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SN 9.5PTS (1st ed) SN 1.1991 min read

With Ānanda

Ānandasutta

A deity warns Ānanda about getting too involved with teaching lay folk.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 9.5Linked Discourses 9.5
  • 0.21. Vanavagga1. In the Woods

0.3ĀnandasuttaWith Ānanda

1.1Ekaṁ samayaṁ āyasmā ānando kosalesu viharati aññatarasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe.At one time Venerable Ānanda was staying in the land of the Kosalans in a certain forest grove.

1.2Tena kho pana samayena āyasmā ānando ativelaṁ gihisaññattibahulo viharati.Now at that time Ānanda was spending too much time persuading lay people.11.3Atha kho yā tasmiṁ vanasaṇḍe adhivatthā devatā āyasmato ānandassa anukampikā atthakāmā āyasmantaṁ ānandaṁ saṁvejetukāmā yenāyasmā ānando tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā āyasmantaṁ ānandaṁ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:Then the deity haunting that forest had sympathy for Ānanda, wanting what’s best for him. So they approached him wanting to stir him up, and recited these verses:2

2.1“Rukkhamūlagahanaṁ pasakkiya,“You’ve left for the jungle, the root of a tree,2.2Nibbānaṁ hadayasmiṁ opiya;having laid extinguishment in your heart.32.3Jhāya gotama mā pamādo,Meditate, Gotama, don’t be negligent!2.4Kiṁ te biḷibiḷikā karissatī”ti.What use is this hullabaloo to you?”

3.1Atha kho āyasmā ānando tāya devatāya saṁvejito saṁvegamāpādīti.Impelled by that deity, Venerable Ānanda was struck with a sense of urgency.

Translator’s notes

  1. The word “persuasion” (saññatti) is used in the context of discussions with skeptical non-Buddhists (eg. MN 60:8.5).

    ↩ sn9.5:1.2

  2. The same verse is spoken by a certain Vajjiputta (“Vajjian”) at Thag 1.119. The Pali commentary says this occurred shortly after the Buddha’s passing. Ānanda, still only a stream-enterer, was striving for arahantship before the First Council, but got caught up in consoling the distraught layfolk. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya agrees, adding that Vajjiputta was Ānanda’s attendant at the time. Following the exhortation, Ānanda meditated till late at night, then mindfully lay down to rest. When his feet were lifted off the floor, but his head not yet on his pillow, he became awakened (Rockhill, The Life of the Buddha, p. 155). The Pali Vinaya recounts the same events, but does not mention this verse (Kd 21:1.6.1).

    ↩ sn9.5:1.3

  3. Both Bodhi here and Norman in the parallel in Elders Verses (Thag 1.119:1.2) read osiya (“having laid”), which agrees with the commentarial gloss.

    ↩ sn9.5:2.2