Reading guide
A new setting, once
Every discourse so far in this vagga, and every discourse in the previous one, is set near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove. This discourse alone moves the action to Rājagaha's Hot Springs Monastery — a single, unexplained departure from this collection's otherwise unbroken setting.
Sandiṭṭhika versus kālika
Samiddhi's reply to the deity's invitation turns on a specific contrast: sensual pleasures are kālika, taking effect only over time, full of suffering and distress; the teaching he follows is sandiṭṭhika, apparent in the present life, immediately effective, inviting inspection. Pressed to explain exactly how, he admits he cannot — he is junior, recently gone forth, and refers the deity onward to the Buddha himself.
A retelling the text itself skips
When Samiddhi reaches the Buddha and recounts everything that happened, the source text repeats the entire earlier exchange word for word in Pāli — but its English translation leaves this retelling blank, since it would simply repeat what the reader has already read in full. This reading guide follows the source in passing over the repeated retelling rather than quoting it twice.
Three verses, three requests, no plain answer
Once the deity confirms her presence to the Buddha directly, he addresses her not with a prose explanation but with a compressed verse on akkheyya, ‘the communicable’ or nameable: beings who perceive it become established in it, and not understanding it, fall under Death's yoke. The deity admits she doesn't grasp the ‘detailed meaning’ of this ‘brief statement’ and asks him to spell it out. He answers, not with prose, but with another compressed verse, on not measuring oneself as equal, better, or worse. She asks again; he answers a third time, with a verse on cutting the ties of craving so completely that gods and humans, searching everywhere, cannot find the one who has done so.
The deity's own unconfirmed answer
Only after the third verse does the deity offer her own paraphrase, in ordinary ethical terms: never do wrong by speech, mind, or body; having given up sensual pleasures, mindful and aware, don't keep doing what is painful and pointless. The discourse simply ends there — the Buddha never confirms or corrects her reading, and this reading guide follows the text in not supplying a resolution it does not itself provide.
Key terms
The text
Samiddhi meets a deity before dawn
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Hot Springs Monastery. Then Venerable Samiddhi rose at the crack of dawn and went to the hot springs to bathe. When he had bathed and emerged from the water he stood in one robe drying his limbs. Then, late at night, a glorious deity, lighting up the entire hot springs, went up to Samiddhi, and, standing in the air, addressed him in verse:
§2“Mendicant, you seek alms before you eat; you don’t seek alms after eating. But you should eat first, then seek alms: don’t let the time pass you by.”
§3“I actually don’t know the time; it’s hidden and unseen. That’s why I seek alms before eating, so that the time may not pass me by!”
An invitation, and a refusal
§4Then that deity landed on the ground and said to Samiddhi, “You’ve gone forth while young, mendicant. With pristine black hair, you’re blessed with youth, in the prime of life, and you’ve never flirted with sensual pleasures. Enjoy human sensual pleasures! Don’t give up what is apparent in the present to chase after what takes effect over time.”
§5“I’m not, reverend. I’m giving up what takes effect over time to chase after what is apparent in the present. For the Buddha has said that sensual pleasures take effect over time, with much suffering and distress, and they’re all the more full of drawbacks. But this teaching is apparent in the present life, immediately effective, inviting inspection, relevant, so that sensible people can know it for themselves.”
§6“But in what way, mendicant, has the Buddha said that sensual pleasures take effect over time, with much suffering and distress, and they’re all the more full of drawbacks? And how is this teaching apparent in the present life, immediately effective, inviting inspection, relevant, so that sensible people can know it for themselves?”
§7“I’m junior, respectable sir, recently gone forth, newly come to this teaching and training. I’m not able to explain this in detail. But he, that Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha, is staying near Rājagaha in the Hot Springs Monastery. You should approach him and ask about this matter. And you should remember it in line with the Buddha’s answer.”
§8“It’s not easy for us to approach the Buddha, as he is surrounded by other illustrious deities. If you go to the Buddha and ask him about this matter, we’ll come along and listen to the teaching.” “Yes, reverend,” Venerable Samiddhi replied. He went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him what had happened. Then he added:
The deity keeps her word
§9“Sir, if that deity spoke the truth, he’ll be close by.” When he had spoken, that deity said to Samiddhi, “Ask, mendicant, ask! For I have arrived.”
A verse on the communicable
§10Then the Buddha addressed the deity in verse: “Sentient beings who perceive the communicable, become established in the communicable. Not understanding the communicable, they fall under the yoke of Death. But having fully understood the communicable, they don’t conceive a communicator, for they have nothing by which they might be described. Tell me if you understand, spirit.”
§11“I don’t understand the detailed meaning of the Buddha’s brief statement. Please teach me this matter so I can understand the detailed meaning.”
A second verse, on equal, special, or worse
§12“If you think that ‘I’m equal, special, or worse’, you’ll dispute about that. Unwavering in the face of the three discriminations, you’ll have no thought ‘I’m equal or special’. Tell me if you understand, spirit.”
§13“I don’t understand the detailed meaning of the Buddha’s brief statement. Please teach me this matter so I can understand the detailed meaning.”
A third verse, on cutting the ties
§14“They gave up judgement without falling into conceit; craving for name and form was cut off right here. They cut the ties, untroubled, with no need for hope. Though gods and humans search for them in this life or the next, they never find them, not in heaven nor in any abode. Tell me if you understand, spirit.”
The deity's own answer
§15“This is how I understand the detailed meaning of the Buddha’s brief statement: You should never do anything bad by speech or mind or body in all the world. Having given up sensual pleasures, mindful and aware, you shouldn’t keep doing what’s painful and pointless.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.