The Buddha addressing the mendicants (by cross-reference)
Form
A peyyāla stub, identical in shape to SN 34.11–14
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
★☆☆☆☆ — understood only alongside SN 34.1 and SN 34.11
Why this discourse
The fifth combination built on entering: samāpatti ("entering") paired against gocara ("territory") — the skill of reaching an immersive state compared against the skill of discerning that state's own proper boundaries once occupied.
Reading guide
Reaching a state versus knowing its boundaries
This pairing implies a meditator could enter a state readily yet remain unclear about what genuinely belongs within it — skilled at arrival, uncertain about the terrain once there.
The midpoint of entering's own nine-part combinatorial set
With this discourse, entering has now been paired against remaining, emerging, gladdening, supports, and now territory — the midpoint of its own nine-part set, four further pairings still to come.
A structural quality meeting a discernment quality
As at SN 34.6, gocara names a skill of discernment rather than a structural move — this pairing crosses registers in a similar way to SN 34.13's own entering-gladdening pairing.
The same compressed shape, unbroken
As with the preceding four discourses in this combinatorial set, this discourse compresses to a single surviving line, the underlying structure carried over by cross-reference to SN 34.1.
Key terms
samāpatti — entering — this combinatorial set's own shared anchor quality
gocara — territory — the second quality named in this specific discourse, a skill of discernment
ārammaṇa — supports — the previous discourse's own second quality, replaced here by gocara
peyyāla — an elision mark — here compressing both the fourfold structure and the closing simile to a single surviving line
jhāyī — meditator — the general term for the four types this discourse classifies, by cross-reference to SN 34.1
The text
The discourse as the source itself preserves it, compressed to its opening line. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, there are these four meditators. What four? One meditator is skilled in entering immersion but not in the territory of immersion. …”
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Self-check quiz
5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 5
What two qualities does this discourse pair?
Correct: A. The skill of reaching a state compared against the skill of discerning its own boundaries.
Question 2 of 5
Where does this discourse fall in entering's own nine-part combinatorial set?
Correct: A. Four further pairings still to come after this one.
Question 3 of 5
How does gocara's own nature compare to ārammaṇa's, the previous discourse's second term?
Correct: A. Crossing registers in a similar way to SN 34.13's own entering-gladdening pairing.
Question 4 of 5
What possibility does this pairing imply?
Correct: A. Skilled at arrival, uncertain about the terrain once there.
Question 5 of 5
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other discourses, though given here only by cross-reference.
