None given — no place, audience, or occasion is named
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing “mendicants” collectively
Form
A one-sentence prose statement, restated by a single four-line verse
Position
Book of the Ones, Chapter One, Iti 7 — opens a new formula that shapes Iti 7–10
Length
under 1 minute to read
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief, but “the all” is a specific technical term worth pinning down
Why this discourse introduces a new formula
After six teachings built around a single structure — give up one thing, and non-return is guaranteed — Iti 7 changes shape. The reward on offer is no longer non-return but the end of suffering itself, and the requirement is no longer simply “give up” but a fuller sequence: directly know, completely understand, grow dispassionate toward, and then give up. What is at stake here is also broader than any single defilement — it is called simply “the all.”
Reading guide
A new formula, a bigger claim
Where Iti 1–6 promised non-return for giving up one specific defilement, this sutta promises something larger — ending suffering outright — but demands more to get there. The sequence given is fourfold: abhijānaṃ (directly knowing), pariññāya (completely understanding), virāgā (growing dispassionate), and pahānā (giving up). Simply willing something away is not on offer here; the text insists on a progression that begins with a kind of knowing and ends with a kind of release.
What is “the all”?
“The all” (sabba) is not vague poetic language for “everything in general.” Elsewhere in the canon it is given a precise, restrictive definition: the six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) together with their six corresponding objects (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, mental phenomena) — twelve items total, no more, no less. This sutta does not repeat that definition itself, since it assumes the listener already knows it; taken together with that background, the claim here is a sweeping one: the entirety of what can be experienced, defined this way, needs to be directly known and let go of.
Why this changes the shape of the chapter
The three suttas that follow this one (Iti 8, 9, and 10) all reuse this same fourfold formula, applying it in turn to three specific factors — conceit, greed, and hate — each already treated once in the “give up one thing” style of Iti 1–6. Read this way, Iti 7 functions as a kind of preface: it states the general principle (this is how anything, including “the all” itself, must be handled) before the chapter returns, one more time, to specific defilements already named earlier, this time under the fuller four-part treatment.
Not attracted, not repelled
The verse’s phrase “not attracted to anything” is a useful marker for what “complete understanding” is meant to produce: not aversion to experience, not withdrawal from the senses out of fear, but a kind of clarity in which the pull of things — the very draw that ordinarily keeps rebirth going — simply loses its grip.
Key terms
sabba — “the all”: a technical term defined elsewhere in the canon as the six sense faculties and their six corresponding objects — the totality of what can be experienced, not a vague “everything”
pariññā — “complete understanding”: a fuller, more thorough form of knowing than ordinary awareness, said to precede genuine dispassion and release
abhijānaṃ — “directly knowing”: the first step in this sutta’s fourfold sequence, knowing something immediately rather than merely by inference or report
virāga — “dispassion”: the fading of attraction toward something once it is truly understood, named as the step between understanding and giving up
pahāna — “giving up, abandoning”: the final step of the sequence, the same term used for the simpler formula in Iti 1–6, but here arrived at through the fuller four-part process
The text
The discourse in full: the opening frame, the Buddha’s one-sentence teaching, the verse that restates it, and the closing frame. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The teaching
§1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
§2“Mendicants, without directly knowing and completely understanding the all, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering. By directly knowing and completely understanding the all, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering.” That is what the Buddha said. On this it is said:
The verse
§3“Those who know the all as all,
are not attracted to anything.
They completely understand all,
and have risen above all suffering.”
§4This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.
· · ·
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What does this sutta say cannot happen without directly knowing, completely understanding, and giving up “the all”?
Correct: C. The formula states plainly: without this fourfold process, “you can’t end suffering.”
Question 2 of 10
What does the reading guide say “the all” (sabba) technically refers to elsewhere in the canon?
Correct: B. This is the standard canonical definition assumed by this sutta, though not restated within it.
Question 3 of 10
How many discourses following this one reuse the same fourfold formula introduced here?
Correct: A. Iti 8 (conceit), Iti 9 (greed), and Iti 10 (hate) all use this same structure.
Question 4 of 10
What is the reward promised in this sutta, in contrast to the reward promised in Iti 1–6?
Correct: D. This marks a real shift in scope from the “give up one thing” formula.
Question 5 of 10
What is the four-step sequence given in this sutta’s teaching?
Correct: C. This fourfold sequence (abhijānaṃ, pariññāya, virāgā, pahānā) replaces the simple “give it up” instruction of Iti 1–6.
Question 6 of 10
According to the verse, what happens to those who “know the all as all”?
Correct: B. The verse links this knowledge directly to freedom from attraction and from suffering.
Question 7 of 10
How long is the verse in this discourse, compared to the six-line verses of Iti 1 through 6?
Correct: A. This sutta’s verse is a single, shorter four-line stanza.
Question 8 of 10
Is any specific place, individual, or occasion named in this sutta?
Correct: C. Consistent with the rest of the Itivuttaka.
Question 9 of 10
According to the reading guide, what does “not attracted to anything” describe?
Correct: B. The reading guide is explicit that this is not about aversion or fear-driven withdrawal.
Question 10 of 10
What role does the reading guide suggest Iti 7 plays for the rest of this chapter?
Correct: D. This reading connects Iti 7 directly to Iti 8, 9, and 10 that follow it.
