Reading guide
Six godlings, six former loyalties named at once
Unlike any other discourse in this book, six godlings arrive together, each already identified as a disciple of a specific named teacher: Pūraṇa Kassapa, the ‘bamboo-staffed ascetic’ Gosāla (Makkhali Gosāla), the Jain ascetic of the Ñātika clan (Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta), and Pakudha Kaccāyana — four of the six teachers early Buddhist texts elsewhere group together as contemporaries of the Buddha outside his own teaching.
Praise that does not require agreement among the praisers
The first four godlings each praise their own former teacher in turn, but the fifth, Ākoṭaka, generalizes this into a claim that all these teachers ‘weren't far from truly good men’ — a claim the sixth godling present, Veṭambarī, immediately and sharply disputes with a simile: however loud a jackal howls, it never equals a lion.
Māra speaking through a possessed godling
At the height of this dispute, Māra the Wicked takes possession of Veṭambarī and speaks in his voice, praising ascetic mortification's power to secure heavenly rebirth — a narrative device found nowhere else in this book, dramatizing the dispute's stakes by having the tempter figure himself enter the argument on the side favoring the rival teachers.
The Buddha recognizes Māra and answers by name
The Buddha's rebuttal does not treat the possessed godling's words as coming from a confused deity but addresses Māra directly by an epithet, Namuci, comparing his praise of heavenly forms to ‘bait tossed out for catching fish’ — the same ‘bait’ image (lokāmisa) this book has already used twice, at SN 2.19 and SN 2.27, for the danger of worldly attachment.
A closing colophon shared with SN 1.81
Māṇavagāmiya's closing verse praises the Buddha as foremost through a cascade of superlatives — the best mountain, the best peak, the sun among travelers, the ocean among seas, the moon among lights — and the discourse's final segment is, like SN 1.81's own ending, the one line of its closing colophon rendered into English rather than left blank: ‘The Linked Discourses on Godlings are complete.’ This reading guide quotes it verbatim, following the same practice used at this collection's first-book close.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then, late at night, several glorious godlings lit up the entire Bamboo Grove. They were Asama, Sahalī, Niṅka, Ākoṭaka, Veṭambarī, and Māṇavagāmiya, and all of them were disciples of various monastics of other religions. They went up to the Buddha, bowed, and stood to one side. Standing to one side, the godling Asama spoke this verse about Pūraṇa Kassapa in the Buddha’s presence:
§2“In injuring and killing here, in beating and extortion, Kassapa saw no evil, nor any merit for oneself. What he taught should truly be trusted, he’s worthy of esteem as Teacher.”
§3Then the godling Sahalī spoke this verse about the bamboo-staffed ascetic Gosāla in the Buddha’s presence: “Through fervent mortification in disgust of sin he became well restrained. He gave up quarreling with people. Refraining from false speech, he spoke the truth. Surely such a man does no wrong!”
§4Then the godling Niṅka spoke this verse about the Jain ascetic of the Ñātika clan in the Buddha’s presence: “Disgusted at sin, an alert mendicant, well restrained in the fourfold constraint; explaining what is seen and heard: surely he can be no sinner!”
§5Then the godling Ākoṭaka spoke this verse about various sectarian teachers in the Buddha’s presence: “Pakudhaka Kātiyāna and the Jain ascetic, as well as this bamboo-staffed ascetic and Pūraṇa: Teachers of communities, attained ascetics, surely they weren’t far from truly good men!”
§6Then the godling Veṭambarī replied to the godling Ākoṭaka in verse: “Though the wretched jackal howls along, it never equals the lion. A nude liar with suspicious conduct, though they teach a community, is not like the good.”
§7Then Māra the Wicked took possession of the godling Veṭambarī and spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence: “Those dedicated to mortification in disgust of sin, safeguarding their seclusion, entrenched in form, they rejoice in the heavenly realm. Indeed, those mortals give correct instructions regarding the next world.”
§8Then the Buddha, knowing that this was Māra the Wicked, replied to him in verse: “Whatever forms there are in this life or the next, and those of shining beauty in the sky, all of these you praise, Namuci, like bait tossed out for catching fish.”
§9Then the godling Māṇavagāmiya spoke this verse about the Buddha in his presence: “Of all the mountains of Rājagaha, Vipula’s said to be the best. Seta is the best of the Himalayan peaks, and the sun, of travelers in space. The ocean is the best of seas, and the moon, of lights that shine at night. But in all the world with its gods, the Buddha is declared foremost.”
§10The Linked Discourses on Godlings are complete.
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.