Reading guide
A crisis framed in ordinary, human terms first
Before any teaching begins, this discourse presents a recognizable domestic emergency — a mother's child afflicted, her genuine grief — grounding the exchange that follows in real emotional stakes rather than abstract inquiry.
A belief confirmed, not corrected
Unlike several other discourses in this collection built around correcting a mistaken view, the spirit's reply here simply affirms that what the woman heard from the arahants was accurate — her distress isn't from having believed something false, but from watching that true teaching seemingly fail in her own son's case.
Practical ethical advice offered for after recovery
The spirit's message for Sānu isn't abstract comfort; it is direct and simple — don't do bad deeds, openly or in secret — paired with the plain warning that such deeds bring suffering regardless of any attempt to escape.
A son's honest confusion, met with a redefinition of death
Sānu's question is entirely reasonable: people weep for the dead or the missing, and he's neither, so why does his mother cry? Her answer doesn't dismiss the question; it expands what death can mean, describing someone who abandons a genuine spiritual commitment to return to worldly pursuit as ‘though still alive, really dead.’
Rescue imagery carrying the discourse's final, urgent warning
The closing lines don't argue further; they pile up images of danger already escaped and then deliberately re-entered — hot coals, an abyss, a fire — each one asking, without needing to say so directly, why anyone would choose to return to what they were fortunate enough to leave.
Key terms
The text
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time a certain lay woman had a son named Sānu who had been seized by a native spirit. And as that lay woman wept, on that occasion she recited these verses:
§2“I have heard this from the perfected ones. The native spirits will not mess with anyone who leads the spiritual life by observing the sabbath complete in all eight factors on the fourteenth and the fifteenth days, and the eighth day of the fortnight, as well as on the fortnight of special displays. But now today I see native spirits messing with Sānu.”
§3“What you heard from the perfected ones is right. The native spirits will not mess with anyone who leads the spiritual life by observing the sabbath complete in all eight factors on the fourteenth and the fifteenth days, and the eighth day of the fortnight, as well as on the fortnight of special displays.
§4When Sānu regains consciousness tell him this saying of the native spirits: Don’t do bad deeds either openly or in secret. If you should do a bad deed, or you’re doing one now, you won’t be freed from suffering, though you fly away and flee.”
§5“Mum, they cry for the dead, or for one who’s alive but missing. I’m alive and you can see me, so mum, why do you weep for me?”
§6“Son, they cry for the dead, or for one who’s alive but missing. But someone who has given up sensual pleasures only to come back here again: they cry for them as well, for though still alive they’re really dead.
§7My dear, you’ve been rescued from hot coals, and you want to plunge right back in them! My dear, you’ve been rescued from the abyss, and you want to plunge right back there!
§8Hurry up, good luck to you! To whom should we complain? A valuable saved from a fire, you want to burn again!”
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