Not given — continuing directly from SN 56.77's own setting
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
A single elided line, the fingernail demonstration assumed
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★★ — the eighth of ten discourses, its own topic (seeds and plants) offering the first partial explanation for this four-vagga block's own "raw grain" name
Why this discourse
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse compares sentient beings who refrain from injuring plants and seeds to the rare pinch of dirt, and those who don't refrain to the vast earth — shifting from the seven courses of unwholesome action (SN 56.71-77) to a monastic precept-observance item, and offering this project's own first partial explanation for the puzzling “raw grain” block name first noted at SN 56.61.
Reading guide
A partial answer to an open puzzle
This project's own updated reading: “bīja” (“seed”) is the same root found in “āmakadhañña” (“raw grain”), the term naming this entire four-vagga block — this discourse's own topic, together with SN 56.84's own dedicated raw-grain discourse still ahead in Vagga 9, suggests the block's own name derives from a shared plant/seed/grain thread running through Vaggas 8-9 specifically, though Vagga 7's own content (filial and social respect) still does not fit this explanation, and this project continues to flag the puzzle as only partially resolved.
A shift from ethical conduct to monastic observance
This project's own reading: unlike SN 56.71-77's own ethical courses of action, refraining from injuring plants and seeds is more specifically a monastic training rule, one this project recognizes elsewhere in the canon among items observed particularly by mendicants and precept-keeping lay followers.
Key terms
appakā te sattā ye bījagāmabhūtagāmasamārambhā paṭiviratā — “the sentient beings who refrain from injuring plants and seeds are few” — the rare category, matching the tiny pinch of dirt
bīja — “seed” — sharing its own root with “āmakadhañña” (“raw grain”), the term naming this four-vagga block
bhūtagāma — “plant life, vegetation” — paired with “bīja” to cover both seeds and growing plants
appaṭiviratā — “those who don't refrain” — the vast majority category, matching the whole earth
… — the elision marking, standing in for the fingernail demonstration already given in full at SN 56.61-62
The text
Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source, which itself preserves the elision back to SN 56.61's own full statement. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“… the sentient beings who refrain from injuring plants and seeds are few, while those who don’t refrain are many. …”
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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 partial explanation does this project's own reading offer for the "raw grain" block name, first noted as puzzling at SN 56.61?
Correct: A. This project's own updated, still partial reading — Vagga 7's own content still doesn't fit the explanation.
Question 2 of 3
How does this project characterize this discourse's own topic compared to SN 56.71-77?
Correct: A. This project's own reading of a shift from ethical conduct to monastic observance.
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 sequence's own order, following SN 56.77.
