A single positive definition, structurally mirroring SN 22.109
Length
Short — one definition, expanded with the standard arahant formula
Northern parallel
The arahant formula ("defilements ended... rightly freed through enlightenment") is among the Canon's most widely repeated closing formulas
Difficulty
Approachable — best read as the direct completion of SN 22.109
Why this discourse
Completes the progression SN 22.109 began: the identical five-point understanding of the aggregates that produces a stream-enterer, carried all the way through, produces an arahant — named here by the Canon's fullest standard formula for complete liberation.
Reading guide
A mendicant, not merely a noble disciple
Where SN 22.109 spoke of "a noble disciple," this discourse speaks of "a mendicant" (bhikkhu) — the same five-point understanding, but now carried by someone who has taken up the mendicant life, and carried all the way to its conclusion.
Freed by not grasping
"Comes to be freed by not grasping after truly understanding these five grasping aggregates' origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape" — the same five points as SN 22.108-109, but now yielding not merely a guaranteed future direction, but freedom itself, already accomplished.
"Not grasping" (anupādāya) names the precise mechanism: understanding removes the grasping that constitutes the aggregates as "grasping aggregates" in the first place, and freedom is what remains once that grasping has stopped.
The fullest formula for the arahant
"With defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart's goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment" — the Canon's most complete standard description of an arahant, gathering multiple images (a journey completed, a burden set down, a fetter ended) into one cumulative statement.
"The burden" recalls SN 22.22, this book's own earlier discourse defining the five grasping aggregates themselves as "the burden" and its release as their abandonment — this discourse's formula quietly completes that earlier image.
Antavagga's four-stage arc, now complete
SN 22.107-108 addressed general religious practitioners' success or failure; SN 22.109 named the first fruit of success, the stream-enterer; this discourse names its final fruit, the arahant — the same understanding, unfolding across a spectrum from initial assurance to complete freedom.
Key terms
arahant — a perfected one — named here by the Canon's fullest standard formula
anupādā vimutta — freed by not grasping — the precise mechanism this discourse names for how understanding becomes freedom
bhāranikkhepana — laying down the burden — recalling SN 22.22's own definition of the five grasping aggregates as "the burden"
bhavasaṁyojana — the fetter of continued existence — what is utterly ended in the arahant formula's climax
sammadaññā vimutta — rightly freed through enlightenment — the formula's final clause
The text
The complete discourse: the same five-point understanding, carried to freedom, expressed in the Canon's fullest standard arahant formula. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, there are these five grasping aggregates. What five? That is, the grasping aggregates of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness.
§2A mendicant comes to be freed by not grasping after truly understanding these five grasping aggregates’ origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape. Such a mendicant is called a perfected one, with defilements ended, who has completed the spiritual journey, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, achieved their heart’s goal, utterly ended the fetter of continued existence, and is rightly freed through enlightenment.”
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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
Who is the subject of this discourse, compared to SN 22.109?
Correct: A. The same five-point understanding, carried by someone who has taken up the mendicant life.
Question 2 of 10
What mechanism does this discourse name for how understanding becomes freedom?
Correct: A. Understanding removes the grasping that constitutes the aggregates as "grasping aggregates."
Question 3 of 10
What is the mendicant called upon achieving this freedom?
Correct: A. The final and complete stage of the four-stage progression.
Question 4 of 10
What image does "laying down the burden" recall from earlier in this book?
Correct: A. This discourse's formula quietly completes that earlier image of release.
Question 5 of 10
What is said to be "utterly ended" in the arahant formula's climax?
Correct: A. Bhavasaṁyojana, the fetter binding one to further rebirth.
Question 6 of 10
How does this discourse's formula compare to SN 22.109's stream-enterer formula?
Correct: A. Gathering multiple images — a journey completed, a burden set down, a fetter ended — into one statement.
Question 7 of 10
What progression does Antavagga trace across SN 22.107-110?
Correct: A. The same underlying five-point understanding, unfolding across a spectrum from assurance to complete freedom.
Question 8 of 10
What five points does the mendicant come to truly understand?
Correct: A. The identical five points named throughout this run of discourses.
Question 9 of 10
What has the arahant "done," according to the formula?
Correct: A. Standard components of the Canon's arahant formula.
Question 10 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Matching the setting of the discourses around it.
