Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Bojjhā receives the same detailed sabbath teaching as Visākhā at AN 8.43 — the sixteen-country comparison and the six ascending tiers of heavenly lifespan — word for word, in Pāli, even where the English translation of one closing line appears to diverge.
A third named laywoman
Where AN 8.43 addressed Visākhā and AN 8.44 addressed the layman Vāseṭṭha, this discourse turns to a third figure, the laywoman Bojjhā, otherwise little known elsewhere in this collection, receiving the identical detailed teaching in the familiar setting of Jeta's Grove.
A line that doesn't quite match its own source
Checking the root Pāli against the English translation reveals something worth flagging honestly: the line translated elsewhere (AN 8.42, AN 8.43) as “not worth a sixteenth part of the sabbath with its eight factors” appears in this discourse's English rendering as “not worth a sixteenth part of the mind developed with love” — even though the underlying Pāli line is word-for-word identical to AN 8.42 and 8.43's own.
Presented as found, not silently corrected
This project pulls its text directly from the source translation data without hand-editing, and this small discrepancy is presented the same way: as an observed anomaly, almost certainly an accidental carryover from AN 8.1's own verse about a mind developed with love, rather than a deliberate variant reading, but reported honestly rather than quietly fixed.
Key terms
The text
The setting, and the eight factors
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then the laywoman Bojjhā went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to her: “Bojjhā, the observance of the sabbath with its eight factors is very fruitful and beneficial and dazzling and bountiful. And how should it be observed? It’s when a noble disciple reflects: ‘As long as they live, the perfected ones give up killing living creatures, renouncing the rod and the sword. They are scrupulous and kind, and live full of sympathy for all living beings. I, too, for this day and night will give up killing living creatures, renouncing the rod and the sword. I’ll be scrupulous and kind, and live full of sympathy for all living beings. I will observe the sabbath by doing as the perfected ones do in this respect.’ This is its first factor. … ‘As long as they live, the perfected ones give up high and luxurious beds. They sleep in a low place, either a cot or a straw mat. I, too, for this day and night will give up high and luxurious beds. I’ll sleep in a low place, either a cot or a straw mat. I will observe the sabbath by doing as the perfected ones do in this respect.’ This is its eighth factor. The observance of the sabbath with its eight factors in this way is very fruitful and beneficial and dazzling and bountiful. How much so? Suppose you were to rule as sovereign lord over these sixteen great countries—Aṅga, Magadha, Kāsi, Kosala, Vajji, Malla, Cetī, Vaccha, Kuru, Pañcāla, Maccha, Sūrasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhāra, and Kamboja—full of the seven kinds of precious things. This wouldn’t be worth a sixteenth part of the sabbath with its eight factors. Why is that? Because human kingship is a poor thing compared to the happiness of the gods.
Six heavens, each with its own arithmetic
§2Fifty years in the human realm is one day and night for the gods of the four great kings. Thirty such days make up a month. Twelve such months make up a year. The lifespan of the gods of the four great kings is five hundred of these heavenly years. It’s possible that some woman or man who has observed the eight-factored sabbath will—when their body breaks up, after death—be reborn in the company of the gods of the four great kings. This is what I was referring to when I said: ‘Human kingship is a poor thing compared to the happiness of the gods.’ A hundred years in the human realm … Two hundred years in the human realm … Four hundred years in the human realm … Eight hundred years in the human realm … Sixteen hundred years in the human realm is one day and night for the gods who control what is created by others. Thirty such days make up a month. Twelve such months make up a year. The life span of the gods who Control what is created by Others is sixteen thousand of these heavenly years. It’s possible that some woman or man who has observed the eight-factored sabbath will—when their body breaks up, after death—be reborn in the company of the gods who control what is created by others. This is what I was referring to when I said: ‘Human kingship is a poor thing compared to the happiness of the gods.’
Closing verses
§3You shouldn’t kill living creatures, or steal, or lie, or drink liquor. Be chaste, refraining from sex, and don’t eat at night, the wrong time. Not wearing garlands or applying fragrance, you should sleep on a low bed, or a mat on the ground. This is the eight-factored sabbath, they say, explained by the Buddha, who has gone to suffering’s end. The moon and sun are both fair to see, radiating as far as they revolve. Those dispellers of darkness, travellers in midair, shine in the firmament, lighting up the quarters. All of the wealth that’s found in this realm—pearls, gems, fine beryl too, mountain gold or pure gold, or the native gold called ‘coruscant’—they’re not worth a sixteenth part of the mind developed with love, as starlight cannot rival the moon. So an ethical woman or man, who has observed the eight-factored sabbath, having made merit whose outcome is happiness, blameless, they go to a heavenly place.”
Self-check quiz
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