Reading guide
Faith as a companion, not a possession
The first deity's image treats faith (saddhā) as a sahāyā, a ‘partner’ or companion, rather than something simply held or lacked. The metaphor suggests faith accompanies a person through their life the way a companion would, rather than functioning as a static possession.
A verse nearly repeating SN 1.34, with one word changed
The second deity's opening stanza — ‘give up anger, get rid of conceit, and get past all the fetters’ — is nearly identical to a verse already met two discourses earlier, at SN 1.34: only ‘chains’ here replaces ‘sufferings’ there as what doesn't torment one who has nothing. The near-repetition, this time within a few discourses of each other rather than across vaggas, shows this particular verse circulating closely within this collection's own material.
Diligence as a treasure, negligence as folly
The second stanza's image is direct: fools and simpletons devote themselves to negligence, while the wise protect diligence ‘as their best treasure’ (seṭṭhaṁ dhanaṁ) — framing sustained attentiveness not as a burden but as something valuable enough to actively guard.
An ending without resolution
This discourse simply stops after the second deity's third stanza, with no one asking who spoke best and no closing verse from the Buddha. Compared with SN 1.31 through SN 1.33's consistent pattern of ending in exactly that way, this discourse's abrupt close is a reminder that the multi-deity structure introduced earlier in this vagga is not a fixed template applied identically every time.
Key terms
The text
A first deity: faith as a partner
§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 a hundred felicities, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, and stood to one side. Standing to one side, one deity spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:
§2“Faith is a person’s partner. If faithlessness doesn’t linger, fame and renown are theirs, and when they discard this corpse they go to heaven.”
A second deity, in three stanzas
§3Then another deity recited these verses in the Buddha’s presence: “Give up anger, get rid of conceit, and get past all the fetters. Chains don’t torment one who has nothing, not clinging to name and form.”
§4“Fools and simpletons devote themselves to negligence. But the wise protect diligence as their best treasure.
§5Don’t devote yourself to negligence, or delight in erotic intimacy. For if you’re diligent and practice absorption, you’ll attain ultimate happiness.”
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