Reading guide
The image the chapter is named for
Sujato's English title for this whole chapter, "A Tree," most plausibly draws on this discourse and its close companions rather than on the chapter's literal Pali name, Dukkhavagga, which names suffering rather than any image at all.
Roots reaching both down and sideways
The tree's feeding mechanism is described with unusual specificity — roots going downward and roots spreading across all draw sap upward together — giving the image a more complete botanical picture than the fire or lamp similes needed.
A felling sequence far more elaborate than extinguishing a fire
Where the fire and lamp similes ended with a brief formula about fuel running out unfed, this discourse walks through cutting, digging up every root down to the fibers, chopping into splinters, drying, burning, and finally scattering the ashes — a full sequence of deliberate, effortful destruction rather than passive neglect.
Destruction as active work, not simple withholding
Unlike the fire or lamp, which went out simply by not being fed, the tree requires someone to actively arrive with a spade and basket and carry out its felling step by step — cessation here is pictured as deliberate effort, not passive absence.
A formula of totality closing the felling
"Cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future" is a stronger, more absolute description of finality than the fire and lamp similes' simple "extinguished due to not being fed," matching the greater effort just described.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “There are things that fuel grasping. When you concentrate on the gratification provided by these things, your craving grows. Craving is a requirement for grasping. Grasping is a requirement for continued existence. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.
§2Suppose there was a great tree. And its roots going downwards and across all draw the sap upwards. Fed and fuelled by that, the great tree would stand for a long time. In the same way, there are things that fuel grasping. When you concentrate on the gratification provided by these things, your craving grows. Craving is a requirement for grasping. … That is how this entire mass of suffering originates.
§3There are things that fuel grasping. When you concentrate on the drawbacks of these things, your craving ceases. When craving ceases, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. … That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.
§4Suppose there was a great tree. Then a person comes along with a spade and basket. They’d cut the tree down at the roots, dig it up, and pull the roots out, down to the fibers and stems. They’d cut the tree apart, cut up the parts, and chop it into splinters. They’d dry the splinters in the wind and sun, burn them with fire, and reduce them to ashes. Then they’d winnow the ashes in a strong wind, or float them away down a swift stream. In this way the great tree is cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future. In the same way, there are things that fuel grasping. When you concentrate on the drawbacks of these things, your craving ceases. When craving ceases, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. … That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases.”
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