As you say the ATI list is a combintaion of Similes, Metaphors, and Analogies.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-similes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Perhaps we could examine a few.
I'm usually reasonably clear about similes, since they say "This means that...".
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... tml#dhp-49" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As a bee — without harming the blossom, its color, its fragrance — takes its nectar & flies away: so should the sage go through a village.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... ml#butter1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm less clear when they are not explicit and become metaphors or analogies."Suppose a man in need of fire, looking for fire, wandering in search of fire, would take a fire stick and rub it into a wet, sappy piece of wood. If he were to take a fire stick and rub it into a wet, sappy piece of wood even when having made a wish [for results]... having made no wish... both having made a wish and having made no wish... neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, he would be incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an inappropriate way of obtaining results.
"In the same way, any priests or contemplatives endowed with wrong view, wrong resolve, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, & wrong concentration: If they follow the holy life even when having made a wish [for results]... having made no wish... both having made a wish and having made no wish... neither having made a wish nor having made no wish, they are incapable of obtaining results. Why is that? Because it is an inappropriate way of obtaining results.
How about classifying a few from ATI. E.g.
Sedaka Sutta: At Sedaka 1: The Acrobat
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mike