Ten Discourses On How Giving Helps to Become Egg-Born
Aṇḍajadānūpakārasutta — Nāgavagga
Setting
Sāvatthī (by shared frame)
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing an unnamed mendicant
Form
Ten discourses compressed by bilara-data into a single file, one shared narrative frame with ten specific gift-items elided as a peyyāla list
Length
~2 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
★☆☆☆☆ — a single repeated frame, easy to follow once the peyyāla list is recognized
Why this discourse
This merged file opens Nāgasaṃyutta's third and final motivational register: rather than reflection on one's own past conduct (SN 29.3–6) or aspiration triggered purely by hearsay (SN 29.7–10), this set of ten traces rebirth as an egg-born dragon to ten specific acts of giving — food, drink, clothing, a vehicle, a garland, fragrance, makeup, a bed, a house, and a lamp — each one, given by someone who has heard the same reputation named at SN 29.7 and formed the same wish, sufficient on its own to produce this specific rebirth. Bilara-data preserves the entire set as a single file using the unified-prefix peyyāla encoding already seen at SN 12.72–81 and SN 24.20–35.
Reading guide
One shared frame, ten items elided in sequence
The file opens with the identical hearsay-and-wish structure already seen at SN 29.7, then names the first gift (food) in full before eliding the remaining nine as a bare peyyāla list — drink, clothing, a vehicle, a garland, fragrance, makeup, a bed, a house, and finally a lamp, given in full to mark the list's own end.
Giving alone, without the earlier hearsay dropped
Unlike a wholly new cause, this set folds giving into the same hearsay-and-wish frame already established at SN 29.7 — the aspirant still hears the dragons' reputation and forms the wish, but now also performs a specific act of generosity, which the discourse treats as what actually completes the causal chain to rebirth.
Ten ordinary items, not ten ranked virtues
The ten gifts named — food, drink, clothing, a vehicle, a garland, fragrance, makeup, a bed, a house, a lamp — are ordinary household and hospitality items, not doctrinal categories, giving this set a concretely practical register distinct from the abstract topic-catalogs of SN 25–27.
The same unified-prefix encoding as SN 12.72–81
As with SN 12.72–81 and SN 24.20–35, this file uses a single unified key prefix (sn29.11-20:) for its entire content rather than ten individually prefixed sub-discourses, confirming this encoding convention recurs in Book III's final saṃyutta as well.
Setting up a much larger companion set
This ten-item formula, applied here only to egg-born dragons, is the exact template SN 29.21–50 will apply to the remaining three birth modes at triple the scale — thirty further discourses compressed even more severely into a single file.
Key terms
dāna — giving or generosity — the specific act each of these ten discourses treats as sufficient to help produce egg-born dragon rebirth
annaṁ deti — "gives food" — the first of the ten gift-items, given in full before the remaining nine are elided
padīpeyyaṁ deti — "gives a lamp" — the tenth and final gift-item, given in full to mark the elided list's own end
peyyāla — an elision mark — here compressing ten gift-items into a single sequence of bare named nouns
aṇḍaja — egg-born — the shared rebirth destination all ten discourses in this set trace to specific acts of giving
The text
The complete merged file: the shared hearsay-and-wish frame, followed by the ten gift-items exactly as bilara-data elides them, with the first (food) and last (a lamp) given in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Seated to one side, that mendicant said to the Buddha: “Sir, what is the cause, what is the reason why someone, when their body breaks up, after death, is reborn in the company of the egg-born dragons?”
§2“Mendicant, it’s when someone does both kinds of deeds by body, speech, and mind. And they’ve heard: ‘The egg-born dragons are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy.’ They think: ‘If only, when my body breaks up, after death, I would be reborn in the company of the egg-born dragons!’ They give food … drink … clothing … a vehicle … a garland … fragrance … makeup … a bed … a house … a lamp. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in the company of the egg-born dragons. This is the cause, this is the reason why someone, when their body breaks up, after death, is reborn in the company of the egg-born dragons.”
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Self-check quiz
7 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 7
How many discourses does this single merged file compress?
Correct: A. Bilara-data itself preserves these ten as a single peyyāla-encoded file.
Question 2 of 7
What ten items does this set name as gifts, each sufficient to help produce egg-born rebirth?
Correct: A. Ordinary household and hospitality items, not doctrinal categories.
Question 3 of 7
How does this set relate to SN 29.7's own hearsay-and-wish frame?
Correct: A. The aspirant still hears the dragons' reputation and forms the wish, as at SN 29.7.
Question 4 of 7
Which two of the ten gift-items are given in full rather than elided?
Correct: A. Marking the elided list's own beginning and end.
Question 5 of 7
What encoding convention does this merged file share with SN 12.72–81 and SN 24.20–35?
Correct: A. Confirming this encoding convention recurs in Book III's final saṃyutta.
Question 6 of 7
What larger companion set does this ten-item formula set up?
Correct: A. Thirty further discourses at triple the scale, compressed even more severely.
Question 7 of 7
What convention does this project follow for a merged file of this kind?
Correct: A. Matching this project's standing practice for peyyāla-compressed ranges.
