The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
The identical chain as SN 35.156, run for the six exterior sense fields instead of the six interior ones
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 close companion to the discourse just before it
Why this discourse
This discourse is SN 35.156's own close companion: the identical chain, seeing rightly, growing disillusioned, and the mutual ending of relishing and greed, now run for the six exterior sense fields (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas) rather than the six interior ones. This interior/exterior pairing is this book's own structural feature, one SN 22.51's five-aggregate scheme has no equivalent for — the aggregates carry no matching split, so this discourse's own content is genuinely new material, not simply a second application of an aggregate-scheme discourse already on this site.
Reading guide
A companion, not a repeat with different words
Where SN 35.156 ran the chain for eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, this discourse runs the identical chain for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas — the same claim about seeing rightly and relishing's mutual ending, restated for the objects rather than the doors.
A split with no aggregate-scheme counterpart
The five aggregates carry no interior/exterior division the way the six sense fields do, so this discourse (unlike SN 35.156) has no direct counterpart already published on this site — it is the six-field scheme contributing content the five-aggregate scheme structurally cannot.
The same mutual-ending claim, restated once more
“When relishing ends, greed ends; when greed ends, relishing ends” recurs unchanged, closing with the same “well freed” formula as its companion discourse.
Key terms
bāhirāni āyatanāni — the exterior sense fields — sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas, this discourse's own subject
rūpā, saddā, gandhā, rasā, phoṭṭhabbā, dhammā — sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, ideas — the six exterior fields named in turn
nandikkhayā rāgakkhayo, rāgakkhayā nandikkhayo — “when relishing ends, greed ends; when greed ends, relishing ends” — the mutual-ending formula, unchanged from SN 35.156
sammā passaṁ nibbindati — seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned — the single-step chain repeated unchanged from the previous discourse
cittaṁ suvimuttaṁ — the mind is well freed — the chain's own outcome, shared with SN 35.156
The text
The complete discourse, apart from its own closing count (left untranslated and not quoted): the identical chain as SN 35.156, run for sights, then compressed through sounds, smells, tastes, and touches, then given in full again for ideas. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, sights really are impermanent. A mendicant sees that they are 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. Sounds … Smells … Tastes … Touches … Ideas really are impermanent. A mendicant sees that they are 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
How does this discourse's own chain differ from SN 35.156's?
Correct: A. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas, in place of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
Question 2 of 5
Why does this discourse have no direct counterpart among this project's already-published five-aggregate discourses?
Correct: A. This makes the discourse's content genuinely new, not a second setting of already-published material.
Question 3 of 5
What relationship between relishing and greed does this discourse restate, unchanged from SN 35.156?
Correct: A. The identical bidirectional phrasing repeats unchanged.
Question 4 of 5
Which six fields does this discourse's own chain run across?
Correct: A. The exterior fields, paired with SN 35.156's interior ones.
Question 5 of 5
What outcome does the chain claim once relishing and greed both end?
Correct: A. The same closing claim as SN 35.156's own.
