The bare opening question alone, with everything else left to an ellipsis and two blank source lines
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
★☆☆☆☆ — trivially brief on its own, meaningful mainly in relation to the discourses around it
Why this discourse
The third of the ten undetermined questions, and the point where this vagga's compression reaches its steepest pitch yet: the bilara-data source preserves only the opening question itself, with two further keys present but left entirely empty. Nothing here is fabricated to fill the gap — the discourse is genuinely this short in the source text, trusting SN 24.9's fuller treatment to carry the reader through by memory.
Reading guide
The claim, alone
"The cosmos is finite" — opening the second pair of undetermined questions (finite/infinite), following SN 24.9–10's eternal/not-eternal pair.
A source text with almost nothing left to quote
Unlike every earlier discourse in this vagga, bilara-data preserves no separate aggregate catechism or conclusion for this discourse at all — only the opening question, followed by an ellipsis and two keys containing no text whatsoever. This is not a case of a missing file or corrupted data; it is the source's own editorial choice to trust the reader entirely by this point in the vagga.
Reading this discourse means reading SN 24.9 again
The full catechism — grasping each aggregate, each shown impermanent, the sixth ground added, doubt given up regarding six grounds and the four truths — still structurally applies here; the source text simply no longer bothers to write it out. A reader who has worked through SN 24.1–9 already holds the complete pattern needed to supply what this discourse omits.
Why the site still gives this a full page
Even at this level of compression, bilara-data assigns this discourse its own independent sutta number and title, distinct from its neighbors — consistent with this project's standing practice of generating one page per numbered discourse regardless of how little unique text it contains, rather than silently folding it into a merged range.
Key terms
antavā loko — the cosmos is finite — this discourse's claim, opening the second pair of undetermined questions
peyyāla — an elision mark — here compressing this discourse to almost nothing beyond its opening line
upādāya... abhinivissa — grasping... and insisting on — the formula this discourse's compression trusts the reader to supply from memory
kaṅkhā pahīnā — doubt given up — this vagga's standing criterion for stream-entry, implied though not written out here
sotāpanno avinipātadhammo niyato sambodhiparāyano — a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening — this vagga's standing conclusion, structurally present though unwritten
The text
The complete discourse as bilara-data preserves it: the opening question alone. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, when what exists, because of grasping what and insisting on what, does the view arise: ‘The cosmos is finite’?” …
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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 claim does this discourse examine?
Correct: A. Opening the second pair of undetermined questions.
Question 2 of 10
What does bilara-data preserve for this discourse beyond the opening question?
Correct: A. The steepest compression point this vagga has reached so far.
Question 3 of 10
Is this brevity a data error or a deliberate editorial choice?
Correct: A. Nothing here is fabricated to fill the gap — the source is genuinely this short.
Question 4 of 10
What earlier discourse's fuller treatment does this compression rely on?
Correct: A. A reader who has worked through SN 24.1–9 already holds the complete pattern.
Question 5 of 10
What pair of questions does this discourse open?
Correct: A. Following SN 24.9–10's eternal/not-eternal pair.
Question 6 of 10
Why does this project still generate a full independent page for this discourse?
Correct: A. Consistent with this project's practice of one page per numbered discourse.
Question 7 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Matching the setting of most of this book's discourses.
Question 8 of 10
What structurally still applies to this discourse, even though the source doesn't write it out?
Correct: A. The pattern this vagga has already established nine times over.
Question 9 of 10
What discourse follows this one, completing the finite/infinite pair?
Correct: A. This pair's own second half.
Question 10 of 10
How many of the ten undetermined questions has this vagga now opened, counting this discourse?
Correct: A. Eternal, not eternal, and now finite — with seven more still to come.
