Reading guide
A personal appeal, giving this vagga its name
"Sir, may the Buddha please teach me Dhamma in brief. When I've heard it, I'll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute" — the identical request formula Ānanda used to close SN22 at SN 22.159, here voiced by Rādha to open this vagga (upasagga, "appeal" or "approach," giving the vagga its name).
Placing this same request in Rādha's own mouth, rather than only Ānanda's, extends a formula this book has already used once to close a major section, now put to work opening a new one.
The instruction, given in full for its first term
"You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is Māra. And what is Māra? Form is Māra. You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for it" — the fullest single statement in this merged file, repeated for each aggregate, closing with the same instruction restated for "whatever is Māra" as a whole.
This combines two formulas already separately established in this saṃyutta: Dutiyamāravagga's own bare identifications ("form is Māra") and Māravagga's own giving-up-desire instructions (SN 23.9-10) — merged here into a single compound teaching.
Ten further terms, each reduced to a single substitution
"You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is of Māra nature..." "...impermanent..." "...of impermanent nature..." "...suffering..." "...of suffering nature..." "...not-self..." "...of not-self nature..." "...of a nature to end..." "...of a nature to fall..." "...of a nature to originate..." — ten further discourses (SN 23.24-33), each compressed in the source to a single elided line, trusting the reader to supply SN 23.23's own full elaboration with only the named term substituted.
This is the identical eleven-term list already given individual full treatment at SN 23.11-21 (Māra, māradhamma, anicca, aniccadhamma, dukkha, dukkhadhamma, anattā, anattadhamma, khaya, vaya, samudaya) — missing only nirodha ("liable to cease"), which this vagga will give its own separate full discourse at SN 23.34.
A third recombination of this saṃyutta's core vocabulary
Rādhasaṃyutta has now combined its recurring materials three distinct ways: Māravagga applied the giving-up-desire instruction to Māra alone (SN 23.9-10) and separately restated Antavagga's own analytical content (SN 23.4-8); Dutiyamāravagga asked "what is X" for eleven terms individually; and this vagga now applies the giving-up-desire instruction to that same eleven-term list, merged into a single peyyāla-compressed file — the same underlying elements, recombined a third time.
Key terms
The text
§1 · SN 23.23At Sāvatthī. Seated to one side, Venerable Rādha said to the Buddha: “Sir, may the Buddha please teach me Dhamma in brief. When I’ve heard it, I’ll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute.”
§2 · SN 23.23“Rādha, you should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is Māra. And what is Māra? Form is Māra. You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for it. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness is Māra. You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for it. You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is Māra.”
§3 · SN 23.24“You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is of Māra nature …”
§4 · SN 23.25“… impermanent …”
§5 · SN 23.26“… of impermanent nature …”
§6 · SN 23.27“… suffering …”
§7 · SN 23.28“… of suffering nature …”
§8 · SN 23.29“… not-self …”
§9 · SN 23.30“… of not-self nature …”
§10 · SN 23.31“… of a nature to end …”
§11 · SN 23.32“… of a nature to fall …”
§12 · SN 23.33“… of a nature to originate …”
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