The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A compact chain — seeing impermanence, disillusionment, and the mutual ending of relishing and greed — run for all six interior sense fields
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
★★★☆☆ — opens a new vagga and supplies its own name
Why this discourse
This discourse opens Nandikkhayavagga and supplies the vagga's own name: “nandikkhaya,” the ending of relishing. Its content is not new to this project — the identical mutual-ending formula (“when relishing ends, greed ends; when greed ends, relishing ends”) already closed Book III's own Attadīpavagga at SN 22.51, there applied to the five aggregates. This discourse gives the same formula its second setting on this site, run instead across the six interior sense fields — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
Reading guide
A formula already met once, in a different book
“A mendicant sees that the eye is impermanent: that's their right view” opens the same single-step chain SN 22.51 already used for form: seeing rightly leads directly to disillusionment, with no intervening stage.
Mutual ending, not one-directional cause
As at SN 22.51, the relationship between relishing (nandi) and greed (rāga) is stated as fully bidirectional, not a simple cause running one way: “when relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends.” When both end together, the mind is said to be well freed.
Six fields, not five aggregates
The chain is run in full for the eye, then compressed through ear, nose, tongue, and body, then given in full again for the mind — this book's own six-field structure standing in for SN 22.51's five-aggregate one, the same underlying claim about relishing and greed applied to a different analytical scheme.
Supplying the vagga's own name
“Nandikkhaya,” the ending of relishing, names both this opening discourse and the vagga it begins — a pattern this project has now met several times, most recently at SN 35.146 opening Navapurāṇavagga.
Key terms
nandikkhaya — the ending of relishing — this discourse's own subject, and the name it gives the vagga it opens
sammā passaṁ nibbindati — seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned — the single-step chain, identical to SN 22.51's own for form
nandikkhayā rāgakkhayo, rāgakkhayā nandikkhayo — “when relishing ends, greed ends; when greed ends, relishing ends” — the mutual-ending formula this discourse shares, unchanged, with SN 22.51
nandirāgakkhayā cittaṁ suvimuttaṁ — when relishing and greed end, the mind is well freed — the chain's own outcome
ajjhattikāni āyatanāni — the interior sense fields — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, this discourse's own subject, paired with the exterior fields in the discourse immediately following
The text
The complete discourse, apart from its own closing count (left untranslated and not quoted): the mutual-ending formula run for the eye, then compressed through the remaining sense doors, then given in full again for the mind. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, the eye really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that’s their right view. Seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is said to be well freed. The ear … nose … tongue … body … mind really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that’s their right view. Seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is said to be well freed.”
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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 single-step chain opens this discourse's claim about the eye?
Correct: A. No intervening stage separates seeing impermanence from disillusionment.
Question 2 of 5
How does this discourse characterize the relationship between relishing and greed?
Correct: A. "When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends."
Question 3 of 5
Where has this project already published this identical mutual-ending formula, before this discourse applies it to the six sense fields?
Correct: A. SN 22.51 closed Book III's own Attadīpavagga with the same claim about form.
Question 4 of 5
What name does this discourse give the vagga it opens?
Correct: A. This project has now met several vaggas whose own opening discourse supplies the vagga's name.
Question 5 of 5
Which sense fields does this discourse's own chain run across?
Correct: A. The exterior fields receive their own discourse immediately following.
