Reading guide
A companion to the already-published appeal
This discourse is best read alongside SN 6.1, this book's pre-existing page: both are set in the same early period at Uruvelā and involve the same divinity, Sahampati, though this one concerns the Buddha's relationship to the Dhamma itself rather than his decision to teach others.
A search through five named categories, not a vague feeling
The Buddha's reflection is systematic rather than impressionistic: he considers, one at a time, whether anyone surpasses him in ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, or the knowledge and vision of freedom, only concluding after all five have been checked that no such person exists.
A conclusion reached through elimination, not assumption
The Buddha does not begin by declaring himself supreme; each category opens with a conditional — he would honor another if one were found more accomplished — making the eventual conclusion the result of an honest search rather than a starting premise.
The Dhamma as what remains to be honored
Having found no person to rely on, the Buddha's resolution — to honor and rely on ‘the same Dhamma to which I was awakened’ — redirects reverence away from any individual entirely, toward the teaching itself as an object worthy of respect independent of any teacher.
A universal pattern, not a one-time decision
Sahampati's confirming verse doesn't merely approve of this particular choice; it generalizes it into a permanent law — ‘this is the nature of the Buddhas’ — past, present, and future Buddhas alike honoring the true teaching, framing this as something inherent to Buddhahood itself rather than a personal preference of this one Buddha.
Key terms
The text
§1So I have heard. At one time, when he was first awakened, the Buddha was staying in Uruvelā at the root of the goatherd’s banyan tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā River. Then as he was in private retreat this thought came to his mind, “One without respect and reverence lives in suffering. What ascetic or brahmin should I honor and respect and rely on?”
§2Then it occurred to him: “I’d honor and respect and rely on another ascetic or brahmin so as to complete the entire spectrum of ethics, if it were incomplete.
§3I’d honor and respect and rely on another ascetic or brahmin so as to complete the entire spectrum of immersion, if it were incomplete.
§4I’d honor and respect and rely on another ascetic or brahmin so as to complete the entire spectrum of wisdom, if it were incomplete.
§5I’d honor and respect and rely on another ascetic or brahmin so as to complete the entire spectrum of freedom, if it were incomplete.
§6I’d honor and respect and rely on another ascetic or brahmin so as to complete the entire spectrum of the knowledge and vision of freedom, if it were incomplete. But I don’t see any other ascetic or brahmin in this world—with its gods, Māras, and Divinities, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—who is more accomplished than myself in the knowledge and vision of freedom, who I should honor and respect and rely on. Why don’t I honor and respect and rely on the same Dhamma to which I was awakened?”
§7Then the divinity Sahampati knew the Buddha’s train of thought. As easily as a strong person would extend or contract their arm, he vanished from the realm of divinity and reappeared in front of the Buddha. He arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his cupped palms toward the Buddha, and said: “That’s so true, Blessed One! That’s so true, Holy One! All the perfected ones, the fully awakened Buddhas who lived in the past honored and respected and relied on this same teaching. All the perfected ones, the fully awakened Buddhas who will live in the future will honor and respect and rely on this same teaching. May the Blessed One, who is the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha at present, also honor and respect and rely on this same teaching.”
§8This is what the divinity Sahampati said. Then he went on to say: “All Buddhas in the past, the Buddhas of the future, and the Buddha at present—destroyer of the sorrows of many—
§9respecting the true teaching they did live, they do live, and they also will live. This is the nature of the Buddhas. Therefore someone who desires self-knowledge, and aspires to greatness themselves, should respect the true teaching, remembering the instructions of the Buddhas.”
Self-check quiz
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