True DhammaLibrary · Community
SN 1.13PTS (1st ed) SN 1.61 min read

There’s Nothing Like a Child

Natthiputtasamasutta

Like many of these discourses, here the Buddha repeats a god’s verses with a subtle twist towards the Dhamma.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.13Linked Discourses 1.13
  • 0.22. Nandanavagga2. The Garden of Delight

0.3NatthiputtasamasuttaThere’s Nothing Like a Child

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Ekamantaṁ ṭhitā kho sā devatā bhagavato santike imaṁ gāthaṁ abhāsi:Standing to one side, that deity spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:

2.1“Natthi puttasamaṁ pemaṁ,“There’s no fondness like that for a child,2.2natthi gosamitaṁ dhanaṁ;no wealth equal to cattle,12.3Natthi sūriyasamā ābhā,no light like that of the sun,22.4samuddaparamā sarā”ti.and of streams the ocean is paramount.”3

3.1“Natthi attasamaṁ pemaṁ,“There’s no fondness like that for oneself,43.2natthi dhaññasamaṁ dhanaṁ;no wealth equal to grain,3.3Natthi paññāsamā ābhā,no light like that of wisdom,3.4vuṭṭhi ve paramā sarā”ti.and of streams the rain is paramount.”5

Translator’s notes

  1. Vājasaneyi Saṁhitā 23.48b says cattle have no measure.

    ↩ sn1.13:2.2

  2. These lines closely mirror the question at Vājasaneyi Saṁhitā 23.47a (quoted at Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 13.5.2.13), “What light equals the sun? What lake equals the ocean?” The answers given in the next verse are “Brahmā” and “heaven”. This points to the myth that the rivers, especially the Ganges, originate in the “causal ocean” (garbhodaka) of heaven. The rivers of northern India, bringing life down from the Himalayas, naturally suggest a divine origin.

    ↩ sn1.13:2.3

  3. Sara means originally “flow”, hence “stream, river”, then “lake”. The ocean as the paramount lake is a destination, the final point where rivers converge. As such it evokes the Upaniṣadic idea that consciousness converges in Divinity (see notes on SN 1.61:2.4 and MN 9:53.2). This is ultimately the same as the “causal ocean” from which the rivers flow.

    ↩ sn1.13:2.4

  4. The Theravada tradition, starting from the Vimuttimagga, begins the meditation on love (mettā) by focusing on oneself, a practice that draws on passages such as this. See also SN 3.8, Ud 5.1. Here the Pali uses pema (“fondness”) rather than mettā (“love”).

    ↩ sn1.13:3.1

  5. By pointing to the rain, the Buddha indicates the natural cause of the lakes and oceans.

    ↩ sn1.13:3.4