A riddle-verse on crossing the flood, answered in a two-part verse naming specific qualities
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
★★★☆☆ — plain on its own, but best read as this book's third return to a recurring riddle
Why this discourse
Candana asks who crosses the flood, tireless day and night, not standing and unsupported, without sinking in the deep — language that directly recalls this collection's very first discourse, SN 1.1. The Buddha's answer, unlike SN 1.1's own answer, does not rest on paradox; it lists specific qualities — ethics, wisdom, serenity, energy, and freedom from relishing and greed — as what actually crosses the flood and avoids sinking.
Reading guide
A third telling of the same riddle
SN 1.1 asked how one crosses the flood ‘neither standing nor swimming’; SN 2.5 revisited the same river imagery through a contrast of struggling and arrived swimmers; this discourse returns to the riddle's original wording almost exactly, ‘not standing and unsupported’, making this the third distinct treatment of the same underlying image in this collection so far.
A paradox in the question, a list in the answer
Candana's question keeps SN 1.1's paradoxical form intact; the Buddha's answer, however, does not resolve the paradox with a riddle of its own but with a straightforward enumeration of qualities — a difference in method from SN 1.1's answer, which itself worked through a further paired image of not sinking and not being swept away.
Five qualities, named directly
The Buddha's verse names ethics, wisdom, serenity, energy, and resolve as what crosses ‘the flood so hard to cross’, before a second half turning specifically to what prevents sinking: desisting from sensual perception, moving past the fetter of form, and finishing with relishing and greed.
Two halves, two different dangers
The verse's structure separates crossing (getting through the flood at all) from sinking (being pulled under while attempting it), addressing each with its own distinct set of qualities rather than treating them as the same danger.
A recurring riddle's cumulative effect
Read as this collection's third treatment of flood-crossing imagery, this discourse's plainer, list-based answer stands out precisely because it departs from the paradox-answering-paradox pattern of SN 1.1 and the contrast-based imagery of SN 2.5, showing the same underlying image supporting more than one mode of answer.
Key terms
ogha — “flood” — the recurring image this discourse shares with SN 1.1 and SN 2.5, naming the danger to be crossed.
appatiṭṭha anālambana — “not standing and unsupported” — the riddle's paradoxical phrase, echoing SN 1.1's wording almost exactly.
sīla paññā — “ethics, wisdom” — the first pair of qualities the Buddha's verse names as crossing the flood.
kāmasaññā — “sensual perception” — what one who does not sink is said to have desisted from, in the verse's second half.
rūpasaṁyojana — “the fetter of form” — what such a person has moved past, alongside finishing with relishing and greed.
The text
The discourse in full: Candana's riddle and the Buddha's two-part answering verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Standing to one side, the godling Candana addressed the Buddha in verse:
§2“Who here crosses the flood, tireless all day and night? Who, not standing and unsupported, does not sink in the deep?”
§3“Someone who is always endowed with ethics, wise and serene, energetic and resolute, crosses the flood so hard to cross.
§4Someone who desists from sensual perception, has moved past the fetter of form, and has finished with relishing and greed does not sink in the deep.”
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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 does Candana's riddle ask?
Correct: A. Language that directly recalls SN 1.1, this collection's opening discourse.
Question 2 of 10
How many earlier discourses in this collection have already used flood-crossing imagery?
Correct: A. Making this discourse the third distinct treatment of the same underlying image.
Question 3 of 10
How does the Buddha's answer here differ in method from SN 1.1's?
Correct: A. A difference in method from SN 1.1's own paradox-resolving answer.
Question 4 of 10
What five qualities does the Buddha's first verse-half name?
Correct: A. Named directly as what crosses the flood so hard to cross.
Question 5 of 10
What does the verse's second half address specifically?
Correct: A. A second, distinct set of qualities addressing a second danger.
Question 6 of 10
What three things does the verse name as preventing sinking?
Correct: A. The verse's second half, addressing the danger of being pulled under.
Question 7 of 10
How does this discourse's structure separate two distinct dangers?
Correct: A. Each half of the verse addresses its own specific danger with its own qualities.
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 phrase in Candana's question most closely echoes SN 1.1's wording?
Correct: A. Nearly identical to SN 1.1's own paradoxical phrasing.
Question 10 of 10
What does the cumulative effect of three flood-crossing discourses suggest?
Correct: A. The reading guide's observation on reading this discourse against SN 1.1 and SN 2.5.
