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Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 29.7

They’ve Heard

Sutasutta — Nāgavagga

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
A mendicant questions the Buddha, who answers by describing an unnamed aspirant's own reasoning
Form
A question-and-answer dialogue tracing hearsay to aspiration to rebirth
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 plain causal chain, easy to follow

Why this discourse

This discourse opens Nāgasaṃyutta's second motivational register, distinct from SN 29.3–6's sabbath-observance: here, an unnamed person — someone who already does both good and bad deeds — simply hears that egg-born dragons are long-lived, beautiful, and happy, forms the wish to be reborn among them, and (the discourse implies) achieves exactly that rebirth on the strength of hearsay-driven aspiration alone, without any of SN 29.3's reflective self-examination.

Reading guide

A different cause than SN 29.3's own

Where SN 29.3's egg-born dragons reflect on their own past conduct as dragons already reborn, this discourse's aspirant is a still-unreborn person, reasoning forward from something merely heard about a rebirth destination, not yet experienced.

Hearsay as the explicit trigger

"They've heard: 'the egg-born dragons are long-lived, beautiful, and very happy'" — the discourse names hearsay itself, not direct knowledge or reflection, as the specific trigger for the aspirant's wish.

Ordinary mixed conduct, not specifically virtuous conduct

The aspirant is described only as someone who "does both kinds of deeds by body, speech, and mind" — the same mixed conduct SN 29.3's dragons recalled from their own past, here treated as sufficient background for a hearsay-driven wish to actually produce this specific rebirth.

Opening a second four-part set

This discourse begins SN 29.7–10, the second four-part set built on this saṃyutta's now-familiar pattern — full treatment for egg-born (this discourse) and spontaneously-born (SN 29.10), compressed stubs for womb-born and moisture-born between them.

Key terms

sutaṁ — "heard" — this discourse's own title-word, naming hearsay as the aspirant's specific trigger
dīghāyukā vaṇṇavanto sukhabahulā — "long-lived, beautiful, and very happy" — the specific reputation the aspirant has heard about egg-born dragons
dvayakārī — one who does both kinds of deeds — the ordinary mixed conduct attributed to this aspirant
aho vata — "if only" — the aspirant's own wishful exclamation, quoted directly
aṇḍaja — egg-born — the specific rebirth destination this aspirant's hearsay-driven wish targets

The text

The complete discourse: the mendicant's question and the aspirant's own reported hearsay-driven reasoning in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. Seated 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!’ 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.”

· · ·

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
What specifically triggers the aspirant's wish to be reborn as an egg-born dragon?
Correct: A. Hearsay, not direct knowledge or reflection, is named as the explicit trigger.
Question 2 of 7
How does this discourse's cause differ from SN 29.3's own?
Correct: A. Two genuinely distinct motivational registers within the same saṃyutta.
Question 3 of 7
What kind of conduct does this discourse attribute to the aspirant?
Correct: A. The same mixed-conduct baseline as SN 29.3's dragons, here applied to a still-unreborn aspirant.
Question 4 of 7
What does this discourse's own title, Suta, mean?
Correct: A. Naming hearsay as this discourse's own specific trigger.
Question 5 of 7
Which four-part set does this discourse open?
Correct: A. The second of this saṃyutta's four-part sets, following the same full-compressed-compressed-full pattern.
Question 6 of 7
What outcome does the discourse describe for the aspirant's wish?
Correct: A. The wish, formed on hearsay, is described as actually producing this specific rebirth.
Question 7 of 7
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other discourses.
Answered 0 of 7 · Correct 0

Further reading

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