Interpretation As Orthodox
Paul Fuller has rejected the arguments of Gomez and Vetter. He finds that "the Nikayas and the Atthakavagga present the same cognitive attitude toward views, wrong or right." He states that in the Nikayas, right-view includes non-dependence on knowledge and views, and mentions the Buddha's simile of his dhamma as a raft that must be abandoned. He finds that the Atthakavagga's treatment of knowledge and wisdom is parallel to the later Patthana's apparent criticism of giving, holding the precepts, the duty of observance, and practicing the jhanas. In his view, both texts exhibit this particular approach not as an attack practice or knowledge, but to point out that attachment to the path is destructive. Similarly, the text's treatment of concentration meditation is intended to warn against attachment to insight, and communicate that insight into the nature of things necessarily involves a calm mind.
The Buddhist tradition has itself taken the view that the text's statements, including many which are clearly intended to be paradoxical, are meant to be puzzled over and explicated. An extended commentary attributed to Sariputta, entitled the Mahaniddesa, was included in the Canon. It seeks to reconcile the content of the poems with the teachings in the rest of the discourses.
Alexander Wynne's recent work also rejects both of Vetter's claims that the Parayanavagga shows a chronological stratification and different attitude toward mindfulness and liberating insight than do other works.
Read more about this topic: Atthakavagga And Parayanavagga
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