Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 48.29

Ascetics and Brahmins (1st)

Paṭhamasamaṇabrāhmaṇasutta — Chaḷindriyavagga

Setting
Not specified in the source
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly, in the first person about his own standard for true ascetics and brahmins
Form
A contrastive statement, denying and then affirming the title "true ascetic or brahmin" by a single criterion
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★★☆ — introduces a discourse form not yet met in this vagga, explicitly marked “(1st)” in its own title, signaling a paired continuation this project has not yet read

Why this discourse

This discourse introduces a new form to this vagga: rather than defining a disciple's own attainment, the Buddha sets his own criterion for who deserves to be called a “true ascetic or brahmin” at all — those who truly understand the six sense faculties' own origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape, and those who do not.

Reading guide

A new discourse form: judging true ascetics and brahmins

Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own form differs from every earlier discourse in this vagga: rather than describing a disciple's own attainment (stream-enterer, arahant) or the Buddha's own awakening, it sets a criterion for an entirely different category — who counts as a genuine ascetic or brahmin (samaṇa, brāhmaṇa) at all, contrasted sharply against those who fail to meet it.

The fivefold lens, now met five times in this vagga

This project's own running tally: the fivefold analytical lens (origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, escape) has now appeared in this vagga at SN 48.21, 48.26, 48.27, 48.28, and here at SN 48.29 — a genuinely recurring structural device across this vagga's own discourses, applied each time to define a different category of person.

A title marked "(1st)", signaling an unread continuation

This project's own honest observation: this discourse's own English title, “Ascetics and Brahmins (1st),” and its Pāli title, “Paṭhamasamaṇabrāhmaṇasutta” (“paṭhama,” first), both explicitly signal a paired second discourse to follow. This project declines to guess at its own content in advance, per this project's own established practice, and will read it fresh when reached.

Key terms

Chaḷindriyavagga — “the vagga of the six faculties” — this discourse continues the six sense faculties named at SN 48.25-28
samaṇā vā brāhmaṇā — “ascetics or brahmins” — the category this discourse's own criterion judges
samudayañca atthaṅgamañca assādañca ādīnavañca nissaraṇañca — “origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape” — the same fivefold lens, now met five times across this vagga
sāmaññatthaṁ vā brahmaññatthaṁ vā — “the goal of life as an ascetic or brahmin” — what genuine understanding of the six faculties allows one to realize
Navamaṁ — “the ninth” — the closing colophon marker, confirming this as the vagga's ninth discourse

The text

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

§1“Mendicants, there are these six faculties. What six? The faculties of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. There are ascetics and brahmins who don’t truly understand the origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape when it comes to these six faculties. I don’t deem them as true ascetics and brahmins. Those venerables don’t realize the goal of life as an ascetic or brahmin, and don’t live having realized it with their own insight. There are ascetics and brahmins who do truly understand the origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape when it comes to these six faculties. I deem them as true ascetics and brahmins. Those venerables realize the goal of life as an ascetic or brahmin, and live having realized it with their own insight.”

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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 form differ from the earlier discourses in this vagga?
Correct: A. A genuinely new discourse form within this vagga's own survey.
Question 2 of 3
How many times has the fivefold lens (origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, escape) now appeared in this vagga, according to this project's own tally?
Correct: A. A genuinely recurring structural device across this vagga's own discourses.
Question 3 of 3
What does this discourse's own title signal about what comes next?
Correct: A. Consistent with this project's own established practice of reading each discourse fresh rather than assuming ahead.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 48.28 · Awakened