Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.101

It's Not Yours (1st)

Paṭhamanatumhākasutta — Saḷavagga

Setting
At Sāvatthī, in Jeta's Grove
Speakers
The Buddha alone; mendicants answering briefly when asked
Form
The give-up formula run across all six sense fields, illustrated with a simile and reapplied
Length
~2 minutes 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
★★☆☆☆ — a familiar formula in a new application

Why this discourse

This project has already met this exact teaching once before: SN 22.33, in Book III's own Natumhākavagga, applies the identical “give up what's not yours” formula and the identical Jeta's Grove simile — a person carrying off or burning the grove's own grass, sticks, branches, and leaves, which no one there claims as self or belonging to self — to the five aggregates. Here the same formula and the same simile are reapplied to the six sense fields instead: eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and eye-born feeling, run through all six senses, none of it yours, all of it fit to give up for one's own welfare and happiness.

Reading guide

A formula and simile already met once

SN 22.33, already published in this project's own Book III, gives the identical “give up what's not yours” instruction and the identical Jeta's Grove simile applied to the five aggregates. This discourse reapplies both, unchanged, to the six sense fields.

Give it up: welfare and happiness

The eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and the feeling born of eye contact are each declared not yours in turn, with giving each up said to serve one's own welfare and happiness — the identical chain then repeated for the mind.

The grass, sticks, branches, and leaves

Suppose someone carried off, burned, or otherwise did as they liked with the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in Jeta's Grove itself: would the mendicants listening think themselves carried off or burned? No — because none of it is self or belonging to self, exactly as SN 22.33 already established for the aggregates.

The same conclusion, reapplied

“In the same way,” the discourse closes, the eye and all that depends on it are not yours — the simile's own conclusion carried over directly from aggregates to sense fields, closing where the discourse opened.

Key terms

na tumhākaṁ — “not yours” — this discourse's own title and central claim, applied to each of the six sense fields in turn
hitāya sukhāya — for welfare and happiness — what giving up each sense field is said to serve
tiṇakaṭṭhasākhāpalāsa — grass, sticks, branches, and leaves — the Jeta's Grove simile's own objects, identical to SN 22.33's own wording
na attā na attaniya — neither self nor belonging to self — the simile's own verdict, carried over unchanged from aggregates to sense fields
phassajā vedanā — the feeling born of contact — the chain's own final link, given up along with faculty, object, and consciousness

The text

The complete discourse: the give-up formula run across all six sense fields, the Jeta's Grove simile, and its reapplication. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, give up what’s not yours. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness. And what isn’t yours? The eye isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness. Sights … Eye consciousness … Eye contact … The pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness. The ear … nose … tongue … body … The mind isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness. Ideas … Mind consciousness … Mind contact … The pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness.

§2Suppose a person was to carry off the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in this Jeta’s Grove, or burn them, or do what they want with them. Would you think: ‘This person is carrying us off, burning us, or doing what they want with us’?” “No, sir. Why is that? Because to us that’s neither self nor belonging to self.”

§3“In the same way, the eye isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness. … The pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact isn’t yours: give it up. Giving it up will be for your welfare and happiness.”

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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 earlier discourse in this project already gives this identical formula and simile, applied to the five aggregates?
Correct: A. Already published in this project's own Book III, Natumhākavagga.
Question 2 of 5
What does this discourse say giving up each sense field serves?
Correct: A. Hitāya sukhāya — the same phrase repeated after every sense field named.
Question 3 of 5
What does the Jeta's Grove simile ask the listening mendicants to imagine?
Correct: A. None of it is self or belonging to self — so its loss provokes no claim of ownership.
Question 4 of 5
What is the simile's own verdict, applied to the six sense fields?
Correct: A. Carried over unchanged from SN 22.33's own application to the five aggregates.
Question 5 of 5
What does the discourse immediately following (SN 35.102) do with this same teaching?
Correct: A. The same shape as SN 22.34's own compressed companion to SN 22.33.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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