Near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery
Occasion
Sāriputta continues teaching Bhaddiya, “thinking that he was still a trainee”
Form
A brief narrative frame with no recorded dialogue, closed by a single four-line inspired utterance (udāna)
Length
<1 minute to read
Companion
Directly follows Ud 7.1, and reads as a continuation of the same situation
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — simple on its surface, but its placement right after Ud 7.1 raises a quiet, unresolved question
Why this discourse, second of the pair
Read on its own, this sutta is a short, self-contained scene almost identical in shape to Ud 7.1: a teacher speaks, the Buddha notices something, a verse follows. Read next to Ud 7.1, one detail in the second sentence becomes hard to ignore — Sāriputta is still teaching Bhaddiya, and doing so “thinking that he was still a trainee.” If Ud 7.1 has already told us Bhaddiya’s mind was freed, what does it mean that his own teacher does not yet know it?
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Sāriputta redoubles his effort to teach a monk he still regards as a trainee, and the Buddha responds — again without correcting anyone directly — with a verse describing someone for whom the entire round of rebirth has already, completely, come to an end.
Even more ways, still thinking him a trainee
This sutta opens almost exactly as Ud 7.1 does, with one telling escalation: Sāriputta is now teaching Bhaddiya “in even more ways” than before, and the text explicitly gives his reason — he is “thinking that he was still a trainee” (sekha, someone still in training, as opposed to an asekha, an adept who has completed the path). Placed right after Ud 7.1, where Bhaddiya’s liberation has already occurred, this detail invites an obvious question the text itself never answers directly: does Sāriputta simply not know yet?
The reading guide raises this as an open question rather than a settled fact. The two suttas are adjacent and clearly share a cast and setting, but the text does not explicitly state that this scene occurs after the events of Ud 7.1, nor does it explain Sāriputta’s reasoning. What is certain is only what both texts say: in Ud 7.1 Bhaddiya’s mind is freed; here, his teacher is still working to bring him further, evidently unaware that there is nowhere further to bring him.
The Buddha's response, again indirect
As in Ud 7.1, the Buddha does not step in to correct Sāriputta or address Bhaddiya. He “saw what was happening” and, privately understanding it, spoke a verse. This restraint is itself a pattern worth noticing across the whole Udāna: the Buddha frequently witnesses a significant moment and responds only in verse, addressed to no one in particular, rather than intervening in the ordinary business of teaching and training going on around him.
The cycle cut, the streams dried
The verse describes liberation through the image of a wheel and its motion stopped: “they’ve cut the cycle… cut, the cycle no longer spins.” The “cycle” (vaṭṭa) is the round of repeated rebirth, conventionally pictured as a turning wheel kept in motion by craving. “The streams are dried, they flow no more” extends the same idea with a second image, of rivers of craving that have simply run out of water. The verse closes with the plainest possible statement of the goal: “Just this is the end of suffering” — not a step toward the end, but the end itself.
A quiet irony
Whether or not Sāriputta specifically remains unaware, the juxtaposition of teacher and verse produces a mild, pointed irony that this reading guide takes to be intentional editorial placement within the chapter: exactly as someone works to lead Bhaddiya toward the goal, the Buddha describes that goal as already, completely reached. The Cūḷavagga returns to Bhaddiya a third time in Ud 7.5, where the community's ordinary perceptions of him are shown to be mistaken in a different way — not about his attainment, but about his worth, judged from his appearance.
Key terms
sekha / asekha — “trainee” versus “adept”: a trainee is still practicing toward one of the higher stages of awakening, while an adept (an arahant) has nothing further to train for.
vaṭṭa (the cycle) — the round of repeated rebirth, often pictured as a wheel kept turning by craving and ignorance; the verse describes it as finally “cut,” unable to spin further.
chinnasotā (cut streams) — craving pictured as flowing rivers now “dried,” a companion image to the cut wheel, describing the same cessation from a different angle.
dukkhassa anto (the end of suffering) — the verse’s closing phrase, stated as an accomplished fact rather than a future hope: “just this is the end of suffering.”
Lakuṇḍaka Bhaddiya — the same “Bhaddiya the Dwarf” of Ud 7.1, here still apparently regarded by his own teacher as a trainee still in need of instruction.
The text
The discourse in full — a brief narrative frame with no recorded dialogue, closed by the Buddha’s four-line inspired utterance. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
A teacher, still working
§1So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time Venerable Sāriputta was educating, encouraging, firing up, and inspiring Venerable Bhaddiya the Dwarf in even more ways with a Dhamma talk, thinking that he was still a trainee.
§2The Buddha saw what was happening.
§3Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
The verse
§4“They’ve cut the cycle, gone to the wishless;
the streams are dried, they flow no more.
Cut, the cycle no longer spins.
Just this is the end of suffering.”
· · ·
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 is Sāriputta doing at the start of this discourse?
Correct: B. The text explicitly gives his reason: he thought Bhaddiya was "still a trainee."
Question 2 of 10
What does the reading guide note about the relationship between this discourse and Ud 7.1?
Correct: C. The text itself does not explicitly state that this scene follows the events of Ud 7.1.
Question 3 of 10
What does "sekha" mean, according to the key terms?
Correct: A. Its opposite, asekha, describes someone who has completed the path.
Question 4 of 10
Does the Buddha intervene directly to correct Sāriputta or instruct Bhaddiya in this discourse?
Correct: D. This restraint is a recurring pattern across the Udāna collection.
Question 5 of 10
What does the verse mean by "they've cut the cycle... the cycle no longer spins"?
Correct: B. The image of cut streams in the next line reinforces the same idea from a different angle.
Question 6 of 10
How does the verse describe "the streams" of craving?
Correct: C. Both images point to the same completed liberation.
Question 7 of 10
How does the verse's final line describe the end of suffering?
Correct: A. The verse is stated in the present, describing something already complete.
Question 8 of 10
What does the reading guide identify as a "quiet irony" in this discourse?
Correct: D. The reading guide treats this juxtaposition as likely intentional within the chapter's editorial placement.
Question 9 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: B. The same setting as Ud 7.1, consistent with the two suttas' close pairing.
Question 10 of 10
According to the reading guide, where does the Cūḷavagga return to Bhaddiya a third time, and what does that discourse address?
Correct: C. Ud 7.5 has the Buddha directly correct his own community's prejudice.
