Traditions: Pāli Dhammapada; Pāli Saṁyutta Nikāya Motif: A path through suffering and its ending Connection verdict: Related Buddhist formulation of the path and four truths Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-29
Summary
Dhammapada 273 praises the eightfold path; Saṁyutta Nikāya 56.11 lays out a middle way and the four noble truths.
Read the two scenes
SN 56.11 first rejects indulgence and self-mortification, then describes a middle way with eight factors and four noble truths. Dhammapada 273 fits the path into four lines of comparative praise. A reader who encounters only the verse may miss the specific structure of view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and immersion. A reader who encounters only the list may miss the force of a verse designed for recollection. The two forms belong to related teaching, not to independent proof of two separate historical sermons.
What connects—and what does not
The verse ranks the path in a compact saying; the discourse names its factors and situates them within an account of craving and cessation.
The shared terminology is strong within the Pāli tradition, but neither passage makes the other redundant.
Why read them side by side?
The pair moves from memorable praise to the practical detail a named path requires.
Sources and reading notes
- Dhammapada 273 within verses 273–289 — Pāli-canon translation; compare the wider discourse and Pāli terms.
- SN 56.11, Rolling Forth the Wheel of Dhamma — Pāli-canon translation; compare the wider discourse and Pāli terms.
Research limit
A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.