5. Sanamana Sutta
Discourse on Forest Noises
Nandana Vagga, Devata Samyutta, Sagatha Vagga Samyutta,
Samyutta Nikaya, Suttanta Pitaka

Discourse on Forest Noises

      15. (The deva said:)

      "At noontide when birds take a rest the deep forest seems to rumble,* and that sound strikes me as frightful**"

      (The Bhagava said:)

      "At noontide when birds take a rest the deep forest seems to rumble, (but) that sound*** strikes me as pleasing."

     * The deep forest seems to rumble: Sanateva, from sanati, lit., 'to give noise'. 'As though the forest were giving out a loud noise'. The noise is actually not too loud. But when the animals and birds are taking a rest and not moving about, the natural sounds like the wind blowing through hollow trunks and branches rubbing against one another, etc., become very pronounced. It is the general stillness that makes those natural sounds seem loud.

     ** That sound strikes me as frightful: The stillness of the forest at midday is very suitable for meditators. But the deva here is frightened of sounds exaggerated by the stillness of the forest. Lacking wisdom, he is afraid to stay alone in the forest.

     *** That sound: In the Pali text 'sa', which is interpreted by the Commentary as 'solitary seclusion in the forest.'

End of the Sanamana Sutta,
the fifth in this vagga.