A discourse of the Buddha: Cūlahatthipadopama-sutta ‘The Shorter Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint’

While this Sutta has its historical significance forthe Sinhalas of Sri Lanka - as the one that set the tone for the conversion of a whole people over some 2300 years ago, it is reproduced here, in this paṭivedha (Insight) section of the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies for a different reason. It shows a structural approach to the Dhamma: saddhā ‘faith’ serving as a foundation for sīla ‘[self-]discipline’, leading to samādhi ‘concentration’ and to eventual paññā ‘wisdom’ and liberation