The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A bare declaration and a training instruction, the refrain this entire saṃyutta will repeat
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 a saṃyutta built entirely around one recurring warning and a parade of vivid images
Why this discourse
Opening Lābhasakkārasaṃyutta — the saṃyutta on possessions, honor, and popularity — this discourse states the claim the entire collection will illustrate again and again with new images: lābhasakkārasiloko, possessions and honor and popularity together, are grim, bitter, and harsh, an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. No simile accompanies the claim here; it's given flatly, followed immediately by the training this whole saṃyutta will repeat: give up whatever possessions, honor, and popularity arise, and don't let them occupy the mind.
Reading guide
A refrain stated before any image illustrates it
Unlike most of the discourses that follow, this one offers no simile at all — just the bare claim and the training response, establishing the wording every later discourse's vivid images will be attached to.
Three things named together, not one
Lābha (possessions or material gain), sakkāra (honor or being treated with ceremony), and siloka (popularity or renown) are treated as a single compound danger throughout this saṃyutta, not three separate temptations to consider one at a time.
A specific, named obstacle
The claim isn't that these things are simply undesirable in a general sense; they're named specifically as antarāyiko anuttarassa yogakkhemassa adhigamāya, an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary from the yoke — blocking the highest goal specifically, not merely causing minor harm.
A training that names the danger as arising, not as fixed
The instruction isn't to avoid possessions, honor, and popularity entirely, an impossible standard for anyone living among other people; it's to give up whatever arises and not let it occupy the mind — a response to something that will keep happening, not a one-time renunciation.
A foundation for a saṃyutta of escalating images
Every discourse that follows in this vagga will restate this exact opening claim before attaching a new, increasingly vivid image to it — a hook, a turtle's cord, a dung beetle, lightning, a poisoned arrow, a mangy jackal, gale-force winds.
Key terms
lābhasakkārasiloko — “possessions, honor, and popularity” — this saṃyutta's compound namesake term, treated as one combined danger throughout.
dāruṇo … kaṭuko pharuso — “grim…bitter and harsh” — this discourse's title description, opening and anchoring the whole saṃyutta's central warning.
antarāyiko anuttarassa yogakkhemassa adhigamāya — “an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary from the yoke” — the specific highest goal this danger is said to block.
uppannaṁ lābhasakkārasilokaṁ pajahissāma — “we will give up arisen possessions, honor, and popularity” — the training instruction closing this discourse, repeated throughout this saṃyutta.
cittaṁ pariyādāya ṭhassati — “will occupy the mind” — the specific danger being trained against, not the mere arising of gain or honor but its capacity to take over.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!” “Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:
§2“Possessions, honor, and popularity are grim, bitter, and harsh. They’re an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary from the yoke. So you should train like this: ‘We will give up arisen possessions, honor, and popularity, and we won’t let them occupy our minds.’ That’s how you should train.”
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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 three things does this discourse's title term, lābhasakkārasiloko, combine?
Correct: A. Treated as one combined danger throughout this saṃyutta, not three separate temptations.
Question 2 of 10
What does this discourse say possessions, honor, and popularity obstruct?
Correct: A. A specific highest goal, not a vague general harm.
Question 3 of 10
What training instruction closes this discourse?
Correct: A. A response to something recurring, not a single one-time renunciation.
Question 4 of 10
Does this discourse include a simile illustrating its claim?
Correct: A. Establishing the wording later discourses will attach vivid images to.
Question 5 of 10
What role does this discourse play for the rest of the vagga?
Correct: A. The exact opening claim repeated and then illustrated anew, discourse by discourse.
Question 6 of 10
How does the training instruction frame the danger — as avoidable entirely, or as recurring?
Correct: A. "Give up whatever arises," not "ensure nothing ever arises."
Question 7 of 10
What does sakkāra specifically refer to, within the combined term?
Correct: A. One of three components — possessions, honor, and popularity — combined into a single term.
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. Given in full here, matching the fuller setting formula used at other saṃyutta openings.
Question 10 of 10
What numbering tag closes this discourse?
Correct: A. The first discourse of this new saṃyutta.
