SN 55.36 — In Common With the Gods | Ru-Yi Meditation Center

Reading guide

Recognition across the boundary of death

Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse's own structure is genuinely unusual: rather than a living teacher instructing a living disciple, it describes deities — already reborn as a direct result of the very qualities in question — observing and recognizing the same qualities in someone still alive, before that person's own death has even occurred.

A prediction made from the far side

Confirmed by direct reading, the deities' own reflection is explicitly predictive: they do not merely note a resemblance but conclude the living disciple “will come into the presence of the gods” — a forward-looking claim made from a vantage point the disciple in question has not yet reached.

Key terms

devatā sabhāgataṁ maññanti — “the gods…speak of what they have in common” — this discourse's own title phrase, naming the shared recognition between deity and living disciple

ye devā buddhe aveccappasādena samannāgatā ito cutā tattha upapannā — “there are deities with experiential confidence in the Buddha who passed away from here and were reborn there” — the deities' own prior human life, sharing the disciple's own current qualities

so āgamissati amhākaṁ sabhāgataṁ — “they will come into the presence of the gods” — the deities' own predictive conclusion about the living disciple

aveccappasāda — “experiential confidence” — the shared term for confidence in the Buddha, teaching, and Saṅgha

ariyakantehi sīlehi samannāgato — “has the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones” — the fourth factor, likewise recognized by the deities in this discourse

The text

Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, when someone has four things the gods are pleased and speak of what they have in common. What four? Firstly, a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the Buddha … There are deities with experiential confidence in the Buddha who passed away from here and were reborn there. They think: ‘Having such experiential confidence in the Buddha, we passed away from there and were reborn here. That noble disciple possesses the same kind of experiential confidence in the Buddha, so they will come into the presence of the gods.’ Furthermore, a noble disciple has experiential confidence in the teaching … the Saṅgha … And they have the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones … leading to immersion. There are deities with the ethical conduct loved by the noble ones who passed away from here and were reborn there. They think: ‘Having such ethical conduct loved by the noble ones, we passed away from there and were reborn here. That noble disciple possesses the same kind of ethical conduct loved by the noble ones, so they will come into the presence of the gods.’ When someone has four things the gods are pleased and speak of what they have in common.”

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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 genuinely distinctive scene does this discourse describe?

Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — recognition across the boundary of death, genuinely distinctive in this saṃyutta.

Question 2 of 3

What is the basis for the deities' own recognition?

Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — their own prior human life shared the disciple's own current qualities.

Question 3 of 3

What kind of claim do the deities make about the living disciple?

Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — explicitly predictive, made before the disciple's own death.

Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

In Common With the Gods

Why this discourse