The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The refrain, followed by one direct universal claim rather than a measured comparison
Length
under 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
★☆☆☆☆ — the briefest possible form, opening a six-discourse set on family relationships
Why this discourse
SN 15.1 measured mothers by comparing them to a continent's worth of grass and wood; this discourse instead makes a direct universal claim, with no comparison at all: it's not easy to find a single sentient being who, somewhere across this long, beginningless time, hasn't previously been your mother. Opening the first of six consecutive discourses on family relationships, this claim shifts the teaching's target from “how many” to “how few exceptions” — nearly every being you could ever meet has, at some point, already stood in this specific relationship to you.
Reading guide
A claim, not a measurement
Where SN 15.1 needed an elaborate physical image to make its point about mothers, this discourse states its claim directly and without any comparison at all — a different rhetorical strategy for a related idea.
Nearly universal, phrased as a rare exception
“It's not easy to find a being who hasn't” is a double negative construction that emphasizes just how close to universal this claim is — not “most beings,” but almost all of them, with exceptions being the genuinely hard-to-find case.
Opening a six-part set
This is the first of six consecutive discourses (SN 15.14–19) each applying this identical structure to a different family relationship — mother first, establishing the pattern the following five will repeat.
A companion, not a duplicate, of SN 15.1
Though both discourses concern mothers, they make genuinely different claims: SN 15.1 says the count of past mothers exceeds an entire continent's wood; this discourse says nearly every being has already been your mother at some point — quantity versus near-total coverage.
A universal claim grounding real-world regard
Taken seriously, this claim reframes how one might regard any stranger — not as unrelated, but as someone who has, somewhere in beginningless time, already occupied this most intimate of relationships.
Key terms
na … sulabharūpo — “not easy to find” — the discourse's framing, emphasizing how rare an exception to this claim would actually be.
namātābhūtapubbo — “has not previously been your mother” — this discourse's specific claim, applied to nearly every sentient being.
iminā dīghena addhunā — “in all this long time” — the same beginningless temporal frame used throughout this saṃyutta.
anamataggoyaṁ … saṁsāro — “this transmigration has no known beginning” — the refrain opening and closing this discourse.
catutthaṁ — “the fourth” — the closing numbering tag, marking this discourse's place in the vagga.
The text
The discourse in full, including the source's own elision of the standard refrain. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. … It’s not easy to find a sentient being who in all this long time has not previously been your mother. Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”
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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 claim does this discourse make about mothers?
Correct: A. A direct universal claim, without any comparative measurement.
Question 2 of 10
How does this discourse's approach differ from SN 15.1's treatment of mothers?
Correct: A. Two genuinely different rhetorical strategies for related ideas.
Question 3 of 10
What does the double-negative phrasing ("not easy to find a being who hasn't") emphasize?
Correct: A. Nearly all beings, not merely most, have occupied this relationship.
Question 4 of 10
What set of discourses does this one open?
Correct: A. Establishing a pattern that father, brother, sister, son, and daughter will each repeat.
Question 5 of 10
How does this reading guide suggest the claim might reframe how one regards a stranger?
Correct: A. A practical reframing grounded in the universal claim.
Question 6 of 10
What temporal frame does this discourse's claim rest on?
Correct: A. The same beginningless frame used throughout this saṃyutta.
Question 7 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visitor appears; the Buddha teaches directly.
Question 8 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The setting shared with most discourses in this collection.
Question 9 of 10
What relationship does the discourse immediately following this one address?
Correct: A. SN 15.15 applies the identical structure to fathers.
