The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The same brief comparison as SN 13.3, now applied to the ocean itself rather than a river confluence
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — opens this saṃyutta's third matched pair, scaling up from SN 13.3's confluence
Why this discourse
This discourse repeats SN 13.3's exact image — two or three drops of water drawn out, compared to the whole body they're taken from — but scales the water itself up from a river confluence to the ocean, the largest single body of water this saṃyutta's images will reach for. Nothing about the underlying comparison changes; what changes is the vastness of what the tiny quantity is being measured against, continuing this saṃyutta's pattern of returning to the same handful of images at increasing scale. Like SN 13.3 and SN 13.5, this discourse opens a pair, completed immediately by SN 13.8.
Reading guide
The same drops, a larger sea
This discourse's two or three drops are drawn out exactly as in SN 13.3, but from the ocean rather than a river confluence, escalating the comparison's scale without changing its structure at all.
The largest body of water this saṃyutta reaches for
Of the pond, the confluence, and the ocean used across this saṃyutta's water-based similes, the ocean is by far the largest, making this discourse's comparison the most extreme version of the drops-drawn-out image before this saṃyutta moves on to mountains.
A confirmation that the specific image doesn't carry the doctrine
Because this discourse's structure and application are identical to SN 13.3's, with only the body of water changed, it confirms that no particular image (a confluence, an ocean) is itself doctrinally significant — each is simply a vehicle for the same underlying comparison.
A third matched pair, opened here
Exactly as SN 13.3 and SN 13.5 opened their respective pairs, this discourse opens a third, with SN 13.8 supplying the ocean's reverse, dried-up half immediately after.
A pace now fully established
By this point in the saṃyutta, the brief comparison, the short confirmation, and the elided closing application have become the norm, with SN 13.1 and SN 13.2's fuller treatment now clearly an exception reserved for the opening only.
Key terms
mahāsamuddato dve vā tīṇi vā udakaphusitāni uddhareyya — “draw two or three drops of water from the ocean” — the same tiny quantity as SN 13.3, now drawn from the largest body of water in this saṃyutta's images.
mahāsamudde udakaṁ — “the water in the ocean” — the vast comparandum, larger than SN 13.2's pond or SN 13.3's confluence.
etadeva, bhante, bahutaraṁ, yadidaṁ mahāsamudde udakaṁ — “sir, the water in the ocean is certainly more” — the mendicants' brief confirmation, in the same form used through most of this saṃyutta.
neva satimaṁ kalaṁ upenti na sahassimaṁ kalaṁ upenti na satasahassimaṁ kalaṁ upenti — “not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred-thousandth part” — the threefold negative recurring at its most extreme scale so far.
evameva kho, bhikkhave…pe… dhammacakkhupaṭilābho — “in the same way, mendicants… the vision of the teaching” — the elided closing application, unchanged from SN 13.3 and SN 13.5.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, suppose a man was to draw up two or three drops of water from the ocean. What do you think, mendicants? Which is more: the two or three drops drawn out or the water in the ocean?”
§2“Sir, the water in the ocean is certainly more. The two or three drops drawn out are tiny. Compared to the water in the ocean, it’s not nearly a hundredth, a thousandth, or a hundred thousandth part.” “In the same way, for a noble disciple, the suffering that’s over and done with is more …”
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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 body of water does this discourse use, scaling up from SN 13.3's river confluence?
Correct: A. The largest single body of water this saṃyutta's images reach for.
Question 2 of 10
How does this discourse's structure compare to SN 13.3's?
Correct: A. The same comparison, escalated in scale rather than changed in kind.
Question 3 of 10
What does the identical structure between this discourse and SN 13.3 confirm?
Correct: A. The image varies; the underlying comparison does not.
Question 4 of 10
What does this discourse open, completed by SN 13.8?
Correct: A. Following the same pairing pattern as SN 13.3–4 and SN 13.5–6.
Question 5 of 10
How is this discourse's closing formula given?
Correct: A. The norm for most of this saṃyutta by this point.
Question 6 of 10
What tiny quantity is drawn from the ocean?
Correct: A. The same quantity used in SN 13.3's river confluence.
Question 7 of 10
What does the mendicants' response confirm?
Correct: A. The same brief confirmation pattern used through most of this saṃyutta.
Question 8 of 10
What comes after this discourse's pairing with SN 13.8?
Correct: A. One more pair before this saṃyutta's closing discourse.
Question 9 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visiting figure appears.
Question 10 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The consistent setting shared with every discourse in this saṃyutta.
