Reading guide
The same view, a third time
"Winds don't blow; rivers don't flow; pregnant women don't give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar" — identical to SN 24.1 and SN 24.19's own opening claims, now examined for a third pass through this saṃyutta's core catalog.
The suffering-ground addition, reworded
SN 24.19 added suffering as a seventh graspable ground with the phrase "and so, when suffering exists, because of grasping suffering and insisting on suffering, the view arises..." This discourse states the identical point more economically: "and so, what's impermanent is suffering. When this exists, grasping at this, the view arises..." — the same logical move, condensed into a shorter formula.
This is this vagga's own small but genuine contribution: not new content, but a more compact restatement of the second round's own addition.
This vagga's own minimal shape
Where Dutiyagamanavagga needed eleven separate pages to cover its twenty-six topics (bracketing a sixteen-topic merged block with two full discourses, then adding eight further individually treated new topics), Tatiyagamanavagga needs only three: this discourse, a single merged block covering positions 2 through 25 of the same twenty-six-topic catalog, and one closing discourse.
No new topics this round
Confirmed by dump of every relevant bilara-data file before writing: this vagga introduces nothing Dutiyagamanavagga did not already establish. The question of whether a saṃyutta this systematic would keep expanding its catalog indefinitely is answered here — round three is pure repetition, not expansion.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, when what exists, because of grasping what and insisting on what, does the view arise: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar’?” “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. …”
§2“When form exists, because of grasping form and insisting on form, the view arises: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar.’ When feeling … perception … choices … consciousness exists, because of grasping consciousness and insisting on consciousness, the view arises: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar.’
§3What do you think, mendicants? Is form permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “But by not grasping what’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, would the view arise: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar’?” “No, sir.” “And so, what’s impermanent is suffering. When this exists, grasping at this, the view arises: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar.’ Is feeling … perception … choices … consciousness permanent or impermanent?” “Impermanent, sir.” … “And so, what’s impermanent is suffering. When this exists, grasping at this, the view arises: ‘Winds don’t blow; rivers don’t flow; pregnant women don’t give birth; the moon and stars neither rise nor set, but stand firm like a pillar.’”
Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.