Reading guide
Identical content, a different opening frame
Every definition, every connection to the eightfold path, and every closing title in this discourse matches SN 12.27 precisely; only the discourse's opening framing differs.
A mendicant's comprehension, itemized link by link
Where SN 12.27 opens by naming dependency as a single concept to be understood, this discourse opens by listing each of the twelve links individually as something the mendicant comes to understand one at a time.
The same fourfold formula, still intact
Despite this shift in opening frame, the fourfold pattern — understanding a thing, its origin, its cessation, and the practice leading to cessation — remains exactly as SN 12.27 gives it, applied to every link in turn.
A closing that names the practitioner directly
Where SN 12.27 closes describing a noble disciple in general terms, this discourse closes naming this mendicant specifically, with the identical nine titles attached to the individual practitioner rather than to the category of noble disciple.
A pairing worth reading together, not separately
Given how closely these two discourses match in substance, this reading guide treats them as a pair best understood together, with SN 12.27 supplying the fuller context for what this discourse restates in a more itemized form.
Key terms
The text
§1“A mendicant understands old age and death, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation. They understand rebirth … continued existence … grasping … craving … feeling … contact … the six sense fields … name and form … consciousness … They understand choices, their origin, their cessation, and the practice that leads to their cessation.
§2And what is old age and death? The old age, decrepitude, broken teeth, grey hair, wrinkly skin, diminished vitality, and failing faculties of the various sentient beings in the various orders of sentient beings. This is called old age. The passing away, passing on, disintegration, demise, mortality, death, decease, breaking up of the aggregates, and laying to rest of the corpse of the various sentient beings in the various orders of sentient beings. This is called death. Such is old age, and such is death. This is called old age and death. Rebirth is the origin of old age and death. When rebirth ceases, old age and death cease. The practice that leads to the cessation of old age and death is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.
§3And what are choices? There are three kinds of choices. Choices by way of body, speech, and mind. These are called choices. Ignorance is the origin of choices. When ignorance ceases, choices cease. The practice that leads to the cessation of choices is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.
§4This mendicant is called: ‘one accomplished in view’, ‘one accomplished in vision’, ‘one who has come to the true teaching’, ‘one who sees this true teaching’, ‘one endowed with a trainee’s knowledge’, ‘one who has entered the stream of the teaching’, ‘a noble one with penetrative wisdom’, and also ‘one who stands pressing against the door to freedom from death’.”
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