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Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 12.43

Suffering

Dukkhasutta

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A formal announcement followed by the origin and the disappearance of suffering, each run through all six sense doors
Length
~4 minutes to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — a compact reframing of familiar material through a different entry point

Why this discourse

Rather than starting from ignorance and running the full twelve-link chain, this discourse enters dependent origination at a different point: the six sense doors. Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights, and the meeting of the three — sense faculty, sense object, consciousness — is contact, which conditions feeling, which conditions craving. This is the origin of suffering, run identically through all six doors, the eye and the mind alike. Where craving fades away and ceases with nothing left over, the discourse continues the chain downstream to its familiar full ending, closing on the cessation of the entire mass of suffering. The formal opening — "listen and apply your mind well, I will speak" — signals that what follows is meant to be received as a distinct teaching, not a passing remark.

Reading guide

A different entry point, not different content

This discourse doesn't abandon the twelve-link chain; it enters partway through, starting from the six sense doors' contact rather than from ignorance, and only resumes the chain's familiar full downstream sequence once craving's cessation is reached.

The same three-way meeting, six times over

Eye consciousness dependent on the eye and sights, ear consciousness dependent on the ear and sounds, and so on through the mind and ideas — the identical structure of a sense faculty, its object, and consciousness meeting as contact, repeated for all six doors without variation.

A formal announcement, not an offhand remark

The discourse opens with the Buddha explicitly announcing what he is about to teach and instructing the mendicants to listen and apply their minds well — a framing device marking this teaching as formally significant rather than incidental.

Arising stated more briefly than cessation

The arising half of the teaching stops right after craving, closing with a simple "this is the origin of suffering," while the cessation half continues the chain all the way down through grasping, continued existence, rebirth, and old age and death, giving the reversal noticeably fuller treatment than the arising.

Suffering as this discourse's chosen name for the process

Naming the whole process "the origin and disappearance of suffering" rather than simply describing dependent origination in neutral terms makes explicit what the chain of conditions actually amounts to at the sense doors, in each moment of contact.

Key terms

dukkhassa… samudayañca atthaṅgamañca desessāmi — “I will teach you the origin and disappearance of suffering” — the discourse's formal opening announcement.
cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇaṁ. Tiṇṇaṁ saṅgati phasso — “eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact” — the formula repeated for all six sense doors.
phassapaccayā vedanā; vedanāpaccayā taṇhā — “contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving” — where the arising half of the teaching stops before resuming the familiar chain.
tassāyeva taṇhāya asesavirāganirodhā upādānanirodho — “when that craving fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, grasping ceases” — the point where the cessation half rejoins the familiar downstream chain.
dukkhassa samudayo… dukkhassa atthaṅgamo — “the origin of suffering… the disappearance of suffering” — the discourse's own name for the two halves of its teaching.

The text

The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you the origin and disappearance of suffering. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

§2“And what, mendicants, is the origin of suffering? Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. … This is the origin of suffering.

§3Ear consciousness arises dependent on the ear and sounds. … Nose consciousness arises dependent on the nose and smells. … Tongue consciousness arises dependent on the tongue and tastes. … Body consciousness arises dependent on the body and touches. … Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. … This is the origin of suffering.

§4And what is the disappearance of suffering? Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. When that craving fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. When continued existence ceases, rebirth ceases. When rebirth ceases, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress cease. That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. This is the disappearance of suffering.

§5Ear consciousness arises dependent on the ear and sounds. … Nose consciousness arises dependent on the nose and smells. … Tongue consciousness arises dependent on the tongue and tastes. … Body consciousness arises dependent on the body and touches. … Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. When that craving fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. When continued existence ceases, rebirth ceases. When rebirth ceases, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress cease. That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. This is the disappearance of suffering.”

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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
Where does this discourse enter dependent origination, unlike the familiar twelve-link version?
Correct: A. A different entry point into the same underlying process.
Question 2 of 10
How many sense doors does this formula run through?
Correct: A. The identical structure repeated without variation across all six doors.
Question 3 of 10
How does the Buddha open this discourse?
Correct: A. A framing device marking the teaching as formally significant.
Question 4 of 10
Where does the arising half of the teaching stop?
Correct: A. A briefer treatment than the cessation half receives.
Question 5 of 10
Where does the cessation half of the teaching continue to, unlike the arising half?
Correct: A. A fuller treatment of the reversal than of the arising.
Question 6 of 10
What does the discourse call the whole process it describes?
Correct: A. Naming what the chain of conditions amounts to at the sense doors.
Question 7 of 10
What three things meet to produce contact, according to this discourse?
Correct: A. The recurring three-way meeting repeated at each of the six doors.
Question 8 of 10
Is the six-sense-door structure in this discourse a departure from the twelve-link chain, or a variation of it?
Correct: A. The chain's familiar downstream sequence resumes once craving's cessation is reached.
Question 9 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visiting figure appears.
Question 10 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The consistent setting across this chapter of Nidānavagga.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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