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SN 1.6PTS (1st ed) SN 1.31 min read

Awake

Jāgarasutta

How many are awake while others are asleep?

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 1.6Linked Discourses 1.6
  • 0.21. Naḷavagga1. A Reed

0.3JāgarasuttaAwake

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“Kati jāgarataṁ suttā,“How many sleep among the waking?2.2kati suttesu jāgarā;How many wake among the sleeping?2.3Katibhi rajamādeti,By how many do you gather dust?2.4katibhi parisujjhatī”ti.By how many are you cleansed?”

3.1“Pañca jāgarataṁ suttā,“Five sleep among the waking.13.2pañca suttesu jāgarā;Five wake among the sleeping.3.3Pañcabhi rajamādeti,By five you gather dust.3.4pañcabhi parisujjhatī”ti.By five you’re cleansed.”

Translator’s notes

  1. This verse is found in Isibhāsiyāiṁ 29.2, where it is attributed to the Jain Vardhamāna Mahāvīra. His explanation there takes the “five” as the senses, which for the “waking” sages are “asleep” (i.e. restrained), while the unawakened “sleep” in ignorance while their “awakened’ senses run riot. The Pali commentaries, on the other hand, take them as the five spiritual faculties on the side of awakening, in contrast with the five hindrances.

    ↩ sn1.6:3.1