The Word of the Buddha - 6

The Saṁyutta Nikāya is an ideal mystical work to read in its entirety in order to understand in all its depth and detail the Wisdom of the Buddha, a timeless wisdom that goes beyond even Samsara itself. The Book with Verses is the first of the five books of the Interwoven Discourses and the most pleasant and gentle way to begin to make contact with the teaching. Each of the suttas in this collection contains verses within a prose narrative. The verses are not exclusive to this book, but we will find them throughout the work. It is interesting to emphasize them because the information they contain is important. This book, unlike the rest of the Collection, is organized by persons. Each saṁyutta contains a conversation involving the Buddha or his disciples with an individual or type of individuals, such as devas, kings, bhikkhunīs, or brahmins. The narrative framework is terse: someone approaches the Buddha and utters a verse, responding to him with a better one. The Discourses Intertwined with the Devas contain 81 discourses in which usually a deity approaches the Buddha in the Sāvatthī monastery, illuminating the night with his glory. The deity addresses the Buddha with a question or verse, which may be a compliment, a challenge, a riddle, or simply a reflection. The Buddha responds, usually by elevating the discourse to a higher plane. The devas learn from the Buddha in most cases. There is no particular theme to the discourses, which range from the simple to the profound. The differences with the following saṁyutta are nominal and there is no difference in meaning. The style of the speeches is similar although here there is a greater emphasis on the theme of renunciation.