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If you speak English and you're trying to learn Buddhism from the Internet, I would suggest starting here.
I'd also note that I've seen a YouTube video by an academic named Gethin that was a lecture to Jews on the Abhidhamma and why it's interesting.
Bhikkhu Bodhi translates and footnotes the fifth of the Counted Sayings (AN 1.5):
> “Bhikkhus, I do not see even one other touch that so obsesses the mind of a man as the touch of a woman. The touch of a woman obsesses the mind of a man.”^20
^20 “Because of the different inclinations and underlying tendencies Pi:Anusaya of beings, the Buddha mentions each of the [five sense objects] Pi:Kāma such as forms ie Sight (AN 1.1), saying: ‘I do not see anything like this.’ When a man esteems (?) form, the form of a woman obsesses and impedes him—binds, captivates, deludes, and confuses him; but not so the other sense objects such as sounds. So too, sound but not form captivates one who esteems sound, etc. For some people, only one sense object obsesses the mind; for others, two objects—or three, four, or five objects—obsess them. Thus these five suttas AN 1.1-5 are expounded because of the five kinds of esteem (name of vagga?) [for different sense objects].”
That is not the way Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu translates it.
The modern 'English standard', btw, is:
- Madhupiṇḍika Sutta
The Honeyball
1.Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living in the Sakyan country at Kapilavatthu in Nigrodha’s Park.
2.Then, when it was morning, the Blessed One dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, went into Kapilavatthu for alms. When he had wandered for alms in Kapilavatthu and had returned from his almsround, after his meal he went to the Great Wood for the day’s abiding, and entering the Great Wood, sat down at the root of a bilva sapling for the day’s abiding.
3.Daṇḍapāni the Sakyan, while walking and wandering for exercise, also went to the Great Wood, and when he had entered the Great Wood, he went to the bilva sapling where the Blessed One was and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, he stood at one side leaning on his stick and asked the Blessed One: “What does the recluse assert, what does he proclaim?”^226
4.“Friend, I assert and proclaim [my teaching] in such a way that one does not quarrel with anyone in the world with its gods, its Māras, and its Brahmās, in this generation with its recluses and brahmins, its princes and its people; in such a way that perceptions no more underlie that brahmin who abides detached from sensual pleasures, without perplexity, shorn of worry, free from craving for any kind of being.”^227
5.When this was said, Daṇḍapāni the Sakyan shook his head, [109] wagged his tongue, and raised his eyebrows until his forehead was puckered in three lines.^228 Then he departed, leaning on his stick.
...
22.When this was said, the venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One: “Venerable sir, just as if a man exhausted by hunger and weakness came upon a honeyball,^234 wherever he would taste it he would find a sweet delectable flavour; so too, venerable sir, any able-minded bhikkhu, wherever he might scrutinize with wisdom the meaning of this discourse on the Dhamma, would find satisfaction and confidence of mind. Venerable sir, what is the name of this discourse on the Dhamma?”
“As to that, Ānanda, you may remember this discourse on the Dhamma as ‘The Honeyball Discourse.’”
That is what the Blessed One said. The venerable Ānanda was satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
^226 Da˚ḍapāni, whose name means “stick-in-hand,” was so called because he used to walk around ostentatiously with a golden walking stick, even though he was still young and healthy. According to MA, he sided with Devadatta, the Buddha’sarch foe, when the latter attempted to create a schism in the Buddha’s following. His manner of asking the question is arrogant and deliberately provocative.
^227 The first part of the Buddha’s reply directly counters Da˚ḍapāni’s aggressive attitude. MA quotes in this connection SN 22:94/iii.138: “Bhikkhus, I do not dispute with the world, it is the world that disputes with me. A speaker of Dhamma does not dispute with anyone in the world.” The second part may be taken to mean that, for the arahant (spoken of here as “that brahmin” with reference to the Buddha himself), perceptions no longer awaken the dormant underlying tendencies to defilements, to be enumerated in §8.
^228 This response seems to be an expression of frustration and bewilderment.
^234 A large sweet cake or a ball made from flour, ghee, molasses, honey, sugar, etc. See also AN 5:194/iii.237.
All from here, which is from here.
Good luck to you!