The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A compact chain naming right view, disillusionment, and a distinctive mutual-ending relationship between relishing and greed
Length
~2 minutes 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
★★★☆☆ — its central claim about relishing and greed repays careful, slow reading
Why this discourse
This discourse opens the vagga's closing pair with a distinctive claim about the relationship between two terms this book has so far treated as closely linked but not identical: relishing (nandi) and greed (rāga). Rather than presenting one as simply causing the other's end in a single direction, the discourse states the relationship as fully mutual: “when relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends.” This bidirectional phrasing, distinct from the mostly one-directional chains used elsewhere in this saṃyutta, suggests the two are being treated less as cause and effect than as two names for aspects of a single underlying process that end together.
Reading guide
Seeing impermanence itself named as right view
The discourse opens by identifying seeing impermanence directly with right view (sammādiṭṭhi) itself: “form really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that's their right view.” This is a strong claim — not merely that seeing impermanence is compatible with right view, or leads toward it, but that this seeing simply is what right view, in this context, consists of.
A single step from right view to disillusionment
The discourse moves directly from right view to its consequence: “seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned.” No intervening steps are named — unlike SN 22.39's fuller chain (disillusionment, then complete understanding, then freedom), this discourse's structure is more compressed, moving in a single step from seeing to disillusionment.
Relishing and greed ending each other, not one ending the other
The discourse's most distinctive claim follows immediately: “when relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends.” This mutual phrasing stands apart from the mostly linear, one-directional chains used throughout the rest of this book (disillusionment leading to fading desire leading to freedom, in strict sequence). Here, relishing and greed are presented as ending together, each condition for the other's ending rather than one simply preceding the other in time.
A closing formula echoing SN 22.4's earlier discourse
The discourse closes with “the mind is freed, and is said to be well freed” (suvimuttaṁ) — the same closing verdict SN 22.4 gave, in Nakulapituvagga, for the ending of desire and craving toward each aggregate. Reaching back across four vaggas to echo this exact phrasing gives Attadīpavagga's own closing pair a quiet structural link to the book's opening material.
Key terms
sammādiṭṭhissa hoti — “that's their right view” — the discourse's strong opening identification of seeing impermanence directly with right view itself.
nandi — “relishing” — the hinge term from SN 22.5 earlier in the book, here presented as mutually ending together with greed.
rāga — “greed” — paired with relishing in this discourse's distinctive bidirectional ending formula.
nandirāgakkhayā — “when relishing and greed end” — the compound term treating the two as a single condition whose ending frees the mind.
suvimuttaṁ — “well freed” — the discourse's closing verdict, echoing the identical term used in SN 22.4 in Nakulapituvagga.
The text
The discourse in full. Three elided repetitions (feeling, perception, and choices, each following the same chain spelled out in full for form and consciousness) are given exactly as bilara-data preserves them. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, form really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that’s their right view. Seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is freed, and is said to be well freed.
§2Consciousness really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that’s their right view. Seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is freed, and is said to be well freed.”
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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 does this discourse identify directly with right view?
Correct: A. A strong claim — not merely compatible with right view, but what it consists of here.
Question 2 of 10
What distinctive relationship does this discourse describe between relishing and greed?
Correct: A. Distinct from the mostly one-directional chains used elsewhere in this book.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's structure compare to SN 22.39's fuller chain?
Correct: A. SN 22.39 names disillusionment, then complete understanding, then freedom in sequence.
Question 4 of 10
What closing phrase does this discourse share with SN 22.4, four vaggas earlier?
Correct: A. A quiet structural echo linking Attadīpavagga's close back to Nakulapituvagga's opening material.
Question 5 of 10
How does the discourse's phrasing of relishing and greed's relationship differ from a simple cause-and-effect chain?
Correct: A. Two names for aspects of a single underlying process that end together.
Question 6 of 10
How many aggregates does this discourse's argument apply to?
Correct: A. Feeling, perception, and choices are elided but follow the same pattern.
Question 7 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Returning to the vagga's usual Sāvatthī setting after SN 22.49-50's Rājagaha dialogues.
Question 8 of 10
What position does this discourse hold in Attadīpavagga?
Correct: A. Opening the pair SN 22.52 will complete.
Question 9 of 10
What term does this discourse use for the shared ending of relishing and greed?
Correct: A. A compound term whose ending frees the mind.
Question 10 of 10
What discourse comes immediately after this one, closing the vagga?
