Reading guide
A saṃyutta organized around named individuals, not a shared topic
Unlike most saṃyuttas built around a recurring category — elements, danger, a single teaching template — this collection's twelve discourses are unified only by concerning specific, named senior disciples, each discourse a distinct vignette rather than another application of one repeated doctrine.
A report given by the disciple, not a teaching from the Buddha
This discourse isn't the Buddha addressing the mendicants directly; it's Moggallāna recounting his own experience to them, making the Buddha's corrective words something the audience receives secondhand, filtered through Moggallāna's own retelling.
A subtle lapse within an already advanced attainment
The failure Moggallāna describes isn't a beginner's difficulty; it occurs after he has already correctly identified and entered the second absorption, showing that even a genuinely accomplished meditative state can still admit a returning distraction requiring further correction.
The Buddha's intervention as a direct, repeated instruction
Rather than an extended teaching, the Buddha's correction is compact and direct — don't neglect, settle, unify — three closely related imperatives addressing the identical lapse from three angles, delivered by psychic power rather than an in-person visit.
A closing claim asserting exceptional standing without false modesty
Moggallāna concludes by directly claiming the title of a disciple who attained great direct knowledge with the Teacher's help — an unusually explicit self-assessment, stated as simple accurate description rather than boastful exaggeration.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There Venerable Mahāmoggallāna addressed the mendicants: “Reverends, mendicants!” “Reverend,” they replied.
§2Venerable Mahāmoggallāna said this: “Just now, reverends, as I was in private retreat this thought came to mind: ‘They speak of this thing called “noble silence”. What then is this noble silence?’ It occurred to me: ‘As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, a mendicant enters and remains in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. This is called noble silence.’ And so, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I was entering and remaining in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. While I was in that meditation, perception and focus accompanied by placing the mind beset me.
§3Then the Buddha came up to me with his psychic power and said, ‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna! Don’t neglect noble silence, brahmin! Settle your mind in noble silence; unify your mind and bring it to immersion in noble silence.’ And so, after some time, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I entered and remained in the second absorption … So if anyone should be rightly called a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge with help from the Teacher, it’s me.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.