Reading guide
The same standard ten items, a fourth saṃyutta
Food, drink, clothing, a vehicle, a garland, fragrance, makeup, a bed, a house, and a lamp — identical to this same list already seen in three earlier saṃyuttas, confirming it as a genuinely standard template that recurs regardless of what kind of rebirth is sought.
No matching-substance alternative here
Unlike Gandhabbakāyasaṃyutta's SN 31.3–12, which offered a second giving register matching the exact substance sought, this saṃyutta offers only this standard ten-item list — weather, unlike a tree-part, has no substance to match a gift against.
A pattern this saṃyutta will repeat four more times
This file treats only cool thundercloud gods; SN 32.13–52 will apply the identical ten-item formula to the remaining four weather-types at four times the scale.
The same unified-prefix encoding, again
As with SN 12.72–81, SN 29–31's own merged files, this file uses a single unified key prefix (sn32.3-12:) for its entire content.
Key terms
The text
§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 gods of cool thunderclouds?” “Mendicant, it’s when someone does good things by way of body, speech, and mind. And they’ve heard: ‘The gods of cool thunderclouds 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 gods of the cool thunderclouds!’
§2They give food … a lamp. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in the company of the gods of cool thunderclouds. This is the cause, this is the reason why someone, when their body breaks up, after death, is reborn in the company of the gods of cool thunderclouds.”
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