Not narrated in this discourse's source text; no discourse in this vagga carries a narrative frame at all
Speakers
Not named explicitly; a three-part riddle answered point by point
Form
A four-line question, answered by a matching four-line reply
Length
~20 seconds to read
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief in form, dense in philosophical implication
Opening this vagga
The first of ten discourses forming this collection's most tightly interconnected vagga, each probing what governs, binds, or afflicts ‘the world’
Why this discourse
The question asks about ultimate dominance: what overcomes everything, what does nothing excel, what single thing holds everything under its sway? The answer names something unexpected — not craving, not death, but ‘name’ (nāma) itself, repeated three times across the verse's three lines as the one thing nothing else can surpass or escape.
Reading guide
Naming as the ultimate power
The claim that name overcomes everything is a claim about how naming itself structures experience: nothing is encountered, thought about, or related to at all except by first being named or conceptually grasped. In this sense the verse treats nāma as prior to and more powerful than any specific thing that might be named.
A connection to this collection's earlier riddle on 'the communicable'
This discourse's emphasis on nāma's power echoes the compressed verses on akkheyya, ‘the communicable’ or nameable, already met at SN 1.20 — both discourses treat the act of naming or describing as something with real, almost inescapable force over how beings relate to the world.
Opening this collection's most tightly unified vagga
Every discourse in this vagga, from this one through SN 1.70, circles around a single connected question: what governs, binds, leads, or afflicts ‘the world’? Where several earlier vaggas gather loosely related riddles, this one reads almost as a sustained investigation, with each discourse offering one candidate answer before the vagga's last discourse supplies a concrete doctrinal resolution.
Key terms
nāma — “name” — this discourse's title and central claim, named as what overcomes everything and has all things under its sway.
sabbaṁ nāmena sahati — “name overcomes everything” — the verse's central assertion, repeated in different words across all three of its lines.
sabbassa vasamanvagū — “has everything under its sway” — the verse's final description of name's reach.
akkheyya — “the communicable, the nameable” — the closely related term already met at SN 1.20, describing a similar concern with naming's power.
addha — the vagga's own title-root, rendered by Sujato as ‘Overcome,’ naming the theme every discourse in this vagga circles around.
The text
The discourse in full: a compact claim about naming's ultimate power over everything. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“What overcomes everything? What is it that nothing excels? What is the one thing that has everything under its sway?”
§2“Name overcomes everything. Nothing excels name. Name is the one thing that has everything under its sway.”
· · ·
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 opening question ask about?
Correct: A. A question about ultimate dominance over all things.
Question 2 of 10
What does the reply name as what overcomes everything?
Correct: A. An unexpected answer, repeated three times across the verse.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's claim relate to naming or conceptualization more broadly?
Correct: A. Nothing is encountered or related to except by first being named or grasped conceptually.
Question 4 of 10
What earlier discourse in this collection shares a related concern with naming's power?
Correct: A. Both discourses treat naming or describing as having real, almost inescapable force.
Question 5 of 10
What theme connects every discourse in this vagga?
Correct: A. This collection's most tightly unified vagga, building toward a concrete resolution at its close.
Question 6 of 10
How many times does the verse's core claim about name repeat across its three lines?
Correct: A. Overcomes, is unexcelled, and holds sway — three restatements of the same claim.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'sabbassa vasamanvagū' mean?
Correct: A. The verse's final description of name's total reach.
Question 8 of 10
What English title does the translator, Sujato, give this vagga?
Correct: A. The rendering used consistently across the discourses in this vagga's own text.
Question 9 of 10
What is the setting of this discourse?
Correct: A. Like every discourse in this vagga, no setting is given directly.
Question 10 of 10
Does this vagga's structure resemble a loose gathering of unrelated riddles, like some earlier vaggas?
Correct: A. One of the most thematically unified vaggas in this collection.
