Reading guide
A formal ceremony, not a spontaneous encounter
Unlike most of this saṃyutta's discourses, this one opens with an established ritual occasion — the Pavāraṇā, held on the full-moon sabbath at the close of the rains — giving the entire discourse a structured, ceremonial weight distinct from Vaṅgīsa's usual private struggles.
An invitation to criticize met with praise instead
When the Buddha formally invites the assembly to name any fault of body or speech, Sāriputta doesn't simply decline the invitation; he redirects it entirely, calling the Buddha the one who gave rise to the previously unarisen path — turning an occasion for criticism into one for tribute.
Praise returned with a vivid dynastic image
The Buddha's response to Sāriputta doesn't simply thank him; it compares Sāriputta to a wheel-turning monarch's eldest son, rightly continuing to turn the wheel his father set in motion — casting the transmission of teaching in the language of legitimate succession.
An exact accounting of the assembly's attainment
When Sāriputta asks about the other five hundred monks, the Buddha doesn't answer in general terms; he gives a precise breakdown — sixty with the three knowledges, sixty with the six direct knowledges, sixty liberated both ways, the rest liberated by wisdom — a specificity underscoring the extraordinary scale of what's gathered in this one place.
Vaṅgīsa's verse closing on unbroken confidence
By the time Vaṅgīsa rises to speak, the discourse has already established the assembly's purity through formal exchange and precise numbers; his verses don't need to argue for anything, only to honor what's already been shown, closing with an image of five hundred untroubled sages who will not be reborn again.
Key terms
The text
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in the stilt longhouse of Migāra’s mother in the Eastern Monastery, together with a large Saṅgha of around five hundred monks, all of whom were perfected ones. Now, at that time it was the sabbath—the full moon on the fifteenth day—and the Buddha was sitting in the open surrounded by the Saṅgha of monks for the invitation to admonish. Then the Buddha looked around the Saṅgha of monks, who were silent. He addressed them: “Come now, monks, I invite you all: Is there anything I’ve done by way of body or speech that you would criticize?”
§2When he had spoken, Venerable Sāriputta got up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his cupped palms toward the Buddha, and said: “There is nothing, sir, that you’ve done by way of body or speech that we would criticize. For the Blessed One gave rise to the unarisen path, gave birth to the unborn path, and explained the unexplained path. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the expert on the path. And now the disciples live following the path; they acquire it later. And sir, I invite the Blessed One. Is there anything I’ve done by way of body or speech that you would criticize?”
§3“There is nothing, Sāriputta, that you’ve done by way of body or speech that I would criticize. Sāriputta, you are astute. You have great wisdom, widespread wisdom, laughing wisdom, swift wisdom, sharp wisdom, penetrating wisdom. A wheel-turning monarch’s oldest son rightly keeps wielding the power set in motion by his father. In the same way, Sāriputta rightly keeps rolling the supreme Wheel of Dhamma that was rolled forth by me.”
§4“Since it seems I have done nothing worthy of the Blessed One’s criticism, is there anything these five hundred monks have done by way of body or speech that you would criticize?” “There is nothing, Sāriputta, that these five hundred monks have done by way of body or speech that I would criticize. For of these five hundred monks, sixty have the three knowledges, sixty have the six direct knowledges, sixty are freed both ways, and the rest are freed by wisdom.”
§5Then Venerable Vaṅgīsa got up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his cupped palms toward the Buddha, and said, “I feel inspired to speak, Blessed One! I feel inspired to speak, Holy One!” “Then speak as you feel inspired,” said the Buddha. Then Vaṅgīsa extolled the Buddha in his presence with fitting verses:
§6“Today, on the fifteenth day sabbath, five hundred monks have gathered together to purify their precepts. These untroubled sages have cut off their fetters and bonds, they will not be reborn again.
§7Just as a wheel-turning monarch surrounded by ministers travels all around this land girt by sea.
§8So disciples with the three knowledges, conquerors of death, revere the winner of the battle, the unsurpassed caravan leader.
§9All are sons of the Blessed One—there is no rubbish here. I bow to the Kinsman of the Sun, destroyer of the dart of craving.”
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