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SN 1.21PTS (1st ed) SN 1.131 min read

A Sword

Sattisutta

A mendicant should live as if their head was on fire.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.21Linked Discourses 1.21
  • 0.23. Sattivagga3. A Sword

0.3SattisuttaA Sword

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“Sattiyā viya omaṭṭho,“Like they’re struck by a sword,2.2ḍayhamānova matthake;like their head was on fire,2.3Kāmarāgappahānāya,a mendicant, mindful, should go forth,2.4sato bhikkhu paribbaje”ti.to give up sensual desire.”1

3.1“Sattiyā viya omaṭṭho,“Like they’re struck by a sword,3.2ḍayhamānova matthake;like their head was on fire,3.3Sakkāyadiṭṭhippahānāya,a mendicant, mindful, should go forth,3.4sato bhikkhu paribbaje”ti.to give up substantialist view.”2

Translator’s notes

  1. Here, as often (eg. AN 6.54:22.3), giving up kāmarāga implies attaining the absorptions. It cannot mean relinquishing the “underlying tendency” or the “fetter” to sensual desire, for this occurs only at the third stage of awakening (non-return), whereas the Buddha’s rejoinder urges rather to give up substantialist view, the first stage of awakening, the stream-enterer.

    ↩ sn1.21:2.4

  2. In some parallels for this verse, the mendicant is urged, rather, to give up desire for rebirth (Thag 1.40:1.2, Thag 20.1:24.1). But SN 2.16:3.2 is the same as here.

    ↩ sn1.21:3.4