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SN 1.11PTS (1st ed) SN 1.51 min read

The Garden of Delight

Nandanasutta

Even the divine Garden of Delight is impermanent.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.11Linked Discourses 1.11
  • 0.22. Nandanavagga2. The Garden of Delight

0.3NandanasuttaThe Garden of Delight

1.1Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.1.2ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.1.3Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:There the Buddha addressed the mendicants,1.4“bhikkhavo”ti.“Mendicants!”

1.5“Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.“Venerable sir,” they replied.1.6Bhagavā etadavoca:The Buddha said this:

2.1“Bhūtapubbaṁ, bhikkhave, aññatarā tāvatiṁsakāyikā devatā nandane vane accharāsaṅghaparivutā dibbehi pañcahi kāmaguṇehi samappitā samaṅgībhūtā paricārayamānā tāyaṁ velāyaṁ imaṁ gāthaṁ abhāsi:“Once upon a time, mendicants, a certain deity of the company of the thirty-three was amusing themselves in the Garden of Delight, escorted by a band of nymphs, and supplied and provided with the five kinds of heavenly sensual stimulation. On that occasion she spoke this verse:

3.1‘Na te sukhaṁ pajānanti,‘They don’t know pleasure3.2ye na passanti nandanaṁ;who don’t see the Garden of Delight!3.3Āvāsaṁ naradevānaṁ,It’s the abode of lordly gods,13.4tidasānaṁ yasassinan’ti.the glorious host of Thirty!’2

4.1Evaṁ vutte, bhikkhave, aññatarā devatā taṁ devataṁ gāthāya paccabhāsi:When they had spoken, another deity replied with this verse:

5.1‘Na tvaṁ bāle pajānāsi,‘Fool, don’t you understand35.2yathā arahataṁ vaco;the saying of the perfected ones:5.3Aniccā sabbasaṅkhārā,All conditions are impermanent,45.4uppādavayadhammino;their nature is to rise and fall;5.5Uppajjitvā nirujjhanti,having arisen, they cease;5.6tesaṁ vūpasamo sukho’”ti.their settling is such bliss.’”

Translator’s notes

  1. Naradeva is a term for a king. Here and at SN 9.6:4.3 it refers to the gods of the Thirty-Three, and at Thag 20.1:41.1 to Brahmā. At Cp 5:1.3 it apparently refers to the aristocrats who are “gods among men” (see Manu 11.82).

    ↩ sn1.11:3.3

  2. Tidasa (“thirty”) is a poetic abbreviation for the “thirty-three” gods. Noted as such in Kṣīrasvāmin’s Amarakośodghāṭana 1.1.7.

    ↩ sn1.11:3.4

  3. The vocative form bāle suggests that a female deity is being addressed, which is certainly the case in the parallel passage at SN 9.6:5.1. The commentary says that the speaker here is also a female deity.

    ↩ sn1.11:5.1

  4. This famous verse, which occurs many times in the Suttas, was spoken by the Buddha at SN 15.20:8.2 and by Sakka, the lord of the thirty-three, at the Buddha’s passing (SN 6.15:6.2, DN 16:6.10.11.

    In this context, saṅkhārā means “conditions” or “conditioned phenomena” rather than “volitional actions”, “choices”.

    The unusual reading sabbasaṅkhārā (rather than vata saṅkhārā) recurs in the parallel passage at SN 9.6:5.3.

    ↩ sn1.11:5.3