A peyyāla stub — only the opening question is given, with the source itself instructing readers to fill in the rest from SN 29.3
Length
under a minute 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
★☆☆☆☆ — understood only alongside SN 29.3
Why this discourse
This is a plain peyyāla stub: bilara-data preserves only the opening question — why do some womb-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies — followed by a direct editorial instruction, "tell all in full," pointing back to SN 29.3's own answer with only the birth-mode swapped from egg-born to womb-born. Nothing is fabricated to fill the gap; the discourse is read exactly as short as the source leaves it.
Reading guide
One word swapped, the rest pointed back
The question is identical in structure to SN 29.3's own opening, with only "womb-born" (jalābuja) replacing "egg-born" (aṇḍaja) — and rather than restating the dragons' own reasoning a second time, the source simply instructs: tell all in full.
A genuine feature of transmission
This kind of compression, seen already at earlier peyyāla stubs in this project's coverage of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, is quoted here exactly as the source gives it rather than expanded into invented prose.
The same causal logic, a different birth mode
Applying SN 29.3's reasoning here implies that womb-born dragons, too, recall their own mixed past conduct as the cause of their present state, and resolve toward a better rebirth — the identical moral logic, simply relocated to a different class of dragon.
Second of four parallel discourses
This is the second of SN 29.3–6's four-part set, one discourse per birth mode — SN 29.5 will compress moisture-born dragons the same way before SN 29.6 returns to full treatment for spontaneously-born dragons.
Key terms
jalābuja — womb-born — the birth mode this stub substitutes for SN 29.3's egg-born dragons
vitthāretabbaṁ — "should be told in full" — this discourse's own closing editorial instruction
uposatha — sabbath — the same practice at issue in SN 29.3, carried over by cross-reference
peyyāla — the formal term for a passage the source itself elides, directing the reader elsewhere for its full wording
dvayakārī — one who does both kinds of deeds — the mixed conduct implied here, though not restated, from SN 29.3
The text
The discourse in full — genuinely this short in the source, including its closing editorial instruction. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, what is the cause, what is the reason why some womb-born dragons keep the sabbath, having transformed their bodies?” (Tell all in full.)
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Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 6
Which birth mode of dragon does this discourse's opening question concern?
Correct: A. The one substantive change from SN 29.3's own opening question.
Question 2 of 6
How does the source handle the rest of this discourse's content?
Correct: A. A genuine transmission feature, pointing back to SN 29.3.
Question 3 of 6
What does this reading guide do with the editorial shortcut?
Correct: A. Consistent with this project's practice on other short peyyāla stubs.
Question 4 of 6
Which discourse's own answer does this stub point back to?
Correct: A. The full reasoning for egg-born dragons, now applied by cross-reference to womb-born ones.
Question 5 of 6
Where does this discourse fall in the SN 29.3–6 four-part set?
Correct: A. SN 29.5 will compress moisture-born dragons the same way; SN 29.6 returns to full treatment.
Question 6 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other Sāvatthī-based discourses.
