The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The same refrain-parable-refrain-exhortation template as SN 15.1, with a new image and the paternal line in place of the maternal one
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
★★☆☆☆ — a direct companion to SN 15.1, worth reading immediately after it
Why this discourse
This discourse repeats SN 15.1's exact structure with a new image: roll the entire earth into clay balls the size of jujube seeds, and lay each one down for a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather. The whole earth would run out before the paternal line did. Where SN 15.1 used the known continent's plant matter to count mothers, this discourse uses the planet itself, reduced to a much finer unit — a jujube seed being considerably smaller than a four-inch stick — to count fathers, extending the same beginningless-transmigration claim to the paternal side of the family line.
Reading guide
A direct structural twin of SN 15.1
Every element of this discourse's shape — opening refrain, single parable, closing refrain, standard exhortation — matches SN 15.1 precisely; only the specific image and relationship named have changed.
A finer unit than SN 15.1's, for an even larger mass
A jujube seed is considerably smaller than a four-inch stick, and the whole earth is a far larger mass than plant matter alone — this discourse's measure is simultaneously finer-grained and drawn from something vaster.
The paternal line, completing what SN 15.1 began
Where SN 15.1 named mothers and grandmothers, this discourse names fathers and grandfathers, together covering both sides of the family line across this saṃyutta's first two discourses.
Brevity as a sign of an established pattern
This discourse omits the full “so I have heard” opening SN 15.1 used, returning to the simpler “at Sāvatthī” — a small but clear signal that the reader is now expected to recognize the pattern rather than be introduced to it fresh.
A pattern this saṃyutta will vary at least eight more times
The refrain-image-refrain-exhortation shape established across these first two discourses recurs, with a new image substituted each time, through most of the remaining discourses in this vagga.
Key terms
mahāpathaviṁ — “the whole earth” — this discourse's title subject and the physical scope of its parable, larger than SN 15.1's continent-only measure.
kolaṭṭhimattaṁ mattikāguḷikaṁ — “clay balls the size of jujube seeds” — the parable's exact, fine-grained unit of measure.
pitā, pitāmaha — “father, grandfather” — the paternal line this discourse's clay balls are laid down for, completing SN 15.1's maternal counterpart.
anamataggoyaṁ … saṁsāro — “this transmigration has no known beginning” — the same opening and closing refrain as SN 15.1, unchanged.
dutiyaṁ — “the second” — the closing numbering tag, marking this discourse's place in the vagga.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving. Suppose a person was to make the whole earth into clay balls the size of jujube seeds. They’d lay them down, saying: ‘This is my father, this is my grandfather.’ The whole earth would run out before that person’s fathers and grandfathers. Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time you have undergone suffering, agony, and disaster, swelling the cemeteries. 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 image does this discourse use, in place of SN 15.1's grass and wood?
Correct: A. A new image, following the same structural template as SN 15.1.
Question 2 of 10
What relationship does this discourse's clay balls represent, completing SN 15.1's maternal line?
Correct: A. The paternal side, covering the family line SN 15.1 didn't address.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's unit of measure compare to SN 15.1's four-inch stick pieces?
Correct: A. A jujube seed is smaller than a four-inch stick, applied to the whole earth rather than just plant matter.
Question 4 of 10
What structural element does this discourse omit, compared to SN 15.1?
Correct: A. A signal that the reader now recognizes the established pattern.
Question 5 of 10
What does this discourse conclude would run out first: the earth, or the fathers?
Correct: A. The same conclusion structure as SN 15.1, applied to the paternal line.
Question 6 of 10
How many more times, roughly, does this saṃyutta vary this same refrain-image-refrain-exhortation pattern?
Correct: A. A recurring template with a new image substituted each time.
Question 7 of 10
What is a jujube seed, in the context this discourse uses it?
Correct: A. A genuinely small object, emphasizing how immense the resulting count still is.
Question 8 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visitor appears.
Question 9 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The setting shared with most discourses in this collection.
Question 10 of 10
What numbering tag closes this discourse?
Correct: A. The second discourse of this saṃyutta's first vagga.
