations are stilled, cf. v. 37.
[9] "The rise and fall," reading udayavyayam. cf. v. 113.
[10] 'immortality': viz.: 'the Ambrosial'.