The Interior and What’s Suffering in the Three Times
Ajjhattātītādiyaṁdukkhasutta — Saṭṭhipeyyālavagga
Setting
Not restated in this discourse
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants
Form
Three discourses compressed into a single file, merging past, future, and present, with the chain now starting from suffering rather than impermanence
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 shortened, three-step chain
Why this discourse
This file is round three's second combination: the interior sense fields declared suffering across past, future, and present, with the chain now starting one step later than SN 35.204-206 — “what's suffering is not-self…” rather than “what's impermanent is suffering…” — the identical shortened entry point SN 22.16 already used in Book III for the five aggregates.
Reading guide
A shorter chain, entered one step later
Where SN 35.204-206 declared the interior fields impermanent and ran the full four-step chain, this file declares them suffering directly and runs only the remaining two steps: “what's suffering is not-self… this is not mine…” — the same economy SN 22.16 (Yaṁdukkhasutta) already showed for the five aggregates.
All three times, merged
Past, future, and present are folded into this file's own single opening line, exactly as round two's own merged files (SN 35.189 onward) compressed the same three time-values.
Key terms
yaṁ dukkhaṁ, tadanattā — “what's suffering is not-self” — this file's own entry point into the chain, one step later than SN 35.204-206's own
dukkha — suffering — declared directly here, rather than derived from impermanence as in SN 35.204-206
atītaṁ anāgataṁ paccuppannaṁ — past, future, present — merged into this file's own single line
netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā — “this is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self” — the chain's own closing formula, unchanged
ajjhattikāyatana — the six interior sense fields — unchanged from SN 35.204-206
The text
The complete merged file, apart from its own closing ellipsis: the declaration and the chain's own remaining two steps. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, in the past … future … present the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are suffering. What’s suffering is not-self …”
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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
Where does this file's own chain formula begin, compared to SN 35.204-206's own?
Correct: A. Suffering is declared directly, without deriving it from impermanence first — the same economy as SN 22.16.
Question 2 of 5
What already-published discourse uses this identical shortened entry point for the five aggregates?
Correct: A. SN 22.16 already ran this same two-step chain, starting from suffering rather than impermanence.
Question 3 of 5
What time-values does this file merge into a single line?
Correct: A. Atītaṁ anāgataṁ paccuppannaṁ, the same compression pattern round two's own merged files established.
Question 4 of 5
What combination follows this file, at SN 35.210-212?
Correct: A. SN 35.210-212 completes round three's interior half with the shortest entry point yet.
Question 5 of 5
What sense fields does this file address?
Correct: A. Ajjhattikāyatana, continuing the interior half opened at SN 35.204.
