The fourteenth sutta of the Cūḷa Vagga of the Suttanipāta. The lay disciple Dhammika, with five hundred others, visits the Buddha at Jetavana, singing his praises and asking what should be the life of a monk and what that of a householder. The Buddha proceeds to lay down the course of conduct to be followed by a monk and the virtues to be cultivated by a layman (SN.vv.376-404).

The Commentary adds (SNA.i.367 f) that these lay disciples were all Non-returners (anāgāmī) who, on the day in question, had taken the uposatha vows. During the middle watch the question of the difference between the life of a monk and that of a layman occurred to them and they sought the Buddha.