Translating Classical Buddhism to Modern English

The Related Discourses

5. Elements

（四四六）有偈 3 (446). With Verse
如是我聞： 一時，佛住舍衛國、祇樹、給孤獨園。 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.
爾時，世尊告諸比丘⋯ 廣說如上，差別者⋯ 即說偈言： 2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks … as above in SĀ 5.2 except for this difference … He then spoke these verses:
  • 「常會故常生；
    相離生則斷。
    如人執小木
    而入於巨海，
    人木則俱沒，
    懈怠俱亦然。
  • “One is always born with those one always associates;
    Separated from each other, birth then ends.
    Like someone who clings to a small log
    And enters the vast ocean,
    When the person and log both sink,
    It’s the same when both are lazy.
  • 當離於懈怠，
    卑劣之精進。
    賢聖不懈怠；
    安住於遠離。
  • One should part with someone lazy
    Whose effort is very weak.
    The noble person isn’t lazy;
    They stand securely far from it.
  • 慇懃精進禪，
    超度生死流。
    膠漆得其素，
    火得風熾然。
  • They diligently make effort in meditation,
    And ford across the stream of birth and death.
    Sticking together, they obtain their brightness,
    As a fire burns hot in the wind.
  • 珂乳則同色，
    眾生與界俱。
    相似共和合，
    增長亦復然。」
  • Shells and milk have the same color,
    As beings go with their elements.
    Resembling each other, they unite
    And grow larger in the same way.”

Notes

  1. This is sūtra no. 446 in the Taisho edition and no. 694 in Yinshun (T99.2.115a12-23). It’s parallel with SN 14.16, Iti 78, and T765 No. 110 in terms of its verse summary, while the prose is parallel to SN 14.14.

    Unlike SN 14.16, this sūtra is identical to the prose of the previous sūtra (which is parallel to SN 14.14). The only difference here is the addition of verses that provide a more context for the prose, which is that good and bad elements refers to laziness and diligence in a monk’s practice.

    The verses found in SN 14.16 are replicated in Iti 78, which has prose similar to SN 14.14. There is also a parallel sūtra found in Xuanzang’s translation of an Itivṛttaka collection (T765, No. 110). This parallel sūtra adds some commentary to the basic teaching in a different way than SN 14.16, but the verses are very similar. Thus, we can see that there is a cluster of parallels in SN, SĀ, Iti, and T765 that share a common teaching and verses that were associated with it. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 11 January 2026

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