The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
SN 13.7's same image, reversed from drawing water out to the ocean drying up and leaving a remainder
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
★★☆☆☆ — completing this saṃyutta's third matched pair
Why this discourse
This discourse completes the pair SN 13.7 opened, imagining the ocean itself — the largest body of water in this saṃyutta's images — dried up and evaporated until only two or three drops remain. The shift from SN 13.7 follows exactly the pattern already seen twice: a comparison between a whole and a sample becomes a comparison between an exhausted vastness and a tiny remainder, the framing this saṃyutta's application actually depends on. By this point in the sequence, the pattern is fully established, and this discourse's main interest lies less in anything new than in how consistently the pairing logic holds even at this extreme a scale.
Reading guide
The largest body of water in this saṃyutta, exhausted
Where SN 13.4 dried up a river confluence and SN 13.6 eroded the earth, this discourse dries up the ocean itself, the most extreme single application yet of the "vast thing exhausted, tiny thing remaining" structure this saṃyutta keeps returning to.
The same two-drop remainder, in its largest possible contrast
Two or three drops recur here exactly as in SN 13.3, SN 13.4, and SN 13.7, but set against the ocean's complete exhaustion rather than a river confluence's, giving the identical tiny quantity its most extreme possible contrast in this saṃyutta.
A third confirmed instance of the same structural shift
Following SN 13.3 to SN 13.4 and SN 13.5 to SN 13.6, this pair confirms for a third time that this saṃyutta's matched pairs move consistently from a sample drawn or placed to a remainder left behind, never the reverse order.
One pair still to come
With the confluence, the earth, and now the ocean each given their forward-and-reverse treatment, only the Himalayas remain for the final matched pair in SN 13.9 and SN 13.10.
A closing formula about to change
This discourse's own closing application stays elided, matching the established pace, but the very next discourse in the mountain pair, SN 13.10, returns to the fully spelled-out form last seen in SN 13.1 and SN 13.2, signaling this saṃyutta's approach to its close.
Key terms
mahāsamuddo parikkhayaṁ pariyādānaṁ gaccheyya — “the water in the ocean dried up and evaporated” — the ocean's fate reversed from SN 13.7's deliberate drawing out.
ṭhapetvā dve vā tīṇi vā udakaphusitāni — “except for two or three drops” — the same tiny quantity as SN 13.7, now framed as a remainder rather than a sample.
etadeva, bhante, bahutaraṁ mahāsamudde udakaṁ, yadidaṁ parikkhīṇaṁ pariyādiṇṇaṁ — “sir, the water in the ocean that has dried up and evaporated is certainly more” — a comparison between loss and remainder, at this saṃyutta's largest scale.
dukkhaṁ… parikkhīṇaṁ pariyādiṇṇaṁ — “suffering… ended and finished” — the closing application's own language, matched here at its most extreme contrast.
evameva kho, bhikkhave…pe… dhammacakkhupaṭilābho — “in the same way, mendicants… the vision of the teaching” — the same elided closing application as SN 13.7.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, suppose the water in the ocean dried up and evaporated except for two or three drops. What do you think, mendicants? Which is more: the water in the ocean that has dried up and evaporated, or the two or three drops left?”
§2“Sir, the water in the ocean that has dried up and evaporated is certainly more. The two or three drops left are tiny. Compared to the water in the ocean that has dried up and evaporated, 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 happens to the ocean in this discourse, unlike SN 13.7?
Correct: A. A shift from deliberate sampling to natural exhaustion, at this saṃyutta's largest scale.
Question 2 of 10
How does this pair (SN 13.7–8) compare in scale to SN 13.3–4 and SN 13.5–6?
Correct: A. The ocean's complete exhaustion is the most extreme application of the pattern yet.
Question 3 of 10
What does this pair confirm, being the third instance of the same structural shift?
Correct: A. A confirmed, deliberate structural choice, not incidental repetition.
Question 4 of 10
What matched pair remains after this one?
Correct: A. One more pair before this saṃyutta's closing discourse.
Question 5 of 10
What changes in the very next discourse after this one, SN 13.9's partner SN 13.10?
Correct: A. A signal that this saṃyutta is approaching its close.
Question 6 of 10
What tiny quantity remains after the ocean dries up?
Correct: A. The identical quantity used in SN 13.7, now reframed as a remainder.
Question 7 of 10
What does the mendicants' response confirm in this discourse?
Correct: A. The same brief confirmation pattern used through most of this saṃyutta.
Question 8 of 10
How is this discourse's closing formula given?
Correct: A. The norm for most of this saṃyutta, about to shift in the discourses that follow.
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.
