Reading guide
A hostile posture, marked from the start
Every deity elsewhere in this collection who addresses the Buddha approaches and stands respectfully ‘to one side.’ This discourse's fault-finding deities instead stand ‘in the air’ — a physical detail marking confrontation and distance rather than the usual deference, before a single word is spoken.
An accusation of hypocrisy, answered without denial
The deities' opening verses accuse the Buddha, implicitly, of saying one thing and doing another — like a cheating gambler enjoying stolen gains. Rather than protest his own innocence, the Buddha's reply simply describes what genuine progress on the path actually looks like: not achieved by speaking or listening alone, but by understanding ‘the way of the world’ and being quenched by that understanding. The accusation is left for the deities themselves to judge against this description.
An apology, a smile, and a renewed attack
The deities land, bow at the Buddha's feet, and apologize directly for their foolish presumption — a moment of genuine humility this collection rarely shows. The Buddha's response is recorded as a smile, one of very few places in this collection where his emotional reaction is described directly. Remarkably, the deities do not settle after apologizing: they become ‘even more fault-finding’ and fly back up to taunt him again, this time about forgiveness itself.
A trap in the second taunt, and an answer that sidesteps it
The deities' second taunt is a kind of trap: if you don't pardon a confessed mistake, you're stuck in hidden enmity. The Buddha's reply doesn't take the bait of self-defense; it questions the premise instead — if no mistake had even been found, wouldn't settling any remaining enmity still be skillful regardless? Only after the deities then ask directly who, if anyone, never errs, does the Buddha answer plainly, naming himself, and explicitly states: ‘I pardon your mistake.’
Key terms
The text
Fault-finding deities arrive, standing in the air
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. Then, late at night, several glorious deities of the host of the fault-finders, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, and stood in the air. Standing in the air, one deity spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
§2“Someone who pretends to be other than they really are, is like a cheating gambler who enjoys what was gained by theft. You should only say what you would do; you shouldn’t say what you wouldn’t do. The wise will recognize one who talks without doing.”
The Buddha's answer, without denial
§3“Not just by speaking, nor solely by listening, are you able to progress on this hard path, by which the attentive practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds. The attentive certainly don’t act like that, for they understand the way of the world. The attentive are quenched by understanding, they’ve crossed over clinging to the world.”
An apology, a smile, and a renewed taunt
§4Then those deities landed on the ground, bowed with their heads at the Buddha’s feet and said, “We made a mistake, sir. It was foolish, stupid, and unskillful of us to presume to attack the Buddha! Please, sir, accept our mistake for what it is, so we will restrain ourselves in future.” At that, the Buddha smiled. Then those deities, becoming even more fault-finding, flew up in the air. One deity spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
§5“If you don’t give your pardon when a mistake is confessed, with hidden anger and heavy hate, you’re stuck in your enmity.”
The Buddha turns the trap aside
§6“Suppose no mistake were found, and no-one here had gone astray: if enmities were not settled, how could that be skilful?”
Who never errs? A direct answer, and a pardon
§7“Who makes no mistakes? Who doesn’t go astray? Who doesn’t fall into confusion? Who is attentive, ever mindful?”
§8“The Realized One, the Buddha, sympathetic for all beings: that’s who makes no mistakes, and that’s who doesn’t go astray. He doesn’t fall into confusion, for he’s attentive, ever mindful. If you don’t give your pardon when a mistake is confessed, with hidden anger and heavy hate, you’re stuck in your enmity. I don’t approve of such enmity, and so I pardon your mistake.”
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