Upp Sk 60Lying Down
Pāli / Sanskrit:Sayana
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
THE LYING DOWN SUTTA (SAYANA SUTTA)
Background
The Lying Down Sutta (Sayana) is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka, specifically in the section on Rules of Conduct (Uposatha Skandhaka), where the Buddha prescribes proper and improper conduct for the Bhikshu Sangha. This sutta arises from daily circumstances in the monastic community, when members of the Sangha behaved in inappropriate ways during times of rest.
The Vinaya Piṭaka was compiled for the purpose of regulating the life of the Sangha, ensuring that the bodily actions, speech, and minds of monastics accord with the Buddha’s path. These regulations are not arbitrary constraints, but instructions for nourishing purity of mind and creating favorable conditions for communal practice.
Main Content
The Lying Down Sutta prescribes inappropriate behaviors when members of the Sangha lie down. Specifically, the Buddha instructs that when lying down, a Bhikshu should not perform unconscious, unmindful, or improper actions. What is important is to maintain the proper sleeping posture, usually lying on the right side, the lion’s posture, which the Buddha himself also practiced. This posture symbolizes readiness to awaken, which is an expression of mindfulness and not giving up.
The sutta also implies that rest time is not for sinking into resentment or performing harmful actions. Rather, it is a time for the body to recover so that one may continue practice. Members of the Sangha need to manage their sleep, not allowing it to become laziness, yet also not trying to stay awake so much that the body is weakened.
Through these detailed regulations, the Buddha teaches that every action, including sleep, can be transformed into an instrument of practice. Even while lying down, a member of the Sangha should maintain mindfulness and the mind of the path.
Practical Meaning
The Lying Down Sutta offers many valuable lessons for modern practitioners. First, it reminds us that mindfulness (sati) is not only for active hours, but should also be applied during rest.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.