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Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 2.1

With Kassapa (1st)

Kassapasutta

Setting
Near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, late at night
Speakers
The Buddha and the godling Kassapa
Form
A brief prose exchange, closed with a four-line verse of training instructions
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
★★★☆☆ — short, but the opening exchange is easy to misread as the Buddha declining to answer

Why this discourse

This discourse opens the Devaputtasaṃyutta, the second book of linked discourses, and does so with an unusual move: the godling Kassapa observes that the Buddha has revealed the mendicant (what one who has gone forth is) but not his instructions to a mendicant (what one who has gone forth should do), and the Buddha, rather than answering directly, tells Kassapa to clarify the matter himself. Kassapa's own verse then supplies the answer: learning well-spoken words, attending closely to ascetics, sitting alone in hidden places, and calming the mind.

Reading guide

A godling named Kassapa, not the chief disciple

This Kassapa is a deity of the same name as the Buddha's foremost disciple in ascetic practice, Mahākassapa, but the two are unrelated; nothing in the text identifies this godling with any named human figure.

The Buddha declines to answer — almost

“Well then, Kassapa, clarify this matter yourself” reads at first like a refusal, but the verse that follows shows it is something closer to an invitation: Kassapa already has the answer, and the Buddha lets him give it rather than supplying it himself.

The mendicant revealed, the training left open

The godling's opening remark distinguishes two things: what a mendicant is (already made clear, in the godling's view) and what a mendicant should train in (not yet spelled out). The distinction between describing a role and prescribing its training recurs across this collection's early discourses.

Four trainings, no elaboration

The closing verse names four trainings — well-spoken words, closeness to ascetics, solitary sitting, and a calmed mind — without ranking or explaining them further. The discourse ends immediately after, with the Buddha's approval and Kassapa's departure.

An opening discourse, paired with its sequel

SN 2.1 and SN 2.2 are explicitly paired in the source text's own numbering, ‘With Kassapa (1st)’ and ‘With Kassapa (2nd)’, the first title in this collection to carry an ordinal — a pattern this book repeats several times in its first ten discourses.

Key terms

bhikkhu — “mendicant” — the role the godling says the Buddha has already revealed, distinct from the training a mendicant follows.
sikkhā — “training” — what the godling says has not yet been made explicit, and what his own closing verse supplies.
subhāsitañca — “well-spoken words” — the first of the four trainings named in Kassapa's verse.
paṭisallāna — “seclusion” — sitting alone in hidden places, the third training named.
cittaṁ vūpasama — “to calm the mind” — the fourth and final training, closing the verse.

The text

The discourse in full: a godling's observation, the Buddha's invitation, and a four-line answering verse. 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. Then, late at night, the glorious godling Kassapa, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and said to him,

§2“The Buddha has revealed the mendicant, but not his instructions to a mendicant.”

§3“Well then, Kassapa, clarify this matter yourself.”

§4“You should all train to learn well-spoken words, to attend closely to ascetics, to sit alone in hidden places, and to calm the mind.”

§5That’s what the godling Kassapa said, and the teacher approved. Then Kassapa, knowing that the teacher approved, bowed and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before vanishing right there.

· · ·

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 book of linked discourses does this sutta open?
Correct: A. SN 2.1 opens the second saṃyutta, on godlings (devaputta) rather than deities (devatā).
Question 2 of 10
What does the godling Kassapa say the Buddha has revealed?
Correct: A. Kassapa's opening remark distinguishes the role from its training.
Question 3 of 10
How does the Buddha respond to Kassapa's observation?
Correct: A. An invitation for Kassapa to answer his own question, not a refusal.
Question 4 of 10
What is the first training named in Kassapa's verse?
Correct: A. “To learn well-spoken words” opens the four-line verse.
Question 5 of 10
What is the third training named?
Correct: A. Solitary sitting, immediately before the final training of calming the mind.
Question 6 of 10
Is this Kassapa the same figure as the Buddha's disciple Mahākassapa?
Correct: A. A godling sharing the disciple's name, with no textual claim of identity.
Question 7 of 10
How does the Buddha respond to Kassapa's closing verse?
Correct: A. “That's what the godling Kassapa said, and the teacher approved.”
Question 8 of 10
What happens to Kassapa after the exchange?
Correct: A. The same departure formula used throughout this collection's deity and godling discourses.
Question 9 of 10
What is distinctive about this discourse's title among the book's first ten?
Correct: A. Paired explicitly with its sequel, “With Kassapa (2nd),” SN 2.2.
Question 10 of 10
What distinguishes godlings (devaputta) from deities (devatā) in this collection's own terms?
Correct: A. SuttaCentral's own summary of this book notes devaputta and devatā are used as synonyms here.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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