A Tree (4th)

Reading guide

The fourth tree, and the series now complete

Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse extends the tree-simile series — human (SN 48.67), Tāvatiṃsa (SN 48.68), asura (SN 48.69) — into a fourth realm, the supaṇṇas, whose finest tree is the kūṭasimbalī, closing the series at four rather than continuing indefinitely.

Kūṭasimbalī: the garuḍas' own nesting tree

As general canonical background, not asserted beyond what this discourse's own bare text states: the “supaṇṇa” (also rendered “garuḍa” or here, “phoenix”) are a class of great mythic birds, and the kūṭasimbalī (Red Silk-Cotton, or Bombax, Tree) is held in the tradition as their own great nesting tree — the finest of their realm, as jambu, Pāricchattaka, and Cittapāṭali were finest of theirs.

The uddāna confirms: exactly ten, a seventh vagga complete

This discourse's own closing colophon (“Bodhipakkhiyavaggo sattamo,” “the seventh Bodhipakkhiyavagga, concluded”) and its own uddāna verse settle, rather than merely suggest, this vagga's own length: “saṁyojanā anusayā, pariññā āsavakkhayā; dve phalā caturo rukkhā” sums to fetters (1) + tendencies (1) + complete understanding (1) + ending of defilements (1) + two fruits (2, bundled as “dve phalā”) + four trees (4, bundled as “caturo rukkhā”) = ten — confirming, for the seventh consecutive vagga this session, the same closing length as every vagga before it.

Key terms