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
Why this discourse
The sixth quality paired against immersion: gocara ("territory," literally a pasture or grazing-ground) — the proper range or domain a given immersive state belongs to, knowing which objects and conditions genuinely belong within a specific level of absorption.
Reading guide
Territory, a pastoral metaphor for meditative range
Gocara literally names a cow's own grazing-ground; applied to meditation, it names the proper "range" of objects and conditions appropriate to a specific immersive state, distinguishing what genuinely belongs there from what doesn't.
A skill of discernment, not entry or exit
Unlike entering, remaining, or emerging, gocara concerns knowing the boundaries of a state once occupied — a genuinely different kind of meditative competence from the structural or sustaining qualities named so far.
The same compressed shape, a fourth consecutive time
This discourse's own question and answer are elided in the identical pattern as SN 34.3–5, confirming this saṃyutta's own standing convention continues unbroken.
Sixth of ten qualities, four more still to come
SN 34.7–10 will apply this identical compressed shape to four further qualities, before this saṃyutta's own combinatorial phase begins at SN 34.11.
Key terms
gocara — territory, or range — literally a grazing-ground, the sixth of ten qualities
samādhi — immersion — the base capacity this quality is paired against
ārammaṇa — supports — the previous discourse's own 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 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
Which quality does this discourse pair against immersion?
Correct: A. The sixth of ten qualities this saṃyutta pairs against immersion.
Question 2 of 5
What does gocara literally mean?
Correct: A. Applied to meditation, the proper range of objects and conditions appropriate to a given state.
Question 3 of 5
What kind of skill does gocara name, distinct from entering, remaining, or emerging?
Correct: A. Knowing what genuinely belongs within a specific level of absorption.
Question 4 of 5
How many further qualities remain to be paired against immersion after this discourse?
Correct: A. SN 34.7–10 will apply this identical compressed shape to four further qualities.
Question 5 of 5
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other discourses.
