Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 45.63

Good Friends (1st)

Kalyāṇamittasutta — Ekadhammapeyyālavagga

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
The identical structure and quality as SN 45.49, with the dawn simile removed
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short, a direct catechism

Why this discourse

This discourse opens Ekadhammapeyyālavagga with the identical content as SN 45.49 (good friendship as what helps give rise to the eightfold path) but a plainer framing: not “the dawn is the forerunner and harbinger of the sunrise” but simply “one thing helps give rise to the noble eightfold path” — confirmed by direct comparison, the identical 7×2 grid this saṃyutta has now run twice, once with a simile and once without.

Reading guide

The same grid, a plainer opening

“One thing helps give rise to the noble eightfold path... what one thing? It's good friendship” replaces SN 45.49's own dawn simile with a direct statement — confirmed by reading both discourses side by side, everything from this point on (the teach-you framing, the eightfold path's own full definition, the closing formula) matches exactly.

A vagga's own name, confirmed by its own opening line

Ekadhammapeyyālavagga takes its own name directly from this discourse's own “ekadhammo” (“one thing”) opening, confirmed by the vagga's own closing uddāna — the identical naming logic this project already met at Micchattavagga's own SN 45.21.

Key terms

ekadhammo ariyassa aṭṭhaṅgikassa maggassa uppādāya — “one thing helps give rise to the noble eightfold path” — this vagga's own opening formula, replacing SN 45.49-62's own dawn simile
kalyāṇamittatā — “good friendship” — the first of seven qualities, identical to SN 45.49's own
vivekanissitaṁ... vossaggapariṇāmiṁ — “relying on seclusion... ripening as letting go” — this discourse's own closing formula, shared by this vagga's own first round (SN 45.63-69)
ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo — the noble eightfold path, what good friendship helps give rise to
ekadhammapeyyālavaggo — this vagga's own name, taken directly from this discourse's own opening term

The text

The complete discourse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, one thing helps give rise to the noble eightfold path. What one thing? It’s good friendship. A mendicant with good friends can expect to develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path. And how does a mendicant with good friends develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path? 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 with good friends develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path.”

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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
How does this discourse's own opening differ from SN 45.49's own?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct comparison — everything after the opening matches SN 45.49 exactly.
Question 2 of 3
What does this vagga's own name, Ekadhammapeyyālavagga, come from?
Correct: A. Confirmed by the vagga's own closing uddāna, the identical naming logic already met at Micchattavagga's own SN 45.21.
Question 3 of 3
What quality does this discourse name as the "one thing"?
Correct: A. The first of seven qualities this vagga will run through twice, exactly as Sūriyapeyyālavagga's own structure did.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0