SN 42.7

CDB ii 1338

Desanaa Sutta: Teaching

translated from the Pali by

Maurice O'Connell Walshe

The Pali title of this sutta is based on the PTS (Feer) edition.

[ At Naalandaa the village headman Asibandhakaputta asks the Buddha: ] "Does not the Blessed One dwell in compassion for all living beings?"

"Indeed, headman, the Tathaagata does dwell in compassion for all living beings."

"Well then, Lord, does not the Blessed One teach Dhamma in full [1] to some, but not so fully to others?"

"I will reply to this question, headman, with another. Answer as seems proper to you. What do you think? Suppose a peasant farmer has three fields, one excellent, one middling, and one poor, sandy, salty, with bad soil. Tell me: when the farmer wants to sow his seed, which field would he sow first: the excellent one, the middling one or the poor one that is sandy, salty and with bad soil?"

"Lord, the farmer who wanted to sow his seed would sow the excellent field first. Having done that, he would sow the middling field next, and the one that was poor, sandy, salty, with bad soil he might or might not sow. Why? Well it might do for cattle-food."

"Well, headman, that excellent field is like my monks and nuns. To them I teach the Dhamma which is lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle and lovely in its ending, in spirit and in letter, [2] I display to them the holy life, perfectly fulfilled and purified. Why? Because these people adhere to me as their island, their shelter, their resort, their refuge.

"The middling field is like my male and female lay-followers. To these too I teach the Dhamma which is lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle and lovely in its ending, in spirit and in letter, I display to them the holy life, perfectly fulfilled and purified. Why? Because these people adhere to me as their island, their shelter, their resort, their refuge.

"The poor field that is sandy, salty and with bad soil is like my wandering recluses and Brahmans of other sects. [3] To them I also teach the Dhamma which is lovely in its beginning, lovely in its middle and lovely in its ending, in spirit and in letter, I display to them the holy life, perfectly fulfilled and purified. Why? Because if they only understand a single phrase, it would long be for their profit."

Notes

1.: Sakkacca.m: "carefully, thoroughly."
2.: Saattha.m (= sa-attha.m ) savyañjana.m "with its meaning and (detailed) characteristics": vyañjana also means "letter (of alphabet)" or "syllable": in a syllabic script these are overlapping concepts.
3.: As Woodward points out, mayha.m "my" is repeated here, "possibly for the sake of framework" (i.e., as a mechanical repetition, as apparently in SN 35.133 : see n. 2 ).

You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. From Samyutta Nikaya: An Anthology (WH 318-321) , by M. O'C. Walshe (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1985). Transcribed from the print edition in 2007 by a volunteer, under the auspices of the Access to Insight Dhamma Transcription Project and by arrangement with the Buddhist Publication Society. Minor revisions were made in accordance with the ATI style sheet. Pali diacritics are represented using the Velthuis convention. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 November 2013.

How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Desanaa Sutta: Teaching" (SN 42.7), translated from the Pali by Maurice O'Connell Walshe. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition) , 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn42/sn42.007.wlsh.html .