Reading guide
A question asking for maximum compression
Where earlier discourses in this saṃyutta explore multiple qualities or reflect at length, Pasenadi's question here seeks the most compressed possible answer: not several things, but one single thing sufficient to secure benefit across both this life and future ones.
An answer given before its justification
The Buddha states his answer — diligence — immediately, then supplies the simile as justification afterward, rather than building toward the term through argument; the compression of the question is matched by the directness of the reply.
The elephant's footprint, this canon's most portable simile
The image of every creature's footprint fitting inside an elephant's is used elsewhere in this canon (notably in the Majjhima Nikāya's own elephant's footprint discourse) for comprehensiveness of a different kind, here specifically applied to how every other skillful quality is contained within, and dependent on, diligence.
Diligence as foundation, not merely one virtue among many
The simile's logic is not that diligence is simply the largest or best quality among equals, but that it is structurally foundational — other qualities fit inside it the way smaller footprints fit inside the elephant's, suggesting diligence enables or supports the others rather than merely outranking them.
A benefit named twice, in matching halves
The closing verses repeat the same formula almost identically to how it opened — diligence secures ‘the benefit in this life, and in lives to come’ — the doubled structure itself performing the comprehensiveness the teaching claims for diligence.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, King Pasenadi said to the Buddha, “Sir, is there one thing that secures benefits for both this life and lives to come?”
§2“There is, great king.”
§3“So what is that one thing?”
§4“Diligence, great king, is one thing that secures benefits for both this life and lives to come. The footprints of all creatures that walk can fit inside an elephant’s footprint. So an elephant’s footprint is said to be the biggest of them all. In the same way, diligence is one thing that secures benefits for both this life and lives to come.” That is what the Buddha said. …
§5“For one who desires high delights again and again—long life, beauty, and health, heaven, and an eminent family—the astute praise diligence in making merit. Being diligent, an astute person secures both benefits:
§6the benefit in this life, and in lives to come. An attentive one, comprehending the meaning, is said to be astute.”
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