Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.232

With Koṭṭhita

Koṭṭhikasutta — Samuddavagga

Setting
Near Varanasi, in the deer park at Isipatana
Speakers
The venerables Mahākoṭṭhita, asking, and Sāriputta, answering
Form
A question-and-answer dialogue between two senior disciples, resolved by a simile and closed with a description of the Buddha's own freed mind
Length
~3 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 precise philosophical distinction, worth reading slowly

Why this discourse

This discourse asks a question this project has already seen answered once before, almost word for word, in a different saṃyutta entirely: is the eye the fetter of sights, or are sights the fetter of the eye — and the same for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind? Mahākoṭṭhita puts the question to Sāriputta at Isipatana; Sāriputta answers, and then illustrates the answer, with the identical simile already published on this site at the opening of the Cittasaṃyutta (SN 41.1, “The Fetter”): a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness are not each other's fetter — the fetter is the harness itself, the single thing binding the pair together. Applied back to the six sense fields, neither the eye nor sights is the fetter of the other; the fetter is the desire and greed (chandarāga) that arises dependent on the pair of them together. The discourse closes by applying this to the Buddha himself: he has an eye, sees a sight with it, hears, smells, tastes, touches, and knows ideas with the rest — but has no desire and greed, and so his mind is well freed.

Reading guide

A question, and a simile, met once before on this site

SN 41.1, opening the Cittasaṃyutta, already gives this exact question and this exact ox-yoke simile on this site, there argued between the householder Citta and the mendicant Isidatta rather than between two senior monks. This is the second time this project has published the identical simile settling the identical question, carried across two different saṃyuttas by two entirely different pairs of speakers.

Neither side of the pair, but what arises between them

Sāriputta's answer refuses both halves of Mahākoṭṭhita's either-or question outright: not the eye, not sights — the fetter is “the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them,” run identically for all six sense fields.

Black ox, white ox, one harness

The simile is exact: a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness or yoke are not each other's fetter. Neither ox binds the other; the single harness binding both of them is the fetter. Sāriputta then restates the six-fold sense-field claim in exactly this same shape.

Why the distinction matters: the spiritual life itself

Sāriputta goes further than simply restating the answer: if the eye actually were the fetter of sights, or sights the fetter of the eye, then living the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering would not be found at all — because the senses and their objects can never be eliminated, only the craving that arises dependent on them. The discourse then closes on the Buddha himself, who still sees, hears, and thinks, but without that craving, his mind well freed.

Key terms

saṁyojanaṁ — the fetter — the term Mahākoṭṭhita's own question turns on, asked of the eye and sights and each of the remaining five sense-field pairs
yañca tattha tadubhayaṁ paṭicca uppajjati chandarāgo taṁ tattha saṁyojanaṁ — “the fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them” — Sāriputta's own answer, repeated for all six sense fields
kāḷo ca balībaddo odāto ca balībaddo…dāmena vā yottena vā saṁyuttā — a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness or yoke — the simile identical to the one already published on this site at SN 41.1
nayidaṁ brahmacariyavāso paññāyetha sammā dukkhakkhayāya — “this living of the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering would not be found” — the stakes Sāriputta names for getting this distinction wrong
chandarāgo bhagavato natthi…suvimuttacitto bhagavā — “he has no desire and greed…his mind is well freed” — the discourse's own closing description of the Buddha, who still senses but does not crave

The text

The complete discourse: Mahākoṭṭhita's question, Sāriputta's answer, the ox-yoke simile applied and restated, and the closing description of the Buddha's own freed mind. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At one time Venerable Sāriputta and Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita were staying near Varanasi, in the deer park at Isipatana. Then in the late afternoon, Venerable Mahākoṭṭhita came out of retreat, went to Venerable Sāriputta, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to Sāriputta: “Reverend Sāriputta, which is it? Is the eye the fetter of sights, or are sights the fetter of the eye? Is the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind the fetter of ideas, or are ideas the fetter of the mind?”

§2“Reverend Koṭṭhita, the eye is not the fetter of sights, nor are sights the fetter of the eye. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them. The ear … nose … tongue … body … mind is not the fetter of ideas, nor are ideas the fetter of the mind. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them.

§3Suppose there was a black ox and a white ox yoked by a single harness or yoke. Would it be right to say that the black ox is the yoke of the white ox, or the white ox is the yoke of the black ox?” “No, reverend. The black ox is not the yoke of the white ox, nor is the white ox the yoke of the black ox. The yoke there is the single harness or yoke that they’re yoked by.”

§4“In the same way, the eye is not the fetter of sights, nor are sights the fetter of the eye. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them. The ear … nose … tongue … body … mind is not the fetter of ideas, nor are ideas the fetter of the mind. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them. If the eye were the fetter of sights, or if sights were the fetter of the eye, this living of the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering would not be found. However, since this is not the case, but the fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them, this living of the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering is found. If the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind were the fetter of ideas, or if ideas were the fetter of the mind, this living of the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering would not be found. However, since this is not the case, but the fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them, this living of the spiritual life for the complete ending of suffering is found.

§5This too is a way to understand how this is so.

§6The Buddha has an eye with which he sees a sight. But he has no desire and greed, for his mind is well freed. The Buddha has an ear … nose … tongue … The Buddha has a body with which he senses touch. But he has no desire and greed, for his mind is well freed. The Buddha has a mind with which he knows ideas. But he has no desire and greed, for his mind is well freed.

§7This too is a way to understand how the eye is not the fetter of sights, nor are sights the fetter of the eye. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them. The ear … nose … tongue … body … mind is not the fetter of ideas, nor are ideas the fetter of the mind. The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them.”

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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 question does Mahākoṭṭhita put to Sāriputta, run for all six sense fields?
Correct: A. "Is the eye the fetter of sights, or are sights the fetter of the eye?" — and the same for the remaining five fields.
Question 2 of 5
What does Sāriputta identify as the actual fetter, refusing both halves of the either-or question?
Correct: A. "The fetter there is the desire and greed that arises from the pair of them" — repeated for all six fields.
Question 3 of 5
Where has this project already published the identical simile Sāriputta uses here?
Correct: A. SN 41.1 already gives the identical black-ox/white-ox/single-harness simile, there argued between Citta and Isidatta.
Question 4 of 5
What does Sāriputta say would follow if the eye actually were the fetter of sights, or sights the fetter of the eye?
Correct: A. Because the senses and their objects can never be eliminated outright — only the craving arising dependent on them can.
Question 5 of 5
How does this discourse describe the Buddha's own relationship to the six senses?
Correct: A. "The Buddha has an eye...with which he sees a sight. But he has no desire and greed, for his mind is well freed."
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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