Reading guide
A second brahmin named for his own strategy
Following directly after SN 7.15's Mānatthaddha, this discourse repeats the pattern of a name that states the brahmin's entire approach in advance — here, a declared intention to contradict rather than a confirmed trait of conceit.
A plan stated with unusual bluntness
The brahmin doesn't disguise his intention or wait to see what the Buddha says before deciding how to react; he thinks it through explicitly beforehand — whatever the ascetic says, I'll contradict it — arriving already committed to opposition.
A demand for teaching from someone planning to reject it
‘Preach the Dhamma’ sounds like a genuine request, but arrives from someone who has already decided the content of his response regardless of what's said — the demand and the stated plan sit in open tension with each other.
A diagnosis of the obstacle, not an argument against it
The Buddha's verse doesn't try to out-argue a mind bent on contradiction, since that would only invite more contradiction; instead it names what actually blocks understanding — a tainted, aggressive mind — treating the brahmin's stance as a diagnosable condition rather than a position to be refuted.
A condition for understanding stated plainly
The verse's second half doesn't just criticize; it specifies exactly what would need to change — aggression dispelled, suspicion set aside, resentment let go — before fine words could actually be understood, giving the brahmin a concrete path rather than only a diagnosis.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Now at that time a brahmin named Contraphile, who loved contradiction, was residing in Sāvatthī. Then Contraphile thought, “Why don’t I go to the ascetic Gotama and contradict everything he says?” At that time the Buddha was walking mindfully in the open air. Then the brahmin Contraphile went up to the Buddha, and said to him as he was walking, “Ascetic, preach the Dhamma.”
§2“Fine words aren’t easy to understand by a lover of contradiction, whose mind is tainted and full of aggression.
§3But when you’ve dispelled aggression, and your suspicious mind, and you’ve got rid of resentment, then you’ll understand fine words.”
§4When he had spoken, the brahmin Contraphile said to the Buddha, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! … 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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