SN 35.236 — The Simile of Hands and Feet (1st)

Reading guide

A structural image, not a causal chain

The four-part bodily simile — hands, feet, joints, belly — each names an anatomical part whose mere presence or absence determines whether a certain kind of activity or experience is even possible, not one that actively causes it moment to moment. The discourse transfers this same possibility-condition logic to the sense faculties themselves.

Two mirrored halves, presence and absence

The discourse states its case twice: first for the presence of hands, feet, joints, belly, and the six senses (each “is found”), then for their absence (each “isn't found”) — the identical two-directional shape this vagga's own SN 35.230 and SN 35.231 have already used for other claims.

Pleasure and pain, not merely contact

Where many discourses in this book stop at naming contact itself as what depends on the sense faculty's presence, this discourse specifically names “pleasure and pain arising internally, conditioned by contact” — ajjhattaṁ sukhaṁ dukkhaṁ — as what the faculty's presence makes structurally possible.

A twin discourse to follow

This is the first of a paired “twin” discourse, a pattern this project has met often throughout this book: SN 35.237 immediately following restates the identical content with a single grammatical substitution, closing both this discourse's own pair and Samuddavagga itself.

Key terms

hatthesu sati ādānanikkhepanaṁ paññāyati — “when there are hands, picking up and putting down are found” — the discourse's own opening term of the fourfold bodily simile

pabbesu sati samiñjanapasāraṇaṁ paññāyati — “when there are joints, contracting and extending are found” — the simile's third term, completing hands and feet before the sense-faculty application

cakkhusmiṁ sati cakkhusamphassapaccayā uppajjati ajjhattaṁ sukhaṁ dukkhaṁ — “when there's an eye, pleasure and pain arise internally conditioned by eye contact” — the discourse's own application of the bodily simile's structural logic to the six senses

paññāyati — “is found” — the verb this discourse's own title-bearing recension uses throughout, distinguishing it from SN 35.237's own use of hoti (“there is”) for the identical content

asati…na paññāyati — “when there is no [X]…[Y] isn't found” — the discourse's own mirrored negative half, run for the bodily simile and then for all six senses

The text

The complete discourse: the fourfold bodily simile and its application to the six senses, given first for presence and then for absence. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, when there are hands, picking up and putting down are found. When there are feet, coming and going are found. When there are joints, contracting and extending are found. When there’s a belly, hunger and thirst are found. In the same way, when there’s an eye, pleasure and pain arise internally conditioned by eye contact. When there’s an ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, pleasure and pain arise internally conditioned by mind contact.

§2When there are no hands, picking up and putting down aren’t found. When there are no feet, coming and going aren’t found. When there are no joints, contracting and extending aren’t found. When there’s no belly, hunger and thirst aren’t found. In the same way, when there’s no eye, pleasure and pain don’t arise internally conditioned by eye contact. When there’s no ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, pleasure and pain don’t arise internally conditioned by mind contact.”

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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 kind of relationship does the hands-feet-joints-belly simile illustrate?

Correct: A. The presence of hands makes picking-up possible at all — it doesn't actively cause each instance of it, the way fire causes smoke.

Question 2 of 5

What does this discourse say arises internally, conditioned by contact, when a sense faculty like the eye exists?

Correct: A. "When there's an eye, pleasure and pain arise internally conditioned by eye contact."

Question 3 of 5

In what two directions does this discourse state its case?

Correct: A. The mirrored two-part structure this vagga has already used for other claims, run here for the bodily simile and the six senses alike.

Question 4 of 5

What Pali verb does this specific discourse use throughout, distinguishing it from its own twin discourse immediately following?

Correct: A. This discourse uses paññāyati; SN 35.237 restates the identical content using hoti instead.

Question 5 of 5

What discourse immediately follows this one, according to this reading guide?

Correct: A. SN 35.237 closes both this discourse's own pair and Samuddavagga itself.

Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

The Simile of Hands and Feet (1st)

Why this discourse