Reading guide
An anxiety, not an assertion
"I might not be, and it might not be mine. I will not be, and it will not be mine" (no cassaṁ, no ca me siyā, nābhavissa, na me bhavissati) — identical wording to SN 22.153, voicing dread at potential non-existence rather than confidently claiming permanence.
This completes a small internal pair with SN 24.3: eternalist confidence (self and cosmos will remain forever) answered by its emotional opposite, anxious fear that self might simply cease — both diagnosed by the identical aggregate-grasping mechanism.
Closing the opening quartet's borrowed material
With this discourse, all three of SN 24.2, 24.3, and 24.4 have now drawn their core formula directly from SN 22.151, 152, and 153 respectively — a consecutive run of exact matches, broken only by SN 24.1 itself, which introduced genuinely new material to open this saṃyutta.
Six grounds, the same aggregate mechanism
As in the previous two discourses, form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness are each shown impermanent and therefore incapable of grounding this particular anxiety, followed by the sixth ground (what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, and explored by the mind) and the standing stream-enterer conclusion.
From SN 24.5 onward, entirely new material
This discourse marks the last of this vagga's borrowed openings. The next four discourses (SN 24.5–8) turn to material with no earlier counterpart on this site: the specific doctrines associated with teachers named elsewhere in the Canon as the Buddha's contemporaries.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, when what exists, because of grasping what and insisting on what, does the view arise: ‘I might not be, and it might not be mine. I will not be, and it will not be mine’?” “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. …”
§2“When form exists, because of grasping form and insisting on form, the view arises: ‘I might not be, and it might not be mine. I will not be, and it will not be mine.’ When feeling … perception … choices … consciousness exists, because of grasping consciousness and insisting on consciousness, the view arises: ‘I might not be, and it might not be mine. I will not be, and it will not be mine.’ What do you think, mendicants? Is form permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “Is feeling … perception … choices … consciousness permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “That which is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, and explored by the mind: is that permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “But by not grasping what’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, would such a view arise?” “No, sir.”
§3“When a noble disciple has given up doubt regarding these six grounds, and has given up doubt in suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation, they’re called a noble disciple who is a stream-enterer, not liable to be reborn in the underworld, assured, destined for awakening.”
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