Reading guide
A grievance stripped of philosophical framing
Unlike this vagga's discourses on giving, purity, or farming, this one begins with a simple, painful domestic fact — a father's own household turning him out — treated with no doctrinal frame at all before the Buddha responds.
A teaching delivered as a weapon for public use
The Buddha doesn't console the brahmin privately or offer an abstract teaching on family; he composes specific verses and instructs him exactly how and where to use them — memorized, then recited before ‘a large crowd’ in the council hall, with his sons present to hear it.
Bitterness stated without euphemism
The verses don't soften their accusation; sons who called their father ‘dear old Dad’ are named outright as ‘monsters in the shape of sons’, and the comparison to being chased out ‘like hounds after hogs’ carries genuine sting rather than gentle reproach.
A walking staff elevated above disobedient children
The verses' central image — that even a staff is more loyal than these sons, since it wards off wild bulls and dogs, steadies him in darkness, and holds firm footing in deep water — makes the comparison concrete rather than abstract, an inanimate object doing more for him than his own children.
An exception to the vagga's usual refusal of gifts
Where SN 7.8, 7.9, and 7.11 all show the Buddha refusing food offered in exchange for a verse, here he accepts a portion of the brahmin's restored wealth as a ‘tutor's fee’, explicitly ‘out of sympathy’ — a different kind of gift, offered in gratitude rather than religious exchange, treated differently as a result.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then a certain well-to-do brahmin, shabby, wearing a shabby cloak, went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him, “Brahmin, why are you so shabby, wearing a shabby cloak?” “Worthy Gotama, I have four sons. At their wives’ bidding they expelled me from my house.” “Well then, brahmin, memorize these verses and recite them to your sons when you are all seated in the council hall with a large crowd.
§2‘I was overjoyed when they were born, and wished prosperity for them. But at their wives’ bidding they chased me out, like hounds after hogs.
§3It turns out they’re wicked, those nasty men, though they called me their dear old Dad. They’re monsters in the shape of sons, throwing me out as I’ve grown old.
§4Like an old, useless horse led away from its fodder, the elderly father of those kids begs for alms at others’ homes.
§5Even my staff is better than those disobedient sons, for it wards off a wild bull, and even a wild dog.
§6It goes before me in the dark; in deep waters it finds a footing. By the wonderful power of this staff, when I stumble, I stand firm again.’”
§7Having memorized those verses in the Buddha’s presence, the brahmin recited them to his sons when they were all seated in the council hall with a large crowd. …
§8Then the brahmin’s sons led him back home, bathed him, and each clothed him with a fine pair of garments. Then the brahmin, taking one pair of garments, went to the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: “Worthy Gotama, we brahmins seek a fee for our tutor. May the worthy Gotama please accept my tutor’s fee!” So the Buddha accepted it out of sympathy. Then the well-to-do brahmin said to the Buddha, “Excellent, worthy Gotama … From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”
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