Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.106

The Origin of Suffering

Dukkhasamudayasutta — Yogakkhemivagga

Setting
Not restated in this discourse
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A formal announcement, then the origin and disappearance of suffering run through all six sense doors, entering dependent origination at consciousness and contact rather than at ignorance
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
★★★☆☆ — reads as this book's own restatement of material this project already covered in Book II

Why this discourse

This discourse will read, to anyone who has already worked through this project's own Book II, as familiar ground under a familiar name: SN 12.43, already published on this site as “Suffering,” teaches the identical formula — the six sense doors' own three-way meeting as contact, conditioning feeling, conditioning craving, named there too as “the origin and disappearance of suffering.” The structure carries over unchanged, including one genuine asymmetry preserved in the Pali root itself, not smoothed over in translation: the arising half stops right after craving with a bare “this is the origin of suffering,” while the cessation half continues the chain downstream through the ending of grasping, continued existence, rebirth, and old age and death, giving the reversal noticeably fuller treatment than the arising it undoes.

Reading guide

The same formula, already met in Book II

SN 12.43 (“Suffering”), already on this site, teaches this exact structure — the six sense doors' three-way meeting as contact, conditioning feeling and craving, named “the origin and disappearance of suffering.” This discourse reapplies the identical formula within Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta itself, rather than Nidānasaṃyutta.

Arising stopped short, cessation carried through

The arising half closes at craving alone — “this is the origin of suffering” — while the cessation half, once craving fades and ceases with nothing left over, continues downstream through grasping, continued existence, rebirth, and old age and death to the ending of the entire mass of suffering. The same lopsided treatment already noted at SN 12.43 recurs here unchanged.

Eye given in full, four doors folded away

The eye receives the complete origin-then-cessation cycle spelled out; the ear, nose, tongue, and body are compressed into a single peyyāla ellipsis before the mind closes each half in full.

A different chapter, an identical teaching

Nothing internal to this discourse marks it as a repetition — it reads as a self-contained teaching. Only cross-reference to Book II reveals it as the third telling (after SN 12.43 and its own companion SN 12.44) of a formula this project has now met in two different books.

Key terms

dukkhassa samudayañca atthaṅgamañca — the origin and disappearance of suffering — the discourse's own formal opening announcement, identical to SN 12.43's
tiṇṇaṁ saṅgati phasso — the meeting of the three is contact — sense faculty, sense object, and consciousness, the discourse's own entry point into dependent origination
phassapaccayā vedanā, vedanāpaccayā taṇhā — contact is a requirement for feeling, feeling for craving — the two links carrying the arising chain to its stated close
asesavirāganirodhā — fading away and ceasing with nothing left over — what happens to craving at the pivot into the cessation half's fuller chain
kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa nirodho — the ending of this entire mass of suffering — the cessation chain's own closing formula, absent from the shorter arising side

The text

The complete discourse: the origin and disappearance of suffering, each run through the eye and, by elision, the remaining five sense doors. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, I will teach you the origin and disappearance of suffering. Listen … And what, mendicants, is the origin of suffering? Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. This is the origin of suffering …

§2Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. This is the origin of suffering.

§3And what is the disappearance of suffering? Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. When that craving fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. When continued existence ceases, rebirth ceases. When rebirth ceases, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress cease. That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. This is the disappearance of suffering. …

§4Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Feeling is a requirement for craving. When that craving fades away and ceases with no residue left behind, grasping ceases. When grasping ceases, continued existence ceases. When continued existence ceases, rebirth ceases. When rebirth ceases, old age and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress cease. That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. This is the disappearance of suffering.”

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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 does this discourse teach the origin and disappearance of, using the six sense doors?
Correct: A. Dukkhassa samudayañca atthaṅgamañca — the identical name SN 12.43 already used.
Question 2 of 5
Where does the arising half of the teaching stop?
Correct: A. “This is the origin of suffering” closes the arising half at taṇhā.
Question 3 of 5
What already-published discourse in this project's Book II teaches the identical formula under the identical name?
Correct: A. “Suffering,” already on this site, with the same six-sense-door formula.
Question 4 of 5
How much further does the cessation half continue, compared to the arising half?
Correct: A. The reversal receives noticeably fuller treatment than the arising it undoes.
Question 5 of 5
What three things meet to produce contact, according to this discourse's own entry point?
Correct: A. Tiṇṇaṁ saṅgati phasso — the meeting of the three, this discourse's own starting point.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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