Linked Discourses 2.4

Chapter One

With Maghada

At Sāvatthī.

Standing to one side, the godling Maghada addressed the Buddha in verse:

“How many lamps are there

that light up the world?

We’ve come to ask the Buddha;

how are we to understand this?”

“There are four lamps in the world,

a fifth is not found.

The sun blazes by day,

the moon radiates at night,

while a fire illuminates both

by day and by night.

But a Buddha is the best of blazes:

this is the supreme radiance.”