The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A single four-term formula stated negatively then positively, run across the six internal sense fields
Length
under 1 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
★★☆☆☆ — a compact formula worth reading term by term
Why this discourse
This discourse names a four-step requirement for ending suffering, applied to the six internal sense fields: without directly knowing (abhijānaṁ), completely understanding (parijānaṁ), growing dispassionate toward (avirājayaṁ), and giving up (appajahaṁ) the eye and its five companions, no one is capable of ending suffering — and with all four accomplished, one is. Its own title supplies this project's convention for naming the formula: parijānana, complete understanding, standing for the whole four-term sequence. Its own paired companion, SN 35.112, applies the identical formula to the six external sense fields immediately after.
Reading guide
Four terms, not one
Complete understanding, the discourse's own title-word, names only the second of four required steps: directly knowing, completely understanding, growing dispassionate toward, and giving up each of the six internal sense fields in turn.
Stated twice, mirrored
The formula runs first in the negative — without all four, ending suffering is impossible — then in the positive, with all four accomplished, ending suffering becomes possible. Nothing else changes between the two statements but the outcome.
Six fields, one formula
Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind each receive the identical four-term test, with the four faculties between eye and mind folded into a peyyāla ellipsis in both the negative and positive halves.
Interior first, exterior to follow
This vagga's own uddāna groups this discourse with SN 35.112 as “the two on full understanding” (dve parijānaṁ) — the interior sense fields treated here, the exterior sense fields (sights through mental phenomena) to follow immediately in the discourse right after.
Key terms
abhijānaṁ — directly knowing — the first of the four terms this discourse's own formula requires for each internal sense field
parijānaṁ — completely understanding — the second term, and the word this discourse's own title is built from
avirājayaṁ — growing dispassionate toward — the third term, marking the shift from cognitive to affective transformation
appajahaṁ — giving up — the fourth and final term, the practical abandonment the first three terms make possible
ajjhattikāyatana — the internal sense fields — the six faculties (eye through mind) this discourse's own formula is run across
The text
The complete discourse: the four-term formula stated first negatively, then positively, across all six internal sense fields. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, without directly knowing and completely understanding the eye, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering. Without directly knowing and completely understanding the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, without dispassion for it and giving it up, you can’t end suffering.
§2By directly knowing and completely understanding the eye, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end suffering. By directly knowing and completely understanding the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, having dispassion for it and giving it up, you can end 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
How many terms does this discourse's own formula require for ending suffering, at each internal sense field?
