Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 45.152

Trees

Rukkhasutta — Balakaraṇīyavagga

Setting
Continuing directly from SN 45.151
Speakers
The Buddha, with the mendicants answering one question directly
Form
A brief question-and-answer, then one simile with only the base closing formula written out
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short, with a brief dialogue

Why this discourse

A tree that leans east falls east when its root is cut — and a mendicant who develops the path likewise falls, inevitably, toward extinguishment. This is the only discourse so far in this vagga to include a direct question put to the mendicants themselves, who answer before the Buddha draws the comparison.

Reading guide

A question-and-answer format, briefly returning

Unlike the preceding three discourses' own single declarative similes, this discourse briefly asks the mendicants a direct question (“where would it fall?”) and records their own answer before the Buddha draws the comparison — a format last seen at scale in the much earlier vaggas of this book.

Key terms

pācīnaninnaṁ pācīnapoṇaṁ pācīnapabbhāraṁ — “slants, slopes, and inclines to the east” — applied here to a tree rather than a river, echoing the Gaṅgāpeyyāla vaggas' own opening image
chinnamūlaṁ — “cut off at the root” — the moment the tree's own fall becomes inevitable
yena nati tena papateyya — “it would fall in the direction that it slants” — the mendicants' own direct answer
vivekanissitaṁ virāganissitaṁ nirodhanissitaṁ vossaggapariṇāmiṁ — the base formula, the only one of the four written out in full here
nibbānaninno... nibbānapoṇo... nibbānapabbhāro — “slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment” — the mendicant's own inevitable direction, echoing the felled tree's own

The text

The complete discourse, including the brief question-and-answer. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, suppose a tree slants, slopes, and inclines to the east. If it was cut off at the root, where would it fall?” “Sir, it would fall in the direction that it slants, slopes, and inclines.” “In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment. And how does a mendicant who develops the noble eightfold path slant, slope, and incline to extinguishment? It’s when a mendicant develops right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. That’s how a mendicant who develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.”

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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 distinguishes this discourse's own format from the three preceding it in this vagga?
Correct: A. A brief return to the question-and-answer format seen in earlier vaggas of this book.
Question 2 of 3
What happens to a tree that slants east when its root is cut?
Correct: A. The mendicants' own direct answer, setting up the comparison to a mendicant's inevitable direction toward extinguishment.
Question 3 of 3
What does this discourse compare to a felled, slanting tree?
Correct: A. The path's own accumulated momentum, echoing the self-referential extinguishment formula met in earlier vaggas.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 45.151 · Dragons