Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourses 45.141–145

Five Discourses on Diligence, Etc.

Kūṭasutta — Appamādapeyyālavagga

Setting
Continuing directly from SN 45.140
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
Five discourses merged under per-discourse sub-prefixes — confirmed by direct check
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — five short entries, each a bare opening line

Why this discourse

Five more similes for diligence — a roof's own peak, the best root, heartwood, and flower among fragrant things, and a wheel-turning monarch among lesser kings — each abbreviated in the source to its own opening line alone, with an explicit instruction attached to the first (“tell in full as in the previous discourse”) confirming the full fourfold structure applies throughout.

Reading guide

An explicit instruction, confirming the pattern

SN 45.141's own text carries a bracketed instruction, “(Tell in full as in the previous discourse.)” — confirming, in the source itself, that every discourse below implicitly repeats SN 45.140's own base-formula structure, even though only the bare opening simile is written out for each one here.

Key terms

kūṭāgārassa — “of a bungalow’s [roof]” — the rafters all lean to the peak, illustrating diligence as the topmost of all skillful qualities
tagaramūlaṁ... lohitacandanaṁ... vassikaṁ — spikenard (best root), red sandalwood (best heartwood), and jasmine (best flower) — three fragrance similes in immediate succession
rājā cakkavattī — “a wheel-turning monarch” — said to be foremost over all lesser kings, closing this block's own five similes
vitthāretabbaṁ purimasuttasadisaṁ — “to be told in full, similar to the previous discourse” — the source's own explicit elaboration instruction, confirming the abbreviation pattern
appamāda — “diligence” — the shared theme uniting all five of this block's own similes

The text

Every genuinely translated fragment in this merged file, quoted in full including the source's own elaboration instruction. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

45.141 — A Roof Peak“Mendicants, the rafters of a bungalow all lean to the peak, slope to the peak, and meet at the peak, so the peak is said to be the topmost of them all. In the same way …” (Tell in full as in the previous discourse.)

45.142 — Fragrant Root“Of all kinds of fragrant root, spikenard is said to be the best. …”

45.143 — Fragrant Heartwood“Of all kinds of fragrant heartwood, red sandalwood is said to be the best. …”

45.144 — A Fragrant Flower“Of all kinds of fragrant flower, jasmine is said to be the best. …”

45.145 — A Wheel-Turning Monarch“All lesser kings are vassals of a wheel-turning monarch, so the wheel-turning monarch is said to be the foremost of them all. …”

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Self-check quiz

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

Question 1 of 3
What does SN 45.141's own bracketed instruction confirm?
Correct: A. Confirmed directly from the source's own elaboration instruction.
Question 2 of 3
What five images does this block use to illustrate diligence?
Correct: A. Each said to be foremost within its own category, just as diligence is foremost among skillful qualities.
Question 3 of 3
How many discourses remain to complete this vagga after this page?
Correct: A. SN 45.146-148 will close this vagga's own ten discourses.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 45.140 · Footprints