The Buddha alone, opening the vagga's second chapter
Form
A first-person report of the Buddha's own changed assessment of one individual over time
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
★★☆☆☆ — opens Dutiyavagga with a new form: personal testimony rather than fable
Why this discourse
This discourse opens the vagga's second chapter with something new: not a fable or a rhetorical question, but the Buddha's own first-person report. He once comprehended someone's mind and understood: this person wouldn't tell a deliberate lie even for a gold cup filled with silver powder. Some time later, he saw that same person tell a deliberate lie, because their mind had become overcome and overwhelmed by possessions, honor, and popularity. The point isn't a hypothetical danger but a specific, remembered case of someone's integrity actually failing.
Reading guide
A new form opening a new chapter
Every discourse in Paṭhamavagga used an image, a rhetorical question, or a scene; this discourse instead gives the Buddha's own direct testimony about a specific person whose mind he says he comprehended directly, a mode of report not used earlier in this saṃyutta.
A named threshold of integrity, not a vague trust
The measure of this person's honesty isn't left general; it's pinned to an exact, almost absurdly specific test — a gold cup filled with silver powder — making the eventual failure concrete rather than abstract.
Change over time as the actual point
The discourse's structure depends on two moments held together: what the Buddha once understood about this person, and what he later saw happen; the danger named throughout this saṃyutta is shown here as something that can erode a specific person's integrity across time, not just as a permanent character flaw.
The identical diagnosis used throughout this saṃyutta
abhibhūtaṁ pariyādiṇṇacittaṁ, “overcome and overwhelmed,” is the same compound used for the diseased jackal's afflicted counterpart in SN 17.8 and the unguarded mendicant in SN 17.9, applied here to a single act of deliberate lying.
The first of a matched pair
This discourse's gold cup and silver powder are mirrored exactly, with the metals reversed, in the discourse immediately following it — two nearly identical cases establishing a pattern that the vagga's later merged discourse will then escalate much further.
Key terms
cetasā ceto paricca pajānāmi — “I comprehend the mind” — the Buddha's claim to direct knowledge of another person's mental state, the basis for his initial assessment.
suvaṇṇapātiyāpi rūpiyacuṇṇaparipūrāya — “even a gold cup filled with silver powder” — this discourse's title image, the specific threshold this person was once thought incorruptible against.
sampajānamusā bhāseyya — “would tell a deliberate lie” — the exact failure in question, emphasizing that it is knowing and intentional, not accidental.
abhibhūtaṁ pariyādiṇṇacittaṁ — “overcome and overwhelmed” — the same diagnostic compound used elsewhere in this saṃyutta, applied here to the cause of the eventual lie.
aparena samayena — “some time later” — marking the gap between the Buddha's original assessment and the later, contrary observation.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Possessions, honor, and popularity are grim … When I’ve comprehended the mind of a certain individual, I understand: ‘This venerable would not tell a deliberate lie even for the sake of a gold cup filled with silver powder.’ But some time later I see them tell a deliberate lie because their mind is overcome and overwhelmed by possessions, honor, and popularity. So grim are possessions, honor, and popularity. …”
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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 new form does this discourse introduce to open the vagga's second chapter?
Correct: A. Direct testimony about a remembered case, a mode not used earlier in this saṃyutta.
Question 2 of 10
What had the Buddha once understood about this individual?
Correct: A. A specific, almost absurdly precise threshold of integrity.
Question 3 of 10
What did the Buddha later see this same person do?
Correct: A. A specific, remembered failure, not a hypothetical danger.
Question 4 of 10
What phrase describes the cause of this person's eventual lie?
Correct: A. The same diagnostic compound used elsewhere in this saṃyutta.
Question 5 of 10
What does the structure of this discourse depend on?
Correct: A. Change over time is the discourse's actual point.
Question 6 of 10
How does this discourse relate to the one immediately following it?
Correct: A. A matched pair, later escalated further in the vagga's merged discourse.
Question 7 of 10
What claim does the Buddha make about his knowledge of this person's mind?
Correct: A. Direct comprehension, not inference or hearsay.
Question 8 of 10
What emphasis does "deliberate" (sampajāna) add to the description of the lie?
Correct: A. A precise, knowing act, not a slip or misunderstanding.
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 first discourse of Dutiyavagga, this saṃyutta's second chapter.
