Reading guide
The third mark, in the trio's own frame
The same five-part enumeration — field, object, consciousness, contact, and the feeling arising from that contact — now declared not-self (anattā), closing out the sequence SN 35.147 and SN 35.148 began.
Three statements, still separate
By this discourse's own close, the trio has declared each of the three marks in turn, but has not yet linked them causally — "impermanent, therefore suffering, therefore not-self" remains implicit, not spelled out.
A shorter close than its two neighbors
This discourse's own final line ("This is that practice that's conducive to extinguishment") ends the statement-form trio without any further elaboration — the shortest of the three, closing on exactly the same words as SN 35.147 and SN 35.148 before it.
What comes next: the chain, restored
SN 35.150, the immediately following discourse, returns to catechism form and explicitly derives suffering from impermanence and not-self from suffering — the logical work this trio's own three statement-form discourses have deliberately deferred.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you a practice that’s conducive to extinguishment. Listen … And what is that practice that’s conducive to extinguishment?
§2It’s when a mendicant sees that the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact are not-self. And they see that the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact is also not-self. They see that the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, ideas, mind-consciousness, and mind contact are not-self. And they see that the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact is also not-self. This is that practice that’s conducive to extinguishment.”
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