• Āyācana Sutta

1. Āyācana Sutta. The good monk, if he would perfectly aspire, should wish to be like Sāriputta and Moggallāna ; the nun to be like Khemā and Uppalavannā; the householder like Citta and Hatthaka; the house-mistress like Khujjuttarā and Velukantakī, the mother of Nanda. A.ii.164.

2. Āyācana Sutta. Contains the story of the reluctance felt by the Buddha, while meditating at Uruvelā, in the eighth week after the Enlightenment, to preach his doctrine to the world, feeling that it would not appeal to the human temperament; and of the appearance before him, of the Brahmā Sahampatī, who had read his thoughts and who entreated him to overcome this reluctance. He assured the Buddha that there were in the world many who would comprehend the Dhamma if they heard it. The Buddha saw that this assurance was justified and agreed to set forth as a teacher (S.i.136ff).

The sutta appears verbatim in the Vinaya (i.4ff) and almost verbatim in the Digha Nikāya (ii.36ff), as an episode in the life of each of the Buddhas mentioned there, but with two variants; the Brahma repeats his request three times and the stanzas in which the request is made, as given in the Samyutta, are omitted.

1. Āyācana Vagga. The twelfth chapter of the Duka Nipāta of the Anguttara Nikāya. It contains eleven suttas on different topics. A.i.89-91.

2. Āyācana Vagga. The third chapter of the Rādha Samyutta of the Samyutta Nikāya. S. iii.198-200.