The first sutta of the Dīghanikāya. It was taught the paribbājaka Suppiya and his disciple Brahmadatta. It first explains the moral precepts (sīlā), in three successive sections — concise (cūḷa), medium (majjhima), and elaborate (mahā) — and then proceeds to set out in sixty-two divisions various speculations and theories regarding the “soul” (D.i.46). Other names for it are Atthajāla, Dhammajāla, Diṭṭhijāla, and Saṅgāmavijaya. At the end of the discourse the ten world systems trembled (D.i.46). It is said that once when Piṇḍapātiya Thera recited this sutta at the Kalyāṇiya-vihāra, his mind concentrated on the Buddha, the earth trembled; the same phenomenon occurred when the Dīghabhāṇaka Theras recited it at the Ambaṭṭhikā, to the east of the Lohapāsāda (DA.i.131).

The Brahmajāla was the first sutta taught in Suvaṇṇabhūmi, when Soṇa and Uttara visited it as missionaries (Mhv.xii.51).

The Sutta is often quoted, sometimes even in the Canon, e.g., S.iv. 286, 287.