The Pāsāṇaka Shrine in Magadha, within Bāvarī’s frame narrative (see Snp 5.1)
Questioner
Mogharāja, the fifteenth of Bāvarī’s sixteen student-brahmins
Form
Four verses: a notably patient, twice-deferred question, then a two-line answer of lasting fame
Length
~1–2 minutes to read
Position
Fifteenth of sixteen questions in the Pārāyanavagga
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short and famous, though its single central line rewards unpacking
Why this discourse
Mogharāja’s question produces one of the most quoted single lines in the entire Sutta Nipāta — “look upon the world as empty” — and it comes only after Mogharāja himself has had to wait. He tells the Buddha this is the third time he has asked, having twice already gone unanswered, and has heard that “the divine seer answers when questioned a third time.” That patience, and what it may have been waiting for, is itself part of the discourse.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Look upon the world as empty, ever mindful, and having uprooted the very theory of a self, a person may cross over death — so that the King of Death no longer has anywhere to look and find them.
Twice unanswered
Mogharāja opens with something none of the other fifteen questioners say: “Twice I have asked the Sakyan, but you haven’t answered me, O Clear-eyed One. I have heard that the divine seer answers when questioned a third time.” The text itself does not explain the earlier silence, but the traditional commentary offers a plausible account: Mogharāja had reportedly tried to put his question ahead of the other students’ turns, interrupting the proper sequence, and the Buddha simply declined to reward the interruption — not refusing the question itself so much as its timing. Whatever the exact reason, the effect within the poem is to frame what follows as something finally, deliberately given, after genuine waiting.
An honest admission of unfamiliarity
Before asking his question directly, Mogharāja makes an unusually candid admission: regarding “this world, the other world, and the realm of divinity with its gods,” he says, “I’m not familiar with the view of the renowned Gotama.” Rather than assuming he already understands the Buddha’s position and asking a leading question, he states plainly that he doesn’t know it yet — a small but genuine act of intellectual honesty before the question that follows.
“Look upon the world as empty”
Mogharāja’s actual question is precise: “how to look upon the world so the King of Death won’t see you?” The Buddha’s answer is equally precise, and has become one of the most quoted lines from the entire Sutta Nipāta: “look upon the world as empty, Mogharāja, ever mindful. Having uprooted the theory of self, you may thus cross over death.” Emptiness here (suñña) is not a claim that nothing exists; the discourse itself specifies what the world is empty of — a fixed, independent self and anything that could be said to belong to one. Where there is no self to find, Death has nowhere left to look.
A line that becomes its own discourse
This exact verse is important enough elsewhere in the canon to generate its own follow-up teaching. In the Saṁyutta Nikāya (SN 35.85), Ānanda asks the Buddha directly: “It is said, sir, ‘The world is empty, the world is empty.’ In what way is it said that the world is empty?” — quoting, effectively, this very line from Mogharāja’s answer — and the Buddha replies: “It’s because it’s empty of self and what belongs to self that it’s said, ‘the world is empty.’” That later discourse can be read almost as a direct commentary on the phrase given here, confirming that “empty” was never meant as a claim about nonexistence but specifically about the absence of self.
Key terms
suñña — “empty”; specified elsewhere (SN 35.85) as empty specifically of self and what belongs to self, not a claim of general nonexistence.
attānudiṭṭhi — the “theory of self,” “view of self,” or “identity view”; its uprooting is what allows a person to cross over death in this verse.
the King of Death — Māra in his role as death personified; the discourse’s question is specifically about not being seen, and therefore not being reachable, by this figure.
the third asking — Mogharāja’s note that the Buddha traditionally answers on a third asking; commentarial tradition connects the earlier silence to Mogharāja having spoken out of turn.
The text
The discourse in full — four verses, the entirety of Mogharāja’s exchange with the Buddha. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Twice I have asked the Sakyan,”
said Venerable Mogharāja,
“but you haven’t answered me, O Clear-eyed One.
I have heard that the divine seer
answers when questioned a third time.
§2Regarding this world, the other world,
and the realm of divinity with its gods,
I’m not familiar with the view
of the renowned Gotama.
§3So I have come seeking with a question
for the one of excellent vision.
How to look upon the world
so the King of Death won’t see you?”
§4“Look upon the world as empty,
Mogharāja, ever mindful.
Having uprooted the theory of self,
you may thus cross over death.
That’s how to look upon the world
so the King of Death won’t see you.”
· · ·
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What does Mogharāja say is unusual about his own question, compared to the other fifteen?
Correct: B. He references having heard that "the divine seer answers when questioned a third time."
Question 2 of 10
What plausible explanation does the reading guide offer, via commentarial tradition, for the earlier silence?
Correct: C. This is framed as a matter of timing, not a refusal of the question itself.
Question 3 of 10
What honest admission does Mogharāja make before asking his main question?
Correct: A. The reading guide calls this a small but genuine act of intellectual honesty.
Question 4 of 10
What is Mogharāja's actual question to the Buddha?
Correct: D. This is the question that produces the discourse's famous answer.
Question 5 of 10
What is the Buddha's famous answer?
Correct: B. The reading guide calls this one of the most quoted lines in the entire Sutta Nipāta.
Question 6 of 10
According to the reading guide, what does "empty" (suñña) mean in this verse?
Correct: C. This is clarified by the related discourse at SN 35.85.
Question 7 of 10
What later discourse does the reading guide connect to this exact verse?
Correct: A. That later discourse can be read almost as a direct commentary on this phrase.
Question 8 of 10
Mogharāja is which of Bāvarī's sixteen student-brahmins?
Correct: D. He follows Posāla (fourteenth) and precedes Piṅgiya (sixteenth).
Question 9 of 10
Who is "the King of Death" in this discourse's terms?
Correct: B. "Crossing over death" is presented as the direct consequence of uprooting the theory of self.
Question 10 of 10
What must be "uprooted," according to the Buddha's answer, in order to cross over death?
Correct: C. This is named directly alongside "look upon the world as empty" in the same verse.
