Reading guide
A rescue mission the Buddha never personally undertakes
Unlike SN 6.4 and SN 6.5, where the Buddha himself travels to correct a deity's wrong view, here two other divinities take the initiative entirely on their own, noticing the problem while the Buddha is simply in retreat and deciding between themselves to act — the correction of wrong view distributed beyond the Buddha alone.
Negligence framed as living too well, not living badly
The deity's fault isn't misconduct in any ordinary sense; his realm is ‘successful and prosperous’, and he is simply absorbed in that success, comfortable enough to feel no need to attend on the Buddha at all — negligence here meaning complacency, not vice.
A contest of scale that answers nothing by itself
When urged to visit the Buddha, the deity refuses and instead multiplies himself a thousand times to demonstrate his own power; Subrahmā responds by doubling that figure to two thousand, then pointing out that the Buddha's power exceeds them both — the display proving nothing on its own except that there is always a greater display possible.
A boast in verse, answered by a correction in verse
The deity's own verse, cataloguing his palace's imagery — phoenixes, swans, tigerhawks, its light reaching the northern quarter — is met not with a prose rebuke but with a matching verse, shifting register to meet the deity on his own poetic terms rather than simply lecturing him.
Strife and trembling underneath a shining surface
The closing line's image — seeing the strife in form, its chronic trembling — names precisely what the deity's pride overlooks: that even a magnificent, successful appearance is built on something unstable, a diagnosis the discourse trusts a single quatrain to deliver without further explanation.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Now at that time the Buddha had gone into retreat for the day’s meditation. Then the independent divinities Subrahmā and Suddhāvāsa went to the Buddha and stationed themselves one by each door-post. But Subrahmā said to Suddhāvāsa, “Good fellow, it’s the wrong time to pay homage to the Buddha. He has gone into retreat for the day’s meditation. But such and such realm of divinity is successful and prosperous, while the divinity living there is negligent. Come, let’s go to that realm of divinity and inspire awe in that Divinity!” “Yes, good fellow,” replied Suddhāvāsa.
§2Then, as easily as a strong person would extend or contract their arm, they vanished from in front of the Buddha and appeared in that realm of divinity. That divinity saw those divinities coming off in the distance and said to them, “Well now, good fellows, where have you come from?” “Good fellow, we’ve come from the presence of the Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. Shouldn’t you go to attend on that Blessed One?”
§3When they had spoken, that divinity refused to accept their advice. He multiplied himself a thousand times and said to Subrahmā, “Good fellow, can’t you see that I have such psychic power?” “I see that, good fellow.” “Since I have such psychic power and might, what other ascetic or brahmin should I go to and attend upon?”
§4Then Subrahmā multiplied himself two thousand times and said to that Divinity, “Good fellow, can’t you see that I have such psychic power?” “I see that, good fellow.” “That Buddha has even more psychic power and might than you or me. Shouldn’t you go to attend on that Blessed One?” Then that divinity addressed Subrahmā in verse:
§5“There are three hundreds of phoenixes, four of swans, and five of tigerhawks. To he who practiced absorption belongs this palace; it shines, Divinity, lighting up the northern quarter!”
§6“So what if your palace shines, lighting up the northern quarter? A clever person, seeing the strife in form, its chronic trembling, takes no pleasure in it.”
§7Then after inspiring awe in that divinity, the independent divinities Subrahmā and Suddhāvāsa vanished right there. And after some time that divinity went to attend on the Buddha.
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.