Reading guide
A fault measured in timing, not content
Unlike temptation, sleep, or excessive teaching, Nāgadatta's issue is procedural — entering too early, leaving too late — a schedule drifting out of alignment rather than any single dramatic lapse.
Gradual entanglement named through shared feeling
The verse doesn't describe Nāgadatta doing anything improper exactly; it describes him ‘sharing their joys and sorrows’ with lay families, a subtler kind of entanglement measured in emotional involvement rather than any specific misconduct.
Fear stated directly, not implied through warning
‘I'm afraid for Nāgadatta’ is a notably direct statement of feeling, distinct from the more detached observational tone of several neighboring discourses in this saṃyutta — the deity's own emotional stake in the outcome made explicit.
Recklessness and shackling as the named diagnosis
The verse doesn't merely describe Nāgadatta's behavior; it names what it amounts to — reckless, ‘shackled to families’ — treating gradual social entanglement as a genuine bondage, not mere carelessness.
Death named as the actual stake
The verse's closing lines don't warn of minor consequences; they name the King of Death's power directly, framing sustained worldly entanglement as something that could genuinely cost Nāgadatta his spiritual progress, not merely his reputation.
Key terms
The text
§1At one time Venerable Nāgadatta was staying in the land of the Kosalans in a certain forest grove. Now at that time Venerable Nāgadatta had been entering the village too early and returning late in the day. Then the deity haunting that forest had sympathy for Nāgadatta, wanting what’s best for him. So they approached him wanting to stir him up, and recited these verses:
§2“Entering the village too early, and returning too late in the day, Nāgadatta mixes with lay people, sharing their joys and sorrows.
§3I’m afraid for Nāgadatta; he’s reckless, shackled to families. May he not come under the King of Death’s power, under the sway of the terminator!”
§4Impelled by that deity, Venerable Nāgadatta was struck with a sense of urgency.
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