The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A single instruction repeated once per aggregate, each time paired with the recurring "cut off at the root" formula
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and direct, its formula already familiar from SN 22.3 earlier in the book
Why this discourse
This discourse is one of the plainest instructions in the vagga: give up desire and greed (chandarāga) for form, and that form will be given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future. The same instruction and the same formula repeat for each remaining aggregate. The “cut off at the root, made like a palm stump” image is not new to this discourse — it appeared earlier in the book, in SN 22.3's description of how the Realized One has given up desire for each aggregate — but here it is offered directly as an instruction to the listener, not as a description of what the Buddha has already accomplished.
Reading guide
An instruction, addressed to the listener directly
Where SN 22.3 described the Realized One's already-completed abandonment of desire using this same formula, this discourse addresses the mendicants directly in the imperative: give up desire and greed for form. The formula's content is unchanged, but its grammatical mood shifts from description to instruction.
The formula's consequence, stated as an automatic result
The discourse frames what follows the instruction not as a further step requiring separate effort, but as an automatic consequence: give up desire and greed, “thus that form will be given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future.” The single act of giving up desire is presented as sufficient on its own to produce this complete, irreversible result.
A formula recurring across the book, now given as instruction
This exact phrase — cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, unable to arise in the future — is one of the book's most recognizable recurring formulas, appearing already in SN 22.3's description of the Realized One. Its reappearance here, now addressed to an ordinary listener as something to be done rather than as an accomplished fact about the Buddha, extends the formula's reach from description to practice.
A short, direct discourse between two more elaborate ones
Positioned between SN 22.24's four-condition argument and SN 22.26's extended first-person narrative about the Buddha's own pre-awakening reflection, this discourse's brevity and directness offer a brief pause — a single clear instruction, unadorned by argument or narrative, before the vagga's tone shifts again.
Key terms
chandarāga — “desire and greed” — the discourse's title and its sole object of instruction, to be given up for each aggregate.
pahīna — “given up” — the first term in the formula describing what happens to an aggregate once desire and greed for it are relinquished.
ucchinnamūla — “cut off at the root” — part of the same recurring formula, first seen in this book at SN 22.3, describing complete rather than partial ending.
tālāvatthukata — “made like a palm stump” — a tree cut so low it cannot regrow, the formula's central image for irreversibility.
āyatiṁ anuppādadhamma — “unable to arise in the future” — the formula's closing term, specifying that what has been given up this way cannot recur.
The text
The discourse in full. Three elided repetitions (feeling, perception, and choices, each following the same instruction and formula spelled out in full for form and consciousness) are given exactly as bilara-data preserves them. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, give up desire and greed for form. Thus that form will be given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future.
§2consciousness. Thus that consciousness will be given up, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, obliterated, and unable to arise in the future.”
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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
What instruction does this discourse give for each aggregate?
Correct: A. Chandarāga — desire and greed — named as the sole object of instruction.
Question 2 of 10
What formula describes the result of giving up desire and greed for an aggregate?
Correct: A. A formula for complete, irreversible ending, not partial suppression.
Question 3 of 10
Where did this exact formula first appear earlier in the book?
Correct: A. SN 22.3 used the identical formula to describe an already-accomplished fact about the Buddha.
Question 4 of 10
How does this discourse's use of the formula differ from SN 22.3's?
Correct: A. A shift in grammatical mood, from description to instruction, with the formula's content unchanged.
Question 5 of 10
How is the formula's result presented in relation to the instruction to give up desire?
Correct: A. The single act of giving up desire is presented as sufficient to produce the complete result.
Question 6 of 10
What position does this discourse hold between SN 22.24 and SN 22.26?
Correct: A. Positioned between SN 22.24's argument and SN 22.26's extended narrative.
Question 7 of 10
How many aggregates does this discourse's instruction apply to?
Correct: A. Feeling, perception, and choices are elided but follow the same pattern.
Question 8 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Continuing the same setting as the vagga's other discourses.
Question 9 of 10
What image does "made like a palm stump" convey?
Correct: A. The formula's central image for the completeness of the ending described.
Question 10 of 10
What discourse comes immediately after this one?
Correct: A. Opening the vagga's gratification/drawback/escape trio.
