Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourses 35.180–182

Desire, Etc. for the Suffering Exterior

Bāhiradukkhachandādisutta — Saṭṭhipeyyālavagga

Setting
Not restated in this discourse
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants
Form
The identical structure as SN 35.177-179, with suffering (dukkha) substituted for impermanence
Length
~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 single substitution on SN 35.177-179's own frame

Why this discourse

This file is the exterior half's second combination: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas now declared suffering rather than SN 35.177-179's own impermanent, with the identical desire/greed/both compression and the same six fields spelled out on their own lines.

Reading guide

Suffering, applied outward

The same substitution SN 35.171-173 made for the interior fields (suffering replacing impermanence) repeats here for the exterior fields — the identical two-step pattern (impermanent, then suffering, then not-self) now running its second lap.

A compressed root, elided in translation

The Pāli root spells out saddā (sounds), gandhā (smells), rasā (tastes), and phoṭṭhabbā (touches) with an elision mark after each; Sujato's own English compresses these four into a single “Saddā …”, listing only sights and ideas in full, the same kind of translator's-choice compression this project has noted since SN 30.17–46.

Key terms

dukkha — suffering — the quality declared here, replacing SN 35.177-179's own anicca
rūpā, dhammā — sights, ideas — the two exterior fields Sujato's own English spells out in full here, the middle four compressed with an ellipsis
saddā, gandhā, rasā, phoṭṭhabbā — sounds, smells, tastes, touches — elided in Sujato's own translation, though the Pāli root marks each separately
chando pahātabbo, rāgo pahātabbo, chandarāgo pahātabbo — the same three-variant compression carried over unchanged
anicca — impermanent — SN 35.177-179's own quality, distinguished from this file's dukkha

The text

The complete merged file: the instruction, then the definition of what is suffering. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, you should give up desire … greed … desire and greed for what is suffering. And what is suffering?

§2Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas are suffering …”

· · ·

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 quality does this file declare of the exterior sense fields, replacing SN 35.177-179's own impermanence?
Correct: A. Dukkha, the exterior half's second combination, mirroring SN 35.171-173's own interior sequence.
Question 2 of 5
How does Sujato's own English render the middle four exterior sense fields (sounds, smells, tastes, touches) in this file?
Correct: A. Only sights and ideas are spelled out in full; the same translator's-choice compression noted since SN 30.17-46.
Question 3 of 5
What variant compression carries over unchanged from SN 35.177-179?
Correct: A. The desire/greed/both compression is identical across every file in round one.
Question 4 of 5
What combination follows this file, completing the exterior half's three-quality cycle?
Correct: A. SN 35.183-185 completes round one entirely, cycling not-self through the exterior fields.
Question 5 of 5
What pattern does this file's own substitution (suffering for impermanence) mirror?
Correct: A. The exterior half runs the identical three-quality cycle the interior half already completed.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 35.177–179 · Desire, Etc. for the Impermanent Exterior