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Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 14.3

Not Diversity of Contacts

Nophassanānattasutta

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
SN 14.2's causal statement restated, with an explicit negative clause added for the reverse direction
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
★★☆☆☆ — brief, but assumes SN 14.1–2 as background

Why this discourse

SN 14.2 stated only that diversity of elements gives rise to diversity of contacts. This discourse asks the question left open there: does the reverse also hold? The answer is no, stated explicitly and directly — contacts don't give rise back to elements. The relationship this vagga is building is not a cycle where each link produces the one before it in turn, but a one-way dependency: elements come first, and everything downstream depends on them without feeding back. This small addition, a single negative clause, sharpens what “gives rise to” means throughout the whole chain still to be built.

Reading guide

The same claim, with one addition

Every element of SN 14.2's forward statement reappears here unchanged; the only new content is the explicit denial that contact produces elements in return.

A one-way dependency, not a cycle

By ruling out the reverse direction, this discourse establishes that the chain this vagga builds runs only forward — elements condition contacts, not the other way around.

Six negatives matching six positives

Just as six contacts were named arising from six elements in SN 14.2, six explicit denials here match them one for one, eye contact not producing the eye element, and so through all six doors.

A short discourse doing precise work

Nothing here is narratively rich, but the discourse is doing exact philosophical work: closing off a misreading of SN 14.2 before it can take hold.

The pattern this vagga will repeat

Pairing a forward-only discourse with one that adds explicit reverse denial recurs at least once more in this vagga, at the jump from SN 14.4 to SN 14.5.

Key terms

no phassanānattaṁ paṭicca uppajjati dhātunānattaṁ — “diversity of contacts doesn't give rise to diversity of elements” — this discourse's one new clause, closing off the reverse direction.
no cakkhusamphassaṁ paṭicca uppajjati cakkhudhātu — “eye contact doesn't give rise to the eye element” — the first of six paired denials, one per sense door.
peyyāla — the formal term for the elision marker (…pe…) the source itself uses to skip the four repetitive middle doors between eye and mind.
dhātunānattaṁ — “diversity of elements” — the term whose reverse-direction dependency this discourse rules out.
phassanānattaṁ — “diversity of contacts” — confirmed here as downstream from elements only, never upstream.

The text

The discourse in full, including the source's own elision of the four middle sense doors between eye and mind. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, diversity of elements gives rise to diversity of contacts. Diversity of contacts doesn’t give rise to diversity of elements. And what is the diversity of elements? The eye element, ear element, nose element, tongue element, body element, and mind element. This is called the diversity of elements.

§2And how does diversity of elements give rise to diversity of contacts, while diversity of contacts doesn’t give rise to diversity of elements? The eye element gives rise to eye contact. Eye contact doesn’t give rise to the eye element. … The mind element gives rise to mind contact. Mind contact doesn’t give rise to the mind element. That’s how diversity of elements gives rise to diversity of contacts, while diversity of contacts doesn’t give rise to diversity of elements.”

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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
What does this discourse add to SN 14.2's forward causal claim?
Correct: A. The one addition is the explicit reverse denial.
Question 2 of 10
What kind of relationship does this discourse establish between elements and contacts?
Correct: A. Elements condition contacts, never the reverse.
Question 3 of 10
How many paired denials appear, matching the six contacts from SN 14.2?
Correct: A. Eye through mind, each denied in turn following the same six-door structure.
Question 4 of 10
What formal term describes the elision marker used for the four middle sense doors?
Correct: A. The standard term for this kind of textual elision in the source.
Question 5 of 10
Why does this discourse's added denial matter for reading the rest of this vagga?
Correct: A. A small clarification with consequences for how every later link should be read.
Question 6 of 10
Does eye contact give rise to the eye element, according to this discourse?
Correct: A. One of the six explicit paired denials.
Question 7 of 10
Which earlier discourse in this vagga does this one directly extend?
Correct: A. The forward claim from SN 14.2, now sharpened with a denial.
Question 8 of 10
Who is the sole speaker in this discourse?
Correct: A. No interlocutor or visitor appears.
Question 9 of 10
Where does the Buddha deliver this teaching?
Correct: A. The setting shared with most discourses in this collection.
Question 10 of 10
What numbering tag closes this discourse?
Correct: A. The third discourse of this vagga, following SN 14.1 and 14.2.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 14.2 · Diversity of Contacts