Reading guide
The identical opening request, a different response
Confirmed by direct reading, Bāhiya's own request — word for word identical to the unnamed mendicant's own request at SN 47.3 — receives a genuinely different response here: no rebuff about “futile people,” no test of sincerity, only the Buddha's immediate teaching. This reading guide reports this difference honestly rather than assuming the two discourses must share an identical shape.
The same starting point: ethics and correct view
The teaching itself — that “the starting point of skillful qualities” is well-purified ethics and correct view, upon which the four kinds of mindfulness meditation must be grounded — is confirmed by direct comparison to be worded identically to SN 47.3's own teaching.
A simpler fourfold formula, without the threefold dimension
Unlike SN 47.3, which applied each of the four mindfulness objects internally, externally, and both together (twelve observations in total), this discourse's own formula is confirmed by direct reading to give only the plain fourfold practice, with no internal/external distinction added.
The identical closing attainment narrative
Bāhiya's own path from the teaching to arahantship — living “alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute,” then swiftly realizing “the supreme end of the spiritual path” — is confirmed by direct comparison to be worded identically to SN 47.3's own closing narrative, differing only in the name of the mendicant.
Key terms
The text
§1 — Bāhiya's own request and its answerAt Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Bāhiya went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, may the Buddha please teach me Dhamma in brief. When I’ve heard it, I’ll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute.” “Well then, Bāhiya, you should purify the starting point of skillful qualities. What is the starting point of skillful qualities? Well purified ethics and correct view. When your ethics are well purified and your view is correct, you should develop the four kinds of mindfulness meditation, depending on and grounded on ethics.
§2 — the fourfold formulaWhat four? Meditate observing an aspect of the body—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. Meditate observing an aspect of feelings … mind … principles—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. When you develop these four kinds of mindfulness meditation, depending on and grounded on ethics, you can expect growth, not decline, in skillful qualities, whether by day or by night.”
§3 — departure and attainmentAnd then Venerable Bāhiya approved and agreed with what the Buddha said. He got up from his seat, bowed, and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before leaving. Then Bāhiya, living alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute, soon realized the supreme end of the spiritual path in this very life. He lived having achieved with his own insight the goal for which gentlemen rightly go forth from the lay life to homelessness. He understood: “Rebirth is ended; the spiritual journey has been completed; what had to be done has been done; there is nothing further for this place.” And Venerable Bāhiya became one of the perfected.
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