Reading guide
A third naming, a mixed phrasing
This discourse takes SN 22.104's opening formula — "I will teach you substantial reality, the origin of substantial reality, the cessation of substantial reality, and the practice that leads to the cessation of substantial reality" — and applies it to sakkāya, the term SN 22.103 had introduced with a different opening formula entirely.
The result completes a small but precise structural grid: two terms (sakkāya, dukkha) and two opening formulas ("there are these four ends," "I will teach you"), with SN 22.103 pairing term-one with formula-one, SN 22.104 pairing term-two with formula-two, and this discourse pairing term-one with formula-two.
A small variation worth noticing: continuing vs. ending existence
Where SN 22.103 and SN 22.104 both name the origin's third craving as "craving for nonexistence" (vibhavataṇhā), this discourse phrases the same threefold craving slightly differently: "craving to continue existence, and craving to end existence" — a small wording shift in translation that nonetheless names the same underlying pair.
Why this closes rather than opens the set
Having established the equivalence of sakkāya and dukkha through SN 22.103 and SN 22.104's near-identical structures, this third discourse's slight recombination (same term as 22.103, same phrasing as 22.104) functions as a kind of confirmation: however the pieces are combined, the content underneath remains exactly the same four points about the same five grasping aggregates.
Moving into the vagga's next phase
The three-discourse set on this fourfold structure now complete, Antavagga turns next to a differently shaped trio: SN 22.106's "should be completely understood" formula, followed by the pair of "ascetics and brahmins" discourses that open the vagga's second half.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you substantial reality, the origin of substantial reality, the cessation of substantial reality, and the practice that leads to the cessation of substantial reality. Listen …
§2And what is substantial reality? It should be said: the five grasping aggregates. What five? That is, the grasping aggregates of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. This is called substantial reality.
§3And what is the origin of substantial reality? It’s the craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure there wherever it alights. That is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving to continue existence, and craving to end existence. This is called the origin of substantial reality.
§4And what is the cessation of substantial reality? It’s the fading away and cessation of that very same craving with nothing left over; giving it away, letting it go, releasing it, and not clinging to it. This is called the cessation of substantial reality.
§5And what is the practice that leads to the cessation of substantial reality? It is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. This is called the practice that leads to the cessation of substantial reality.”
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