also called Damma Sutta. Itwas preached in reference to Sāriputta's habit when he was on tour of worshipping the direction in which his teacher, Assaji, lived. Others noticed this and said it was a relic of his old brahmanic habit of worshipping the different quarters. But the Buddha said there was no need of Sāriputta to do that, for even the devas themselves worshipped him. In the sutta the wise man is compared to a ship (nāvā) which takes many others across. SN.vs. 316 23; SNA.i.325ff.
See Vāsijata Sutta.
If a sea going vessel is left stranded on the bank, it is dried up by the wind and sun in the dry season and rotted by water in the rains so are the fetters in the case of a monk who cultivates the Ariyan Eightfold Path. S.v.51.