Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 56.5

Ascetics and Brahmins (1st)

Paṭhamasamaṇabrāhmaṇasutta — Samādhivagga

Setting
Not given — continuing directly from SN 56.4's own setting
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
A threefold claim across past, future, and present, partly elided
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★ — the fifth of ten discourses, widening the claim beyond gentlemen who go forth to ascetics and brahmins of any tradition

Why this discourse

Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse widens SN 56.3-4's own claim: rather than restricting itself to gentlemen who go forth within this teaching, it names any ascetic or brahmin whatsoever — across past, future, and present — who has ever truly awakened, and claims that whatever such awakening consists of, it is awakening to the four noble truths specifically.

Reading guide

A claim widened beyond this teaching's own followers

This project's own reading: unlike SN 56.3-4, which spoke of gentlemen who go forth (implicitly, within this teaching), this discourse names “ascetics and brahmins” without qualification — a term this project notes elsewhere in the wider canon sometimes includes teachers outside the Buddha's own tradition, making this discourse's own claim genuinely universal in scope rather than sectarian.

Key terms

samaṇā vā brāhmaṇā vā — “ascetics or brahmins” — this discourse's own unqualified term, wider than SN 56.3-4's own "gentlemen who go forth"
yathābhūtaṁ abhisambojjhiṁsu — “truly awakened” — this discourse's own verb, sharing its own root with “bodhi” (awakening) itself
cattāri ariyasaccāni yathābhūtaṁ abhisambojjhanti — “truly awaken to the four noble truths” — this discourse's own claim about what such awakening always turns out to be
… — the elision marking, standing in for the repeated temporal refrain and the four truths' own full listing
pañcamaṁ — “the fifth” — this discourse's own root text confirming its own position directly, read rather than assumed

The text

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

§1“Mendicants, whatever ascetics and brahmins truly awaken—in the past, future, or present—all of them truly awaken to the four noble truths. What four? The noble truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. … That’s why you should practice meditation …”

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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 scope compare to SN 56.3-4's own "gentlemen who go forth"?
Correct: A. This project's own reading of a genuine widening in scope, noted rather than assumed identical.
Question 2 of 3
What root does the verb "abhisambojjhiṁsu" ("truly awakened") share?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading of the term's own etymology.
Question 3 of 3
What position does this discourse occupy in this vagga's own ten-discourse sequence?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading of the root text's own closing marker "Pañcamaṁ" ("fifth").
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 56.4 · A Gentleman (2nd)