Not named explicitly; a six-part riddle answered by a single, sweeping word
Form
Two four-line verses of question, answered by two matching verses of reply
Length
~45 seconds to read
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — direct in form, carrying the full weight of closing this entire saṃyutta
Closing all of SN 1
The eleventh and last discourse of the Chetvāvagga, and the 81st and final discourse of the entire Devatāsaṃyutta — the only discourse in this collection whose closing line is itself translated into English
Why this discourse
The question asks about true freedom and nobility across six related concerns: who is free of strife, whose life isn't wasted, who fully understands desire, who always lives as their own master, to whom do even one's own mother, father, and brothers bow, and who, though low-born, is bowed to even by aristocrats? Every single question receives the identical answer: ascetics (samaṇā) — not by birth, wealth, or worldly rank, but by what they have actually become.
Reading guide
Six questions, one sweeping answer
This discourse's reply is the most economical in this entire collection relative to its question's scope: six distinct concerns — freedom from strife, a life not wasted, understanding desire, self-mastery, filial reverence, and standing above caste — all answered with the identical single word, ‘ascetics.’
Family reverence, reversed
The verse's fifth claim — that a person's own mother, father, and brothers bow to them once they are ‘established’ as an ascetic — describes a genuine reversal of ordinary family hierarchy, where filial deference typically flows from child to parent. Renunciation is pictured as inverting even this most basic social relationship.
Birth outranked by attainment
The closing claim is the discourse's most socially pointed: even someone low-born (jātihīna) is bowed to by aristocrats (khattiyā) once they have become an ascetic. This directly echoes SN 1.48's earlier claim that purification comes ‘not by clan or wealth’ — here given its most complete social expression, with the entire caste hierarchy explicitly reversed.
The only translated closing line in this entire collection
Every vagga-closing colophon in this collection has been left untranslated in this edition — except this one. The final line following this discourse, marking not merely the Chetvāvagga's close but the completion of the entire Devatāsaṃyutta, is rendered directly into English: ‘The Linked Discourses on Deities are complete.’ This reading guide quotes it exactly as given, the one moment in this collection so far where the source text's own bookkeeping breaks through into the translation itself.
Eighty-one discourses, from a flood crossed to a hierarchy overturned
This collection opened at SN 1.1 with a deity asking how the Buddha crossed a flood ‘neither standing nor swimming.’ It closes, eighty discourses later, with a vision of ascetics who have crossed something else entirely — the ordinary claims of family hierarchy and inherited social rank — bowed to by the very people birth would otherwise have placed above them. Both discourses, in their own way, describe a crossing that ordinary means cannot accomplish.
Key terms
araṇa — “free of strife” — this discourse's title, and the first of six qualities its riddle asks about.
samaṇā — “ascetics” — the single word answering all six of this discourse's questions.
mātā pitā bhātā vandanti — “mother, father, and brothers bow” — describing a reversal of ordinary filial deference once a family member becomes an ascetic.
jātihīnaṁ abhivādenti khattiyā — “though low born, bowed to even by aristocrats” — this discourse's closing claim, echoing SN 1.48's rejection of clan and wealth as what purifies.
devatāsaṃyuttaṁ samattaṁ — “the Devatāsaṃyutta is complete” — the only closing colophon line in this entire collection rendered directly into English, marking the end of all 81 discourses.
The text
The discourse in full, closing with this collection's only translated colophon: the Devatāsaṃyutta's own completion, marked directly in the text. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
A question about true nobility
§1“Who in the world is free of strife? Whose life is not wasted? Who here completely understands desire? Who always lives as their own master?
§2To whom do mother, father, and brothers bow when they’re established? Who here, though low born, is bowed to even by aristocrats?”
Ascetics, named as the answer to every question
§3“Ascetics are free of strife in the world. The life of ascetics is not wasted. Ascetics completely understand desire. Ascetics always live as their own master.
§4Mother, father, and brothers bow to ascetics when they’re established. Even though an ascetic is low born, they’re bowed to even by aristocrats.”
The Devatāsaṃyutta is complete
§5The Linked Discourses on Deities are complete.
· · ·
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
How many distinct questions does this discourse's riddle ask?
Correct: A. Freedom from strife, a life not wasted, understanding desire, self-mastery, filial reverence, and standing above caste.
Question 2 of 10
What single word answers all six questions?
Correct: A. This collection's most economical answer relative to its question's scope.
Question 3 of 10
What does the discourse say happens to family hierarchy once someone becomes an ascetic?
Correct: A. A genuine inversion of ordinary filial deference.
Question 4 of 10
What does the discourse's closing claim say about someone low-born who becomes an ascetic?
Correct: A. Echoing SN 1.48's earlier claim that purification comes not by clan or wealth.
Question 5 of 10
What makes this discourse's closing colophon unique in this entire collection?
Correct: A. 'The Linked Discourses on Deities are complete' -- the source text's own bookkeeping breaking through into translation.
Question 6 of 10
What does this final colophon actually announce?
Correct: A. The close not merely of the Chetvāvagga but of SN 1 as a whole.
Question 7 of 10
How does this discourse's theme connect back to SN 1.1, this collection's opening discourse?
Correct: A. SN 1.1's flood crossed 'neither standing nor swimming,' and SN 1.81's hierarchy overturned by attainment rather than ordinary means.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'araṇa' mean?
Correct: A. This discourse's title, and the first quality its riddle asks about.
Question 9 of 10
What is the setting of this discourse?
Correct: A. No setting is given directly, consistent with most discourses in this vagga.
Question 10 of 10
What position does this discourse occupy in the overall structure of SN 1?
Correct: A. The true close of this collection's first and largest saṃyutta so far translated in this project.
