Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourses 12.83–92

The Teacher (2nd)

Dutiyasatthusuttādidasakasutta

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
Ten discourses compressed by bilara-data into a single file, each an elided one-line application of SN 12.82's instruction to a further link
Length
~1 minute 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
★☆☆☆☆ — ten discourses of pure elided repetition, read here honestly as such

Why this discourse

SN 12.82 taught that not knowing or seeing old age and death, its origin, cessation, and the path to that cessation, is itself reason to seek out a teacher. These ten discourses run that identical instruction through the rest of the chain, one link at a time: rebirth, continued existence, grasping, craving, feeling, contact, the six sense fields, name and form, consciousness, and choices. Bilara-data preserves nine of these ten as a single elided line naming only the link in question, and gives the tenth — choices — in its complete fourfold form, exactly the pattern already seen in SN 12.72 through 12.81's identical structure earlier in this book. Together with SN 12.82, this completes the first of this chapter's twelve motivating attitudes, applied now to the whole eleven-link chain.

Reading guide

Completing the chain SN 12.82 began

SN 12.82 covered only old age and death; these ten discourses supply the remaining ten links, so that together the two pages give the seek-the-Teacher instruction its full run across the entire chain, exactly as SN 12.82's own closing note anticipated.

The same elision pattern already established

Nine of these ten links are compressed to a bare named phrase, leaving the reader to supply the full "one who does not truly know or see X… should seek the Teacher" structure from SN 12.82, precisely how SN 12.5 through 12.9 and SN 12.72 through 12.81 handled comparable compression earlier in this book.

Choices given in full, closing the set

As in SN 12.72 through 12.81, the final link in this set, choices, is spelled out with its complete fourfold formula rather than left as a stub, marking the close of this particular set of eleven discourses (SN 12.82 plus this page's ten) with the same structural signal used before.

A note on method, not merely a formula

The closing instruction "all should be treated according to the four truths" makes explicit what the elision assumes: origin, cessation, and path aren't incidental details tacked onto each link, but the structural lens — the four truths themselves — through which every link in this chain is meant to be examined.

The first of twelve themes, now complete

With this page, the "seek the Teacher" theme has now been run through all eleven links, completing the first of this chapter's twelve motivating attitudes before the next theme, training, begins the same eleven-link sequence again in SN 12.93 through 12.103.

Key terms

dutiyasatthusuttādidasaka — “the second teacher-discourse set of ten” — the source's own name for this block, marking it as SN 12.82's direct continuation.
jātiṁ, bhikkhave, ajānatā apassatā yathābhūtaṁ — “mendicants, one who does not truly know or see rebirth” — the first of the nine links given as a bare stub.
vedanaṁ, bhikkhave, ajānatā apassatā yathābhūtaṁ — “one who does not truly know or see feeling” — another of the nine, compressed identically.
saṅkhāre, bhikkhave, ajānatā apassatā yathābhūtaṁ saṅkhāresu yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇāya satthā pariyesitabbo — “one who does not truly know or see choices should seek the Teacher so as to truly know choices” — the tenth and final link, given in full rather than stubbed like the other nine.
(sabbesaṁ catusaccikaṁ kātabbaṁ.) — “(all should be treated according to the four truths.)” — the closing instruction naming the structural lens — origin, cessation, path — every link in this set is meant to be examined through.

The text

The full text of all ten discourses, exactly as elided in the source. Each stub implies SN 12.82's complete sentence structure, not reproduced here since the source itself doesn't reproduce it. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1 · SN 12.83“Mendicants, one who does not truly know or see rebirth …”

§2 · SN 12.84“… continued existence …”

§3 · SN 12.85“… grasping …”

§4 · SN 12.86“… craving …”

§5 · SN 12.87“… feeling …”

§6 · SN 12.88“… contact …”

§7 · SN 12.89“… the six sense fields …”

§8 · SN 12.90“… name and form …”

§9 · SN 12.91“… consciousness …”

§10 · SN 12.92“… choices …” (All should be treated according to the four truths.)

· · ·

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 instruction do these ten discourses apply, one link at a time?
Correct: A. The same instruction run through the remaining ten links of the chain.
Question 2 of 10
How does the source preserve most of these ten discourses?
Correct: A. Trusting the reader to supply SN 12.82's full structure around each bare name.
Question 3 of 10
Which link among the ten is given in full rather than as a bare stub?
Correct: A. The same structural signal used at the close of SN 12.72 through 12.81.
Question 4 of 10
What does this page complete, together with SN 12.82?
Correct: A. The first of this chapter's twelve motivating attitudes, now complete.
Question 5 of 10
What does the closing instruction "all should be treated according to the four truths" clarify?
Correct: A. Making explicit what the elision throughout this set assumes.
Question 6 of 10
What theme begins next, once this page's "seek the Teacher" sequence is complete?
Correct: A. The second of this chapter's twelve motivating attitudes.
Question 7 of 10
Where does this set of discourses fit relative to SN 12.72 through 12.81's compression pattern?
Correct: A. The same editorial approach applied consistently across this book's merged pages.
Question 8 of 10
What is this set's own name in the source?
Correct: A. Marking it explicitly as SN 12.82's direct continuation.
Question 9 of 10
Does the underlying claim change from link to link across these ten discourses?
Correct: A. The same template applied consistently across all eleven links.
Question 10 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The consistent setting shared with SN 12.82 and much of this saṃyutta.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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