Reading guide
Rādha's request, repeated once more
"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 When I've heard it, I'll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute" — the identical request already voiced at SN 23.23, here repeated to introduce this vagga's own twelfth and closing term.
The instruction given in full, completing the set
"You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is of a nature to cease. And what is of a nature to cease? Form is of a nature to cease..." — the same fully elaborated structure SN 23.23 gave to Māra, now given to nirodha, the one term SN 23.23-33's own merged file left for this discourse alone to state completely.
Why cessation receives its own full discourse rather than a compressed line
Ending the twelve-term catalog on a fully stated discourse, rather than folding it into the merged file's own final compressed line, gives this vagga's closing term a weight matching SN 23.11's own opening treatment of Māra — bookending the whole sequence (Māra fully stated at the start, cessation fully stated at the end) around a middle stretch of ten compressed substitutions.
Closing without a colophon, into this saṃyutta's fourth vagga
As with many vaggas in this book, no explicit closing formula marks the end of Upasaggavagga in the source text — the vagga simply concludes on this final term, before Rādhasaṃyutta's fourth and last vagga ("Sitting Close") begins at SN 23.35, itself opening with another eleven-discourse merged range before its own final discourse, SN 23.46, closes the entire saṃyutta.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. 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 When I’ve heard it, I’ll live alone, withdrawn, diligent, keen, and resolute.”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“Rādha, you should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for whatever is of a nature to cease. And what is of a nature to cease? Form is of a nature to cease. You should give up any desire, any greed, any desire and greed for it. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness is of a nature to cease. 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 of a nature to cease.”
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