Reading guide
A fourth term added to the triad
"When what exists, because of grasping what and insisting on what, do fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise?" — SN 22.157's own three terms, now with upāya ("attachments") appended as a fourth.
A pattern of accumulating vocabulary
This move — a discourse's own companion adding one further term to an established list — echoes SN 22.111-112's own pairing (four terms, then nine) and SN 22.157's own choice to gather three previously separate terms into one triad: this book repeatedly builds fuller technical vocabularies by incremental addition rather than introducing complete lists all at once.
The identical source, regardless of how many terms are named
"When form exists, because of grasping form and insisting on form, fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise" — the same two conditions producing three terms in SN 22.157 and four here, confirming once more that however many labels are given to the phenomenon, its cause remains unchanged.
The vagga's opening view-and-binding sequence, now complete
With this discourse, Diṭṭhivagga's first nine discourses (SN 22.150-158) have traced pleasure and pain, three specific views, three general labels for view, and now two sets of bindings — nine distinct phenomena, all reduced to the identical grasping-and-insisting mechanism, before the vagga's own closing discourse turns to Venerable Ānanda's personal request.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, when what exists, because of grasping what and insisting on what, do fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise?” “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. …”
§2“When form exists, because of grasping form and insisting on form, fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise. When feeling … perception … choices … consciousness exists, because of grasping consciousness and insisting on consciousness, fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise.
§3What do you think, mendicants? Is form permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “But by not grasping what’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, would fetters, insistence, shackles, and attachments arise?” “No, sir.”
§4“Seeing this … They understand: ‘… there is nothing further for this place.’”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.