Reading guide
A seventh thresh, worse than the first six
The sheaf of barley threshed by six people is already “thoroughly threshed,” yet a seventh thresher makes it “even more thoroughly threshed” still. The discourse applies this directly to rebirth: an unlearned person already struck at all six senses by both pleasant and unpleasant experience is struck “even more thoroughly” still if they intend to be reborn in a new state of existence — craving for future existence adds a seventh blow to an already complete threshing.
A bond made and broken by nothing but a thought
Vepacitti, lord of the titans, is bound by his limbs and neck after losing a battle to Sakka, lord of the gods — and yet the story's own turn comes entirely from within: the instant Vepacitti thinks “it's the gods who are principled,” he finds himself free and enjoying heavenly pleasures; the instant he thinks the titans are principled instead, he finds himself bound again. No jailer moves him either way. The discourse's own conclusion names this precisely: “the bonds of Māra are even more subtle than that” — conceiving itself is the bond, conceiving's absence the only freedom.
Five words, one formula, one refrain, five times over
Conceived (maññita), perturbed (iñjita), trembled (phandita), proliferated (papañcita), and gone to conceit (mānagata) are each applied, in turn, to the identical ninefold list — “I am,” “I am this,” “I will be,” “I will not be,” and onward through form, formlessness, and the three modes of perception — and each of the five closes with the identical diagnosis, “a disease, a boil, a dart,” and the identical resolve to train the heart free of exactly that condition. Papañcita in particular names the same conceptual proliferation (papañca) at the root of one of the tradition's best-known diagnoses of how concepts run away from direct experience — though this project has not yet reached the text where that term receives its fullest treatment, and offers no specific cross-link here.
A five-layer colophon, read without assuming any layer in advance
The untranslated Pali closes with, in order: “Ekādasamaṁ” (this is the vagga's own eleventh discourse); “Āsīvisavaggo catuttho” (Āsīvisavagga is the fourth vagga of its own paṇṇāsaka — not fifth, since unlike the first three paṇṇāsakas of this saṃyutta, which each ran five vaggas, this final one runs only four: Nandikkhaya, Saṭṭhipeyyāla, Samudda, Āsīvisa); an uddāna naming all eleven of this vagga's own discourses in sequence; “Saḷāyatanavagge catutthapaṇṇāsako samatto” (the fourth paṇṇāsaka of Saḷāyatanavagga is complete); a second, higher uddāna naming all four vaggas of that paṇṇāsaka by name (Nandikkhaya, the sixty-method [Saṭṭhipeyyāla], Samudda, and “with the viper” [Āsīvisa]); and finally, genuinely translated by Sujato rather than left in Pali, “Saḷāyatanasaṁyuttaṁ samattaṁ” — “The Linked Discourses on the six sense fields are complete.” No higher, book-level marker appears here, and none is expected: unlike SN 34.55, which closed Book III itself, Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta is only the first of Book IV's ten saṃyuttas, with SN 36 still to come.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, suppose a sheaf of barley was placed at a crossroads. Then six people would come along carrying flails, and start threshing the sheaf of barley. So that sheaf of barley would be thoroughly threshed by those six flails. Then a seventh individual would come along carrying a flail, and they’d give the sheaf of barley a seventh threshing. So that sheaf of barley would be even more thoroughly threshed by that seventh flail. In the same way, an unlearned ordinary person is struck in the eye by both pleasant and unpleasant sights. They’re struck in the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind by both pleasant and unpleasant ideas. And if that unlearned ordinary person intends to be reborn in a new state of existence in the future, that futile person is even more thoroughly struck, like that sheaf of barley threshed by the seventh person.
§2Once upon a time, a battle was fought between the gods and the titans. Then Vepacitti, lord of titans, addressed the titans, ‘My good fellows, if the titans defeat the gods in this battle, bind Sakka, the lord of gods, by his limbs and neck and bring him to my presence in the citadel of the titans.’ Meanwhile, Sakka, lord of gods, addressed the gods of the thirty-three, ‘My good fellows, if the gods defeat the titans in this battle, bind Vepacitti by his limbs and neck and bring him to my presence in the Hall of Clear Right of the gods.’ In that battle the gods won and the titans lost. So the gods of the thirty-three bound Vepacitti by his limbs and neck and brought him to Sakka’s presence in the Hall of Clear Right of the gods. And there Vepacitti remained bound by his limbs and neck. That is, until he thought, ‘It’s the gods who are principled, while the titans are unprincipled. Now I belong right here in the castle of the gods.’ Then he found himself freed from the bonds on his limbs and neck. He entertained himself, supplied and provided with the five kinds of heavenly sensual stimulation. But when he thought, ‘It’s the titans who are principled, while the gods are unprincipled. Now I will go over there to the citadel of the titans,’ he found himself bound by his limbs and neck, and the five kinds of heavenly sensual stimulation fell away. That’s how subtly Vepacitti was bound. But the bonds of Māra are even more subtle than that. When you conceive, you’re bound by Māra. Not conceiving, you’re free from the Wicked One.
§3These are what is conceived: ‘I am’, ‘I am this’, ‘I will be’, ‘I will not be’, ‘I will have form’, ‘I will be formless’, ‘I will be percipient’, ‘I will be non-percipient’, ‘I will be neither percipient nor non-percipient.’ What is conceived is a disease, a boil, a dart. So mendicants, you should train yourselves like this: ‘We will live with a heart that does not conceive.’
§4These are what is perturbed: ‘I am’, ‘I am this’, ‘I will be’, ‘I will not be’, ‘I will have form’, ‘I will be formless’, ‘I will be percipient’, ‘I will be non-percipient’, ‘I will be neither percipient nor non-percipient.’ What is perturbed is a disease, a boil, a dart. So mendicants, you should train yourselves like this: ‘We will live with a heart free of perturbation.’
§5These are what is trembled: ‘I am’, ‘I am this’, ‘I will be’, ‘I will not be’, ‘I will have form’, ‘I will be formless’, ‘I will be percipient’, ‘I will be non-percipient’, ‘I will be neither percipient nor non-percipient.’ What is trembled is a disease, a boil, a dart. So mendicants, you should train yourselves like this: ‘We will live with a heart free of trembling.’
§6These are what is proliferated: ‘I am’, ‘I am this’, ‘I will be’, ‘I will not be’, ‘I will have form’, ‘I will be formless’, ‘I will be percipient’, ‘I will be non-percipient’, ‘I will be neither percipient nor non-percipient.’ What is proliferated is a disease, a boil, a dart. So mendicants, you should train yourselves like this: ‘We will live with a heart free of proliferation.’
§7These are states of conceit: ‘I am’, ‘I am this’, ‘I will be’, ‘I will not be’, ‘I will have form’, ‘I will be formless’, ‘I will be percipient’, ‘I will be non-percipient’, ‘I will be neither percipient nor non-percipient.’ The state of conceit is a disease, a boil, a dart. So mendicants, you should train yourselves like this: ‘We will live with a heart that has struck down conceit.’”
§8The Linked Discourses on the six sense fields are complete.
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