Reading guide
The same claim, the image inverted
This project's own direct comparison against SN 56.49: that discourse compared an intact mountain to pebbles placed beside it; this discourse instead compares the mountain's own worn-away portion to pebbles that remain of the mountain itself — a genuinely different image (erosion rather than addition) making the identical claim about a stream-enterer's own suffering.
A ten-title uddāna, confirmed against this project's own SN 56.41-50
Confirmed by direct reading, this vagga's own closing uddāna (“Speculation, a cliff, scorching; a bungalow, hairs, and darkness; a yoke with a hole spoken twice; Sineru, two more”) lists exactly ten titles, matching this project's own SN 56.41 through SN 56.50 precisely.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, suppose Sineru, the king of mountains, was worn away and eroded except for seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds. What do you think, mendicants? Which is more: the portion of Sineru, the king of mountains, that has been worn away and eroded? Or the seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds that are left?” “Sir, the portion of Sineru, the king of mountains, that has been worn away and eroded is certainly more. The seven pebbles the size of mustard seeds are tiny. Compared to Sineru, they don’t count, there’s no comparison, they’re not worth a fraction.” “In the same way, for an individual with comprehension, a noble disciple accomplished in view, the suffering that’s over and done with is more, what’s left is tiny. Compared to the mass of suffering in the past that’s over and done with, it doesn’t count, there’s no comparison, it’s not worth a fraction, since there are at most seven more lives. Such an individual truly understands about suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.
§2That’s why you should practice meditation …”
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