Near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove — the recurring frame, now resumed after SN 1.11's narrated exception
Speakers
An unnamed deity and the Buddha, in a single exchange of verses
Form
A four-line verse built on the word ‘delight,’ answered by an identically structured verse substituting ‘sorrow’ throughout
Length
~1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a single, precise substitution carries the entire discourse's meaning
Wordplay
This discourse's title, Nandati (‘delights’), echoes Nandana, the garden that opened this vagga and gives it its name
Why this discourse
The deity's verse claims that children, cattle, and possessions (upadhi, ‘attachments’ or ‘substrates’) are a source of delight, and that without such attachments there is no delight at all. The Buddha's reply does something almost mechanical and entirely devastating: it repeats the verse's exact grammatical structure, replacing every occurrence of ‘delight’ (nandati) with ‘sorrow’ (socati). The same attachments the deity names as the source of pleasure are, without changing a single noun, renamed as the source of grief.
Reading guide
One substitution, total reversal
Every clause of the deity's verse survives into the Buddha's reply unchanged except its central verb: nandati becomes socati throughout. Children, cattle, and attachments (upadhi) are not denied as real sources of feeling — the claim is that the very same attachments produce sorrow as readily as they produce delight.
Upadhi, what is attached to
Upadhi, translated here as ‘attachments,’ more literally names what is laid down or accumulated as a support — possessions, relationships, anything taken up and held onto. Both verses agree that upadhi is the single common cause of both delight and sorrow; the one nirūpadhī, ‘without attachments,’ experiences neither.
Echoing this vagga's name
The verb this discourse's title comes from, nandati, shares its root with Nandana, the garden that opened this vagga at SN 1.11 and gave the whole vagga its name. Where SN 1.11 corrected delight in a heavenly garden, this discourse turns the same word toward the most ordinary objects of delight — family and livestock.
Not a rejection of family, but a diagnosis
The verse makes no claim that having children or cattle is wrong; it claims only that whatever is held onto as upadhi will, by that very holding, produce sorrow as surely as it produces delight. The person free of attachments is described as free of both, not as someone who has simply lost what they loved.
Key terms
nandati — “delights” — the verb this discourse's title comes from, sharing its root with Nandana, the garden of SN 1.11.
socati — “grieves, sorrows” — the single word substituted for nandati throughout the Buddha's answering verse.
upadhi — “attachments” or “substrates” — what is taken up and held onto, named in both verses as the single common cause of delight and sorrow alike.
nirūpadhī — “one without attachments” — the condition in which, both verses agree, neither delight nor sorrow of this kind arises.
puttimā — “one who has children” — the deity's opening example, paired with cattle-ownership as an ordinary source of feeling.
The text
The discourse in full: a verse on delight, answered by the same verse with one word changed throughout. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. Standing to one side, that deity spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
§2“Children bring you delight! Cattle also bring you delight! For attachments are a man’s delight; without attachments there’s no delight.”
§3“Children bring you sorrow. Cattle also bring you sorrow. For attachments are a man’s sorrow; without attachments there are no sorrows.”
· · ·
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What does the deity's verse claim brings delight?
Correct: A. Nandati puttehi puttimā… — the deity's opening claim.
Question 2 of 10
What single word does the Buddha's reply substitute throughout the verse?
Correct: A. A single, precise substitution carries the entire reply.
Question 3 of 10
Does the Buddha's reply deny that children and cattle can be sources of feeling?
Correct: A. The claim is about what attachment produces, not about denying the objects.
Question 4 of 10
What does 'upadhi' mean?
Correct: A. Named in both verses as the common cause of delight and sorrow alike.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'nirūpadhī' describe?
Correct: A. The condition both verses agree is free of both delight and sorrow.
Question 6 of 10
What root does 'nandati' share with a discourse earlier in this vagga?
Correct: A. The same root word applied to a heavenly garden, then to ordinary family life.
Question 7 of 10
Does this discourse claim that having a family is wrong?
Correct: A. A diagnosis of attachment's double effect, not a condemnation of family itself.
Question 8 of 10
What is the setting of this discourse?
Correct: A. The Devatāsaṃyutta's standard frame, after SN 1.11's narrated departure from it.
Question 9 of 10
How closely does the Buddha's verse structurally match the deity's?
Correct: A. A near-mechanical substitution across an otherwise identical verse.
Question 10 of 10
What condition does the deity's own verse already name as free of delight?
Correct: A. Already present in the deity's own verse, before the Buddha's reply reuses it.
