Who Is An Arahant?
How to Identify Arahantship
A gathering place for a number of suttas describing the arahant, what he can and cannot do, how he understands things, etc.
[AN 6.78] Sukha-somanassa Suttaɱ Six practices for living happily here and now which also set up the conditions for attaining Arahantship.
A very satisfying short little sutta for everyone but especially for those who are beginning and would just like to live happily while believing they are on the path to the goal.
[AN 6.76] Unless these six things are given up, there is no attaining Arahantship.
Hare: Conceit, underrating, overrating, complacency, stubbornness, instability.
Bhk. Bodhi: Conceit, an inferiority complex, arrogance, self-overestimation, obstinacy, and self-abasement.
Bhk. Bodhi footnotes:
"Conceit (māna) is conceiving oneself [to be better] based on birth, etc.
The inferiority complex (omāna) is the conceit, 'I am inferior' (bīnassa hīno'ham asmī ti māno).
Arrogance (atimāna) is the conceit of self-elevation.
Self-overestimation (adhimāna) is imagining one-self to have attained [what one has not really attained].
Obstinacy (thambha) is due to anger and conceit.
Self-abasement (atinipāta) is the conceit 'I am inferior' occurring in one who is actually inferior."
The translations of the last term seems to be open to doubt.
Hare has the note "Atinipāta is 'excessive falling over.'" presumably from ati = nipāt positioning it as a counter balance of thambha, the penultimate term, his 'stubbornness', Bhk. Bodhi's 'obstinacy'.
Bhk. Bodhi's is, as it is defined by the commentary, (per this and C.P.D.) as māno + omāma conceit + inferiority complex.
If this were an evaluation of the self as inferior in one who was inferior that would be a true evaluation, not a conceit, and the fact would bar Arahantship without it being a conceit.
If we allow that being inferior is a thing which can be corrected, awareness of the fact would even be an advantage in attaining Arahantship.
If the etymology is as per the commentary, I would tend to think the meaning was more along the lines of taking pride in humbleness or fake humbleness, but the simpler solution is Hare's, where I would suggest not instability, but a word meaning yielding, excessive deference, pandering, groveling even, how about falling over backwards to be nice?
All of these states relate to subtle lingering manifestations of the belief in self.
