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SN 30.2PTS SN 3.2461 min read

They Carry Off

Harantisutta

Phoenixes may be born from eggs, the womb, moisture, or spontaneously. Each of them may carry off a dragon of lower birth.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 30.2Linked Discourses 30.2
  • 0.21. Supaṇṇavagga1. Phoenixes

0.3HarantisuttaThey Carry Off

1.1PTS 3.247Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2“Catasso imā, bhikkhave, supaṇṇayoniyo.“Mendicants, phoenixes reproduce in these four ways.1.3Katamā catasso?What four?1.4Aṇḍajā …pe…Phoenixes are born from eggs, from a womb, from moisture, or spontaneously.1.5imā kho, bhikkhave, catasso supaṇṇayoniyo.These are the four ways that phoenixes reproduce.1.6Tatra, bhikkhave, aṇḍajā supaṇṇā aṇḍajeva nāge haranti, na jalābuje, na saṁsedaje, na opapātike.Of these, phoenixes born from an egg can only carry off dragons born from an egg, not those born from a womb, from moisture, or spontaneously.11.7Tatra, bhikkhave, jalābujā supaṇṇā aṇḍaje ca jalābuje ca nāge haranti, na saṁsedaje, na opapātike.Phoenixes born from a womb can carry off dragons born from an egg or from a womb, but not those born from moisture or spontaneously.1.8Tatra, bhikkhave, saṁsedajā supaṇṇā aṇḍaje ca jalābuje ca saṁsedaje ca nāge haranti, na opapātike.Phoenixes born from moisture can carry off dragons born from an egg, from a womb, or from moisture, but not those born spontaneously.1.9Tatra, bhikkhave, opapātikā supaṇṇā aṇḍaje ca jalābuje ca saṁsedaje ca opapātike ca nāge haranti.Phoenixes born spontaneously can carry off dragons born from an egg, from a womb, from moisture, or spontaneously.1.10Imā kho, bhikkhave, catasso supaṇṇayoniyo”ti.These are the four ways that phoenixes reproduce.”

1.11Dutiyaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. The enmity between snakes and birds is legendary (Ja 518), its origins related in the story of Suparṇa and Kadrū, mother of dragons (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 3.6.2). It is rooted as much in the common sight of birds attacking snakes as it is in the cosmic opposition between the solar and the chthonic, the forces of light in the sky and darkness beneath the earth. Only the Buddha could reconcile them (DN 20:11.16).

    ↩ sn30.2:1.6