Identical in structure to SN 32.53–56, closing with this saṃyutta's own translated colophon
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
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and playful, easy to follow
Why this discourse
This discourse closes both SN 32.53–57's own five-part set and Valāhakasaṃyutta itself, applying the identical template one final time to rain: the rainy thundercloud gods wish to revel in their own kind of enjoyment, and the heavens rain down. Because Valāhakasaṃyutta consists of exactly one vagga (Valāhakavagga), this discourse's own closing material carries both the untranslated vagga colophon and the saṃyutta's own officially translated closing line.
Reading guide
A fifth and final confirmation of the same template
Rainy weather (vassa) receives the identical treatment already given to cool, warm, stormy, and windy weather — the same gods'-own-wish causal chain, completing this project's fifth and final application of this closing arc's shared template.
Rain, this saṃyutta's own most consequential weather
Of the five weather-types this saṃyutta names, rain is arguably the most practically significant for daily life — yet it receives no more elaborate treatment than coolness or wind, closing this saṃyutta's arc on a note of consistent, deliberate understatement.
A vagga colophon coinciding with a saṃyutta colophon
As at SN 29's, SN 30's, and SN 31's own closing files, because Valāhakasaṃyutta consists of exactly one vagga (Valāhakavagga), the untranslated Pāli line "Valāhakavaggo paṭhamo" and the saṃyutta's own close both fall at this same discourse.
An officially translated closing line
This discourse's final line — "the Linked Discourses on gods of the clouds are complete" — is genuinely translated by Sujato and quoted here verbatim, the same kind of officially rendered closing line this project has already collected at the end of several earlier saṃyuttas.
Closing this saṃyutta's own three-part structure
With this discourse, Valāhakasaṃyutta's full arc is complete: bare taxonomy and hearsay-driven aspiration (SN 32.1–2), the standard ten-item giving formula (SN 32.3–52), and this saṃyutta's own genuinely distinct closing arc explaining weather's own present-tense cause (SN 32.53–57) — a structure that shares its opening two registers with earlier saṃyuttas but adds a third, wholly its own.
Key terms
vassavalāhaka — rainy thundercloud gods — the subject of this closing discourse
sakāya ratiyā — "our own kind of enjoyment" — identical phrasing across this entire closing set, given here for the fifth and final time
Valāhakavaggo paṭhamo — "Valāhakavagga, the first, finished" — the untranslated vagga colophon, coinciding here with the saṃyutta's own close
Valāhakasaṁyuttaṁ samattaṁ — "the Linked Discourses on gods of the clouds are complete" — this saṃyutta's own officially Sujato-translated closing line, quoted verbatim in the text below
hetu — cause — the mendicant's own opening word, unchanged across all five discourses of this closing set
The text
The complete discourse, including this saṃyutta's own closing line. The untranslated vagga colophon and uddāna verse are described above rather than quoted, since the source itself leaves them untranslated. 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 sometimes the heavens rain?” “Mendicant, there are what are called gods of the rainy thunderclouds. Sometimes they think: ‘Why don’t we revel in our own kind of enjoyment?’ Then, in accordance with their wish, the heavens rain down. This is the cause, this is the reason why sometimes the heavens rain.”
§2The Linked Discourses on gods of the clouds are complete.
· · ·
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
What weather phenomenon does this discourse explain?
Correct: A. The fifth and final application of this closing arc's shared template.
Question 2 of 6
Does rain, arguably the most practically significant of the five weather-types, receive more elaborate treatment than the others?
Correct: A. The same brevity and whimsical cause as coolness or wind.
Question 3 of 6
Why do a vagga colophon and a saṃyutta colophon coincide in this discourse?
Correct: A. The same structural coincidence already seen closing SN 29, SN 30, and SN 31.
Question 4 of 6
What does the officially translated closing line of this saṃyutta say?
Correct: A. Genuinely translated by Sujato, quoted verbatim in this page's text.
Question 5 of 6
What three-part structure does Valāhakasaṃyutta's full arc show, according to this reading guide?
Correct: A. Sharing its opening two registers with earlier saṃyuttas but adding a third, wholly its own.
Question 6 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other discourses.
