Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.119

The Question of Pañcasikha

Pañcasikhasutta — Lokakāmaguṇavagga

Setting
Near Rājagaha, on Vulture's Peak Mountain, matching the previous discourse
Speakers
The centaur Pañcasikha, questioning the Buddha directly
Form
The identical question and answer as SN 35.118, compressed with an ellipsis rather than spelled out door by door
Length
~1 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 familiar, its own companion already having spelled out the content in full

Why this discourse

This discourse is this vagga's own second Vulture's Peak pairing: the identical question just put by Sakka, lord of gods, at SN 35.118, is now put by a different figure — Pañcasikha, a centaur (gandhabba), a class of celestial musician spirit distinct from the devas. The question and its answer are otherwise unchanged, and this discourse compresses the six-sense-door answer that SN 35.118 spelled out in full down to a single ellipsis, trusting the reader to recall it from the discourse immediately preceding. The pairing gives this vagga its own second instance (after the Māra's-snare pair at SN 35.114-115) of the same content asked, or told, twice in immediate succession, this time by two different classes of celestial questioner rather than in two different grammatical distributions.

Reading guide

The same question, a different questioner

Pañcasikha's own question to the Buddha is worded identically to Sakka's, at the immediately preceding discourse — only the speaker, and the class of being he represents, has changed.

A centaur, not a deva

Pañcasikha is a gandhabba, a celestial musician spirit, distinct from Sakka's own class as a deva — this canon elsewhere gives Pañcasikha a role as messenger and musician among the gods, though this discourse does not develop that background.

Compression, not restatement

Where SN 35.114-115 restated identical content with different grammar, this discourse and its own companion restate identical content with identical grammar, compressed the second time to a bare ellipsis.

A second pairing habit confirmed

This vagga now shows two distinct kinds of paired discourse: content restated differently (SN 35.114-115) and content repeated to a different questioner (SN 35.118-119) — a vagga built, in part, out of deliberate doublings.

Key terms

gandhabbo pañcasikho — the centaur (gandhabba) Pañcasikha — a class of celestial musician spirit, distinct from the devas Sakka belongs to
gijjhakūṭe pabbate — on Vulture's Peak Mountain — the same setting as the immediately preceding discourse
na parinibbāyanti — are not fully extinguished — the identical question, unchanged from SN 35.118
upādāniyaṃ ārammaṇaṃ — support and fuel for grasping — the identical mechanism named in the answer
pe — the peyyāla ellipsis mark — standing in this discourse's own root text for the full six-door answer already spelled out at SN 35.118

The text

The complete discourse, compressed exactly as the Pali root compresses it: Pañcasikha's own question, and the Buddha's answer for both the negative and positive case. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. And then the centaur Pañcasikha went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and said to him: “What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why some sentient beings are not fully extinguished in this very life? What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why some sentient beings are fully extinguished in this very life?” “Pañcasikha, there are sights known by the eye … ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to them, their consciousness has that as support and fuel for grasping. A mendicant with fuel for grasping does not become extinguished. That’s the cause, that’s the reason why some sentient beings are not fully extinguished in this very life.

§2There are sights known by the eye … ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant doesn’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to them, their consciousness doesn’t have that as support and fuel for grasping. A mendicant free of grasping becomes extinguished. That’s the cause, that’s the reason why some sentient beings are fully extinguished in this very life.”

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Self-check quiz

5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 5
Who asks the question in this discourse, at the same Vulture's Peak setting as SN 35.118?
Correct: A. A gandhabba, a class of celestial musician spirit distinct from the devas.
Question 2 of 5
How does Pañcasikha's own question compare to Sakka's, at the immediately preceding discourse?
Correct: A. Only the questioner, and his class of being, has changed.
Question 3 of 5
How does this discourse treat the six-sense-door answer, compared to SN 35.118's own full telling?
Correct: A. Trusting the reader to recall SN 35.118's own full spelling-out.
Question 4 of 5
What kind of being is a gandhabba, as Pañcasikha is described here?
Correct: A. A different class of celestial being from Sakka's own, though both question the Buddha at the same location.
Question 5 of 5
What kind of pairing does SN 35.118-119 represent, distinct from SN 35.114-115's own pairing?
Correct: A. Where 114-115 varied the grammar, 118-119 vary only the speaker, showing this vagga's own second doubling habit.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 35.118 · The Question of Sakka