The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
Two terms defined as a matched pair, in the same short glossary style as SN 22.23
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, its force carried by the word "gloom" itself
Why this discourse
This discourse returns to the short, two-term definitional style of SN 22.23 earlier in the vagga, but with a distinctive and unusually stark word choice: agha, “gloom” or “misery.” The five aggregates are named directly as gloom itself, and the root of that gloom is named as the identical threefold craving — for sensual pleasures, for existence, and for nonexistence — that SN 22.22 named as “the taking up of the burden.” Reading this discourse alongside SN 22.22 shows the same underlying claim about craving's role given two different images across the vagga: burden and bearer in one discourse, gloom and its root in another.
Reading guide
Gloom, named directly as the aggregates themselves
The discourse's first definition is stark and unqualified: form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness are gloom (agha). Unlike many of this vagga's discourses, which describe the aggregates as leading to suffering or as suffering's proper characterization under certain conditions, this discourse simply identifies them with gloom outright, with no further qualification.
The identical threefold craving from SN 22.22
The root of gloom is defined using language that matches SN 22.22's definition of “the taking up of the burden” almost word for word: craving that leads to future lives, mixed up with relishing and greed, taking pleasure wherever it alights — that is, craving for sensual pleasures, for existence, and for nonexistence. The repetition of this exact formula across two discourses in the same vagga is a deliberate echo, not a coincidence.
Two images, one underlying claim
Where SN 22.22 cast the same craving as what a bearer “takes up” along with a physical burden, this discourse casts it as the root from which gloom grows — a different metaphor (weight carried, versus a plant's root system) applied to the identical underlying doctrinal content. Reading the two discourses together shows how this vagga varies its imagery while keeping its core claims about craving constant.
A word chosen for its weight
“Agha” is a stronger, more visceral term than the more common dukkha used throughout most of this book — closer to “misery” or “affliction” than to the more clinical-sounding “suffering.” Its use here, applied directly and without qualification to the five aggregates themselves, gives this brief discourse an unusually blunt emotional register despite its definitional brevity.
Key terms
agha — “gloom” or “misery” — this discourse's title term, applied directly to the five aggregates without qualification.
aghamūla — “the root of gloom” — defined as craving, using language matching SN 22.22's definition of the taking up of the burden almost word for word.
ponobhavikā taṇhā — “craving that leads to future lives” — the discourse's core term, identical in wording to SN 22.22's earlier definition.
kāmataṇhā, bhavataṇhā, vibhavataṇhā — “craving for sensual pleasures, existence, and nonexistence” — the standard threefold breakdown of craving, repeated here from SN 22.22.
nandirāgasahagatā — “mixed up with relishing and greed” — part of the shared definitional formula connecting this discourse directly to SN 22.22's.
The text
The discourse in full. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you gloom and the root of gloom. Listen … And what is gloom? Form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness are gloom. This is called gloom. And what is the root of gloom? 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 root of gloom.”
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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 word does this discourse use to name the aggregates directly, distinct from the more common "suffering"?
Correct: A. A stronger, more visceral term than the clinical-sounding dukkha used elsewhere.
Question 2 of 10
What is defined as "the root of gloom"?
Correct: A. Craving for sensual pleasures, existence, and nonexistence, worded almost identically to SN 22.22.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's definition of craving compare to SN 22.22's "taking up of the burden"?
Correct: A. A deliberate echo across two discourses in the same vagga.
Question 4 of 10
What two different images does this vagga use for the same underlying claim about craving?
Correct: A. Different metaphors applied to the identical doctrinal content.
Question 5 of 10
How does this discourse's structure compare to SN 22.23 earlier in the vagga?
Correct: A. A recurring short definitional form used at several points in Bhāravagga.
Question 6 of 10
How many aggregates does this discourse's definition of "gloom" include?
Correct: A. Named together as a group.
Question 7 of 10
What three types of craving does this discourse name?
Correct: A. The standard threefold breakdown found throughout the canon.
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
Does this discourse qualify its claim that the aggregates are gloom, or state it outright?
Correct: A. A stark, unqualified identification, distinctive within this vagga's mostly more measured claims.
Question 10 of 10
What discourse comes immediately after this one, closing the vagga?
Correct: A. The vagga's final discourse, closing with a similar short paired definition.
