Reading guide
A closing summary, not a new claim
Every clause in this discourse — the forward chain and both reverse denials — has already appeared separately across the four discourses before it; this one simply states them together.
A double denial, not a single one
Where SN 14.3 denied only contact producing elements, this discourse adds a second denial — feeling doesn't produce contact — completing the one-way structure across all three links.
The internal set completed
This is the fifth and closing discourse of what this vagga's own closing verse later names the “ajjhattapañcaka,” the internal five, built entirely from the eighteen-element list first given in SN 14.1.
A hinge before the vagga turns outward
Having exhausted what can be drawn from the internal, eighteen-element base, the very next discourse introduces a second, external list, and the chain begins again from there.
Six-fold repetition compressed
As in every discourse so far, the full statement actually repeats six times, once per sense door; the source elides four of the six here, trusting the pattern already established by the discourses before it.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, diversity of elements gives rise to diversity of contacts. Diversity of contacts gives rise to diversity of feelings. Diversity of feelings doesn’t give 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, and diversity of contacts give rise to diversity of feelings, while diversity of feelings doesn’t give rise to diversity of contacts, and diversity of contacts doesn’t give rise to diversity of elements? The eye element gives rise to eye contact. Eye contact gives rise to feeling born of eye contact. Feeling born of eye contact doesn’t give rise to eye contact. Eye contact doesn’t give rise to the eye element. … The mind element gives rise to mind contact. Mind contact gives rise to feeling born of mind contact. Feeling born of mind contact doesn’t give 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, and diversity of contacts gives rise to diversity of feelings, while diversity of feelings doesn’t give rise to diversity of contacts, and diversity of contacts doesn’t give rise to diversity of elements.”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.