Reading guide
Five kings, one unwinnable argument
The discourse's opening scene is almost comic in its specificity: five rulers, fully supplied with every sensual indulgence, cannot agree on something as basic as which sense provides the best pleasure, each side presumably arguing from their own preference without budging.
A dispute settled by relativizing, not adjudicating
Rather than declaring one sense superior, the Buddha's answer reframes the entire question: agreeableness is person-relative, so the same sight can be someone's supreme pleasure and another's matter of indifference, dissolving the kings' dispute by showing it assumed a false premise — that one answer must be right for everyone.
Satisfaction, not the object itself, as the measure
The Buddha's answer locates supremacy not in any inherent quality of the sight, sound, or touch itself, but in whether the person experiencing it has ‘got all they wished for’ and wants nothing better or finer — making contentment, not the object, the actual variable.
An uninvited lay follower's spontaneous praise
The discourse shifts register sharply when Candanaṅgalika, an ordinary lay follower seated in the assembly, feels moved to speak and is given leave — his verse compares the Buddha to a fragrant lotus blooming at daybreak, ‘bright as the sun in the sky’, a spontaneous devotional interlude unconnected to the kings' philosophical dispute.
Five robes, given and regiven
The discourse's closing gesture doubles back on itself: the five kings reward Candanaṅgalika's verse with five upper robes, and he immediately turns around and offers those same robes to the Buddha — wealth passed through his hands rather than kept, echoing this saṃyutta's recurring interest in wealth properly used.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Now at that time five kings headed by Pasenadi were amusing themselves, supplied and provided with the five kinds of sensual stimulation, and this discussion came up among them: “What’s the best of sensual pleasures?” Some of them said, “Sights are the best of sensual pleasures!” Others said, “Sounds are best!” Others said, “Smells are best!” Others said, “Tastes are best!” Others said, “Touches are best!” Since those kings were unable to persuade each other,
§2King Pasenadi said to them, “Come, good fellows, let’s go to the Buddha and ask him about this. As he answers, so we’ll remember it.” “Yes, good fellows,” replied those kings.
§3Then those five kings headed by Pasenadi went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. King Pasenadi reported their conversation to the Buddha, and said, “Sir, what’s the best of sensual pleasures?”
§4“Great king, which kind of sensual stimulation is best is defined by which is most agreeable, I say. The very same sights that are agreeable to some are disagreeable to others. When you’re happy with certain sights, as you’ve got all you wished for, you don’t want any other sight that’s better or finer. For you, those sights are perfect and supreme.
§5The very same sounds … smells … tastes … touches that are agreeable to some are disagreeable to others. When you’re happy with certain touches, as you’ve got all you wished for, you don’t want any other touch that’s better or finer. For you, those touches are perfect and supreme.”
§6Now at that time the lay follower Candanaṅgalika was sitting in that assembly. Then he got up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his cupped palms toward the Buddha, and said, “I feel inspired to speak, Blessed One! I feel inspired to speak, Holy One!” “Then speak as you feel inspired,” said the Buddha.
§7Then the lay follower Candanaṅgalika extolled the Buddha in his presence with an appropriate verse: “Like a fragrant pink lotus that blooms at daybreak, its fragrance unfaded—see Aṅgīrasa shine, bright as the sun in the sky!”
§8Then those five kings clothed Candanaṅgalika with five upper robes. And Candanaṅgalika in turn endowed the Buddha with those robes.
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