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Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 2.14

With Nandana

Nandanasutta

Setting
At Sāvatthī; no further narrative detail given
Speakers
The Buddha and the godling Nandana
Form
A four-part question in verse, answered by a matching four-part verse and its exact restatement
Length
~1.5 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 four questions are plain, but the doubled restatement of the answer rewards attention

Why this discourse

Nandana asks the Buddha four questions in a single breath — who is called ethical, who wise, who lives on after transcending suffering, who is worshipped by the deities — and the Buddha answers with a single description covering all four: someone ethical, wise, evolved, serene, loving absorption, mindful, with sorrows given up and defilements ended, bearing their final body. The verse then restates each of Nandana's four terms individually, confirming that all four questions have one answer: the arahant.

Reading guide

Four questions, asked as one

Nandana's verse does not ask four separate questions in sequence with pauses for answers; it stacks all four into one continuous verse addressed to ‘Gotama, whose wisdom is vast’, before the Buddha replies.

One description, unpacked afterward

The Buddha's answer first gives a single composite description — ethical, wise, evolved, serene, loving absorption, mindful, sorrows ended, final body borne — and only then explicitly maps that description back onto each of Nandana's four original terms in turn.

A structure of confirmation, not correction

Unlike discourses where the Buddha redirects or corrects a godling's framing, here the four-part question is accepted as posed, and the answer's work is to show that all four descriptions converge on a single kind of person rather than naming four different types.

Worshipped by the deities: an unusual claim

Nandana's fourth question — who is worshipped by the deities themselves — inverts the usual direction of this book's exchanges, where deities approach the Buddha; here the question concerns which humans deities in turn revere.

A vocabulary word this book returns to

‘Final body’ (antimadeha), naming one who will not be reborn again, recurs across this collection as a compact way of asserting an arahant's completed liberation without further elaboration.

Key terms

sīlavā — “ethical” — the first of Nandana's four questions, and the first term the Buddha's answer confirms.
paññavā — “wise” — the second term, paired with ethical conduct in both question and answer.
tiṇṇa dukkha — “transcending suffering” — the third question's concern, on who lives on after crossing it.
devatā pūjita — “worshipped by the deities” — Nandana's fourth question, inverting this book's usual direction of approach.
antimadeha — “final body” — naming one who will not be reborn again, part of the Buddha's composite description.

The text

The discourse in full: Nandana's four-part question and the Buddha's composite, then individually confirmed, answer. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1Standing to one side, the godling Nandana addressed the Buddha in verse:

§2“I ask you, Gotama, whose wisdom is vast, the Blessed One of unhindered knowledge and vision. What sort do they call ethical? What sort do they call wise? What sort lives on after transcending suffering? What sort is worshipped by the deities?”

§3“Someone who is ethical, wise, evolved, becomes serene, loving absorption, mindful, who’s gotten rid of and given up all sorrows, with defilements ended, they bear their final body.

§4That sort they call ethical. That sort they call wise. That sort lives on after transcending suffering. That sort is worshipped by the deities.”

· · ·

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 many questions does Nandana ask the Buddha?
Correct: A. Ethical, wise, living on after suffering, worshipped by deities — all asked at once.
Question 2 of 10
What is Nandana's first question?
Correct: A. The first of the verse's four stacked questions.
Question 3 of 10
What is Nandana's fourth question?
Correct: A. Inverting the usual direction of this book's exchanges, where deities approach the Buddha.
Question 4 of 10
How does the Buddha structure his answer?
Correct: A. First one unified description, then explicit confirmation term by term.
Question 5 of 10
What figure do all four questions converge on?
Correct: A. One description answering all four questions at once.
Question 6 of 10
What does “antimadeha” mean, and what does it assert?
Correct: A. A compact way of asserting completed liberation without further elaboration.
Question 7 of 10
Is this discourse better described as correction or confirmation?
Correct: A. The Buddha's work is to show the four descriptions converge, not to redirect the question.
Question 8 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. A bare setting note, consistent with several discourses in this vagga.
Question 9 of 10
What quality does the Buddha's composite description name alongside ethics and wisdom?
Correct: A. Part of the fuller description before it is mapped back onto Nandana's four terms.
Question 10 of 10
How does Nandana address the Buddha in his opening line?
Correct: A. The verse's own opening address, naming the Buddha by clan name.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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