AN 5.99 - AN 5:99 The Lion | Sīha Sutta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN5_99.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: MN 122; SN 6:2; AN 4:33; AN 7:56
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

The Lion
 Sīha Sutta (AN 5:99)

“Monks, the lion, the king of beasts, leaves his lair in the evening. Having left his lair, he stretches himself. Having stretched himself, he looks all around the four directions. Having looked all around the four directions, he roars his lion’s roar three times. Having roared his lion’s roar three times, he heads out for game. When he gives a blow to an elephant, he gives the blow attentively, not inattentively. When he gives a blow to a buffalo… to a cow… to a leopard, he gives the blow attentively, not inattentively. When he gives a blow to small animals, even to hares & cats, he gives the blow attentively, not inattentively. Why is that? [He thinks,] ‘May the skill I’ve acquired not be lost.’

“‘Lion,’ monks, is a synonym for the Tathāgata, worthy & rightly self-awakened. When the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma to his assembly, that is his lion’s roar. When the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma to monks, he teaches the Dhamma attentively, not inattentively. When the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma to nuns… to male lay followers… to female lay followers, he teaches the Dhamma attentively, not inattentively. When the Tathāgata teaches the Dhamma to run-of-the-mill people—even to beggars & hunters of fowl—he teaches the Dhamma attentively, not inattentively. Why is that? The Tathāgata is one who respects the Dhamma, reveres the Dhamma.”