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Samyutta Nikaya
SN 48

SN 48.54

CDB ii 1697

Pade Sutta: In the Foot

translated from the Pali by

Maurice O'Connell Walshe

The Pali title of this sutta is based on the PTS (Feer) edition.

"Just as monks, all the foot-characteristics of all jungle creatures[1] are combined in the elephant's and the elephant's foot is reckoned chief of them in size, so too, monks, of all the elements[2] that conduce to enlightenment the faculty of wisdom[3] is reckoned their chief as regards the attainment of enlightenment.

"And which, are those elements that conduce to enlightenment? The faculty of faith, monks, conduces to enlightenment, the faculties of energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom conduce to enlightenment.

"Just as, monks, all the foot-characteristics of all jungle creatures are combined in the elephant's foot and the elephant's foot is reckoned chief of them in size, so too, monks, of all the elements that conduce to enlightenment the faculty of wisdom is reckoned chief as regards the attainment of enlightenment."

Notes

1.: Reverting to jangalaana.m in Feer's text, as opposed to Woodward's "creatures as roam about" based on a dubious jangaman.am (for cankamana.m) of some MSS.
2.: Padaani lit. "feet" is an untranslatable pun. Pada.m "foot" has even more metaphorical meanings in Pali than the English word: see Pali-English Dictionary (PTS).
3.: Paññindriya. The fifth of the five "spiritual faculties": 1. Faith (saddhaa), 2. Energy (viriya), 3. Mindfulness (sati), 4. Concentration (samaadhi), 5. Wisdom (paññaa). See Buddhist Dictionary (2nd ed., by Ven. Nyaa.natiloka, Ven. Nyaa.naponika, ed., Colombo 1972) s.v. Indriya and also Indriya-samatta. It will be noticed that these five partly overlap with the seven bojjhangas (SN 46.53, n. 1).

You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge and, in the case of reprinting, only in quantities of no more than 50 copies; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. From Samyutta Nikaya: An Anthology (WH 318-321), by M. O'C. Walshe (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1985). Transcribed from the print edition in 2007 by a volunteer, under the auspices of the Access to Insight Dhamma Transcription Project and by arrangement with the Buddhist Publication Society. Minor revisions were made in accordance with the ATI style sheet. Pali diacritics are represented using the Velthuis convention. Last revised for Access to Insight on 30 November 2013.

How to cite this document (a suggested style): "Pade Sutta: In the Foot" (SN 48.54), translated from the Pali by Maurice O'Connell Walshe. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn48/sn48.054.wlsh.html .

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