Not named explicitly; two stacked questions, answered by two matching replies
Form
Eight questions across two verses, answered by eight matching claims
Length
~45 seconds to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — direct in form, with two distinct registers, spiritual and agricultural
A second discourse sharing a title
This discourse's Pali title, Pajjotasutta, is identical to SN 1.26's; only the English singular/plural distinguishes them here
Why this discourse
This discourse asks eight questions across two verses, four spiritual and four agricultural: what is the world's lamp, what stays wakeful, who are one's work colleagues, what is one's walk of life — and what nurtures the idle and the tireless alike, like a mother her child, and what sustains earthbound creatures? The answer moves fluidly between registers: wisdom as lamp and mindfulness as wakeful, then cattle as colleagues and the furrow as a farmer's walk of life, closing with rain as the impartial nurturer of everyone alike.
Reading guide
Wisdom and mindfulness, named first
The first two answers stay within this collection's familiar vocabulary: wisdom (paññā) as the world's lamp, echoing SN 1.26's naming of the Buddha as the ‘best of blazes,’ and mindfulness (sati) as what remains wakeful even when other things are not.
A sudden shift to farming life
Without transition, the verse's third and fourth answers move entirely into agricultural imagery: cattle as work colleagues, and the furrow (sītā) itself as one's ‘walk of life’ — describing a farmer's actual daily labor rather than continuing the spiritual register of the first two answers.
Rain, impartial to effort
The verse's closing claim — that rain nurtures ‘the idle and the tireless’ alike, ‘like a mother her child’ — is a striking observation about natural provision that doesn't discriminate by merit or effort, a notable contrast with this collection's frequent emphasis on individual conduct determining individual outcome.
Rain, again, echoing SN 1.54 and SN 1.74
The final claim, that earthbound creatures sustain their life by rain, repeats content already met twice earlier in this collection — at SN 1.54 and again at SN 1.74 — the third and final appearance of this specific image within SN 1.
A second title collision, worth noting alongside the others
This discourse's Pali title, Pajjotasutta, is identical to SN 1.26's; only Sujato's English rendering distinguishes the two — ‘Lamps’ there, ‘Lamp’ here — joining this collection's other title collisions (Macchari, 'Getting Old,' 'Gives Birth') as another case where identical Pali titles cover genuinely different content.
Key terms
pajjota — “a lamp, a blaze” — this discourse's title, shared with SN 1.26 despite covering entirely different content.
paññā pajjoto lokasmiṁ — “wisdom is the lamp for the world” — the first answer, echoing SN 1.26's imagery of light with a different subject.
sati lokasmiṁ jāgaro — “mindfulness in the world is wakeful” — the second answer, naming mindfulness's characteristic alertness.
sītā jīvitavuttiko — “the furrow is one's walk of life” — the fourth answer, describing a farmer's daily labor in agricultural terms.
mātā puttaṁva posati — “like a mother her child” — the simile applied to rain's impartial nurturing of the idle and the tireless alike.
The text
The discourse in full: wisdom and mindfulness first, then a shift into farming imagery and impartial rain. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“What’s the lamp for the world? What in the world is wakeful? Who are one’s work colleagues? What is one’s walk of life?
§2What nurtures the idle and the tireless, like a mother her child? By what do the creatures who live off the earth sustain their life?”
§3“Wisdom is the lamp for the world. Mindfulness in the world is wakeful. Cattle are one’s work colleagues, and the furrow is one’s walk of life.
§4Rain nurtures the idle and the tireless, like a mother her child. The creatures who live off the earth sustain their life by rain.”
· · ·
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 reply name as the world's lamp?
Correct: A. Echoing SN 1.26's imagery of light applied to a different subject.
Question 2 of 10
What does the reply name as what stays wakeful in the world?
Correct: A. The second answer, naming mindfulness's characteristic alertness.
Question 3 of 10
What imagery does the verse shift to for its third and fourth answers?
Correct: A. A notable shift from spiritual to agricultural register, without transition.
Question 4 of 10
What does the verse say about rain's nurturing of the idle and the tireless?
Correct: A. An observation about impartial natural provision, contrasting with themes of merit and effort elsewhere in this collection.
Question 5 of 10
How many times has the image of creatures sustained by rain now appeared in this collection?
Correct: A. A recurring image appearing across three separate discourses within SN 1.
Question 6 of 10
What earlier discourse shares this discourse's Pali title?
Correct: A. A title collision, joining this collection's other repeated English titles.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'sītā jīvitavuttiko' mean?
Correct: A. The fourth answer, describing agricultural labor as a way of life.
Question 8 of 10
What does the reply name as one's work colleagues?
Correct: A. The third answer, continuing the shift into agricultural imagery.
Question 9 of 10
What is the setting of this discourse?
Correct: A. No setting is given directly.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'mātā puttaṁva posati' mean?
Correct: A. The simile applied to rain's impartial nurturing.
