When chanted

Chanted immediately before the Maggavibhaṅga Sutta, introducing it.

Historical background

The introduction turns on a single word used four times over in four senses — path. The world does not know which path; he is the path among those who point out the path; he realised that path; he went by that very path himself.

That repetition is deliberate and is the whole argument of the verse.

Meaning and purpose

It opens with the problem: this world with its devas, its Māras and its Brahmās, not knowing which path, is not freed from all suffering. The difficulty is not that there is no way out but that nobody can tell which way it is.

The credential offered is not authority but experience — having gone by that very path himself, he reached the unsurpassed awakening. A guide who has made the journey is a different thing from one who has a map.

Then the purpose, which is put in terms of the listeners rather than the speaker: to arouse yet more faith and to straighten their view, and to bring about well-being. The discourse that follows is a plain list of eight definitions, and this verse is what makes a listener want it.

The chant

As the book prints it: page 107 and page 108 →

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