Eight discourse numbers compressed by bilara-data into a single escalating list within one continuous passage
Length
~2 minutes 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 vagga's largest escalation, shifting from wealth to life to desire
Why this discourse
SN 17.11 and 17.12 each named a single lavish threshold — a gold cup, a silver pot — that a certain person was once thought too honest to lie for. This merged discourse takes that same template and runs it through eight further thresholds in a single ascending list: a gold ingot, a hundred gold ingots, a mountain of gold, a hundred mountains of gold, the whole earth full of gold, any kind of material reward at all, life itself, and finally the finest lady in the land. Bilara-data preserves all eight as one unbroken passage rather than eight separately written discourses, and this reading guide keeps them together exactly as the source does.
Reading guide
One passage, eight discourse numbers
Unlike SN 12.5-9's five stub lines, each independently elided, this block presents its eight thresholds as items in a single ascending list within one continuous sentence, sharing one opening and one closing rather than repeating the frame eight times.
An escalation that changes category, not just scale
The first five items only intensify the same currency — more gold, then still more gold, then the whole earth of it — but the list's final three items abandon gold entirely, moving to any material reward whatsoever, then to life itself, then to a woman, widening what counts as a bribable interest far beyond simple wealth.
Life and desire named as the outer edge
Placing jīvitahetu, “for the sake of life,” second to last suggests that even the instinct for self-preservation is being tested as a category of temptation here, with the finest lady in the land named last of all as the single most extreme lure the list can name.
The same failure, regardless of which threshold is named
Whichever of the eight thresholds is supplied, the passage closes on the identical observation used in SN 17.11 and 17.12: some time later, this same person is seen telling a deliberate lie, overcome and overwhelmed by possessions, honor, and popularity.
Closing Dutiyavagga's ten discourses and its own uddāna
This block marks itself as Dasamaṁ, the vagga's tenth discourse-position, and is followed immediately by Dutiyo vaggo, marking the chapter's end, and by its own untranslated uddāna listing all ten titles in mnemonic verse — neither translated in the source nor quoted here.
Key terms
suvaṇṇanikkha — “a gold ingot” — the list's first and smallest threshold, giving the block its name.
siṅgīnikkha — “a mountain of gold” — the third threshold, already well beyond a single ingot or even a hundred.
āmisakiñcikkhahetu — “for any kind of material reward” — the sixth threshold, generalizing beyond gold specifically to material gain of any kind.
jīvitahetu — “for the sake of life” — the seventh threshold, shifting the list from wealth to survival itself.
janapadakalyāṇī — “the finest lady in the land” — the eighth and final threshold, the list's most extreme named lure.
The text
The full passage covering all eight discourse numbers, exactly as preserved in the source as one continuous list. The chapter's own closing verse and the untranslated uddāna naming Dutiyavagga's ten titles are not quoted here; see the reading guide above. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, 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 ingot.’ …” “‘… for the sake of a hundred gold ingots.’ …” “‘… for the sake of a mountain of gold.’ …” “‘… for the sake of a hundred mountains of gold.’ …” “‘… for the sake of the whole earth full of gold.’ …” “‘… for any kind of material reward.’ …” “‘… for the sake of life.’ …” “‘… for the sake of the finest lady in the land.’ 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
How does this passage present its eight discourse numbers?
Correct: A. One shared opening and closing wrapped around an ascending list of thresholds.
Question 2 of 10
What is the list's first, smallest named threshold?
Correct: A. Suvaṇṇanikkha, giving the whole block its name.
Question 3 of 10
How does the list change category partway through, rather than only changing scale?
Correct: A. The final three items abandon gold entirely, widening what counts as a bribable interest.
Question 4 of 10
What is named second-to-last in the list, just before the final item?
Correct: A. Suggesting even self-preservation is tested as a category of temptation here.
Question 5 of 10
What is the list's final and most extreme named threshold?
Correct: A. Janapadakalyāṇī, closing the list on its most extreme named lure.
Question 6 of 10
Regardless of which threshold is supplied, how does the passage conclude each time?
Correct: A. An identical closing observation, regardless of which of the eight thresholds applies.
Question 7 of 10
How does this block's structure differ from SN 12.5-9's five stub lines discussed elsewhere in this collection?
Correct: A. A genuinely unified passage, not eight independently elided stub lines.
Question 8 of 10
What numbering position does this block mark itself as, within Dutiyavagga?
Correct: A. Marking the completion of Dutiyavagga's ten discourses.
Question 9 of 10
Is the closing uddāna naming this vagga's ten titles translated in the source or quoted in this reading guide's text section?
Correct: A. Following the same convention used for untranslated closing material elsewhere in this saṃyutta.
Question 10 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The setting shared with most discourses in this collection.
