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The Great Sutra Treasury - Southern Transmission 16
More than two-thirds of the suttas in the Samyutta Nikāya (2,889 suttas divided into 56 chapters) have equivalents in the Chinese Saṃyukta Āgama (1,359 suttas, 50 scrolls). The arrangement differs, so for convenient comparison, we should remember that the initial chapters are found in the following scrolls:
- Connected Discourses with Devas (Devatā Saṃyutta) – scrolls 36, 22, 48, 49
- Connected Discourses with Kosala (Kosala –) – scrolls 46, 42
- Connected Discourses with Māra (Māra –) – scroll 39
- Connected Discourses with Bhikkhunīs (Bhikkhunī –) – scroll 45
- Connected Discourses with Brahmā (Brahmā –) – scrolls 40, 46
- Connected Discourses with Brahmins (Brāhmana –) – scrolls 4, 44
- Connected Discourses with Vangīsa (Vangīsa –) – scrolls 45, 36
- Connected Discourses in the Forest (Vana –) – scrolls 44, 46
- Connected Discourses with Yakkhas (Yakkha –) – scrolls 49, 50
- Connected Discourses with Sakka (Sakka –) – scrolls 40, 46
The speaker selects a series of representative suttas for illustration:
- S 1.75 (Malika): “To love oneself is not to harm others” – the queen asks about self-love and the Buddha teaches to avoid causing harm in order to respect life.
- S 1.77: One can only judge the level of practice after living together and going through difficulties.
- S 1.100 (The Four Mountains): The image of four mountains—birth, aging, sickness, and death—surrounding the capital, awakening King Pasenadi to live peacefully in the present moment.
- S 1.98: The merit of offering to those who keep the precepts is like “investing,” bringing great benefit to society.
- S 1.116–124: The times Māra came to tempt the Buddha before and after enlightenment, but the seeds of mindfulness dispelled him.
- S 1.159–163 (Brahmin): Bhāradvāja and his brother Akkosaka, from anger, and Ahimsaka, from harm, all come to have faith in the Dharma.
As for the Connected Discourses with Vangīsa (Vangīsa Saṃyutta), the monk who was originally a fluent poet:
- In his youth, attachment and arrogance are revealed in his self-reproaching poem, like “an ox longing for another’s rice.”
- Thanks to the guidance of Venerables Ānanda and Nigrodha Kappa, he practiced contemplation of impurity and mindfulness, thus extinguishing his scattered thoughts.
- After attaining the threefold knowledge, Vangīsa composed verses praising the Buddha—likening him to the King of Medicine, the lineage of the sun; praising the Dharma as ambrosia, the eightfold path of peace; and recording his heartfelt confessions before the great Sangha on the five mountains of Rājagaha.