Reading guide
Four terms, defined in one strict sequence
The Buddha announces he will teach four things together: the burden, its bearer, the taking up of the burden, and the putting down of the burden. Each is then defined in turn, with no digression between them — a structure that reads almost like a glossary, four entries long, building toward the closing verse that restates all four at once.
The burden and its bearer, kept distinct
The burden itself is named plainly: the five grasping aggregates (pañcupādānakkhandhā) — form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness, each modified by the same “grasping” qualifier that distinguishes this discourse's vocabulary from the bare khandha terminology used elsewhere in the book. The bearer of the burden is, notably, not defined as an abstraction but as “the individual…the venerable of such and such name and clan” — a person with an ordinary name, carrying an extraordinarily heavy load.
Taking up and putting down, both named as craving
The taking up of the burden is craving (taṇhā) that leads to future lives, spelled out in its familiar threefold form: craving for sensual pleasures, for existence, and for nonexistence — the same three types this vagga's own SN 22.31 will name again as the “root of gloom.” The putting down of the burden is defined as nothing more or less than that exact craving's fading away and cessation with nothing left over.
A closing verse restating the whole teaching in miniature
The discourse closes by shifting into verse, restating the same four definitions in four compact lines: the aggregates are indeed burdens, the individual bears them, taking up the burden is suffering in the world, and putting it down is happiness. The final two lines add an image not present in the prose section at all — one who puts the burden down “without taking up another” has plucked out craving root and all, and is “hungerless, quenched” (nicchāto parinibbuto) — closing the discourse on the very word, parinibbuto, that names full liberation.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you the burden, the bearer of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the putting down of the burden. Listen … And what is the burden? The five grasping aggregates, it should be said. What five? The grasping aggregates of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. This is called the burden.
§2And who is the bearer of the burden? The individual, it should be said; the venerable of such and such name and clan. This is called the bearer of the burden.
§3And what is the taking up of the burden? 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 for existence, and craving for nonexistence. This is called the taking up of the burden.
§4And what is the putting down of the burden? 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 putting down of the burden.”
§5That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:
§6“The five aggregates are indeed burdens, and the individual is the bearer of the burden. Taking up the burden is suffering in the world, and putting the burden down is happiness.
§7When the heavy burden is put down without taking up another, one who has plucked out craving, root and all, is hungerless, quenched.”
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