Aṅguttara Nikāya
IX. Navaka Nipāta
II. Sīhanāda Vagga

IX. The Book of the Nines

Chapter II: The Lion Roar

Sutta 14

Samiddhi Suttaṃ

The Venerable Samiḍḍhi1

 

[256]

Thus have I heard:

Now the venerable Samiddhi visited the venerable Sāriputta, saluted him and sat down at one side.

And the venerable Sāriputta spoke to him, so seated:

"What, Samiddhi, is the basis of purposive thoughts?"2

"Name and shape, sir."

■

[257] "What gives them their variety?"

"The elements."

■

"What gives rise to them?"

"Contact."

■

"Wherein have they common ground?"

"In feeling."

■

"When are they at their best?"

"In a state of concentration."

■

"What is their master state?"

"Mindfulness."

■

"What is their still higher state?"

"Wisdom."

■

"What is their very essence?"

"The giving of liberation."

■

"Wherein are they finally merged?"

"In the deathless."3

 

§

 

"'What, Samiddhi, is the basis of purposive thoughts?"

'Name and shape, sir,' [you answered]ed1

■

'What gives them their variety?'

'The elements.'

■

'What gives rise to them?'

'Contact.'

■

'Wherein have they common ground?'

'In feeling.'

■

'When are they at their best?'

'In a state of concentration.'

■

'What is their master state?'

'Mindfulness.'

■

'What is their still higher state?'

'Wisdom.'

■

'What is their very essence?'

'The giving of liberation.'

■

'Wherein are they finally merged?'

'In the deathless.'

■

"Such, Samiddhi, are the questions, and such are your answers.4

Well done, well done, Samiddhi!

Well have you answered the questions put to you;
but be not vain5 on that account!"

 

1 His name does not occur in the lists at A. i. 23 f. He entered the Order when young (K.S. i, 15). At M. iii, 208, the Buddha calls him a moghapurisa; and there he is chaffed by the wanderer, Potaliputta, for pretending to expound Dhamma after three years in the Order. However, at K.S. i, 149, he routs Māra; see also Th. i, 46; J. ii, 57. He seems to have been psychic; hence, perhaps, his name. Comy. observes that he was a pupil of Sāriputta, and received the name Samiddhi on account of the wealth of his personality, atta-bhāva-samiddhatāya. Cf. K.S. i, 15: 'Thou art young ... and callow, black-haired and blessed with luck of youth.' See slso K.S. iv, 19.

2 Cf. above, p 221. On sankappa-vitakkā see Dh.S. trsl., § 7, n.; Cpd. 238. Comy. here, sankappa-bhūtā vitakkā.

3 Cf. with this Sāriputta's quest, Vin. i, p. 39.

4 The text repeats in full.

5 Mā maññi. Comy. mā dappaṅ akāsi.

 

ed1 Hare abridges; completed here with this addition.