Reading guide
Maññati: a new verb, a fourfold negation
For each sense field, a mendicant "does not conceive anything to be the eye, does not conceive it in the eye, does not conceive it as the eye, and does not conceive that 'the eye is mine'" — four distinct angles of possessive or identifying thought, all four negated in turn, repeated for sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and the feeling arising from eye contact, then for each of the remaining five sense fields.
"The all" itself, folded back into its own closing formula
At its own close, this discourse extends the identical fourfold negation to "the all" as an explicit totality — not conceiving anything to be all, in all, as all, or that "all is mine" — the only discourse in Sabbavagga to explicitly reapply its own vagga-naming term (SN 35.23's own sabba) to its own closing instruction.
A closing chain: not conceiving, to personal extinguishment
Not conceiving → not grasping at anything in the world → not anxious → personally extinguished (parinibbāyati) → the standard declaration, "Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed …" — a chain of consequence distinct from SN 35.28–29's own disillusionment-freedom sequence, though ending in the same declaration.
Three near-synonyms for one closing trio
This discourse's own title word, sāruppa ("fit," "suitable"), gives way to sappāya ("conducive," "beneficial") in the two discourses that follow — three treatments of "the practice for uprooting all conceiving," not one, distinguished by these near-synonymous qualifiers.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you the practice fit for uprooting all conceiving. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak. … And what is the practice fit for uprooting all conceiving?
§2It’s when a mendicant does not conceive anything to be the eye, does not conceive it in the eye, does not conceive it as the eye, and does not conceive that ‘the eye is mine.’ They don’t conceive anything to be sights, they don’t conceive it in sights, they don’t conceive it as sights, and they don’t conceive that ‘sights are mine.’ They don’t conceive eye consciousness … eye contact … They don’t conceive anything to be the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact. They don’t conceive it in that, they don’t conceive it as that, and they don’t conceive that ‘that is mine.’ They don’t conceive anything to be the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind … They don’t conceive anything to be the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact. They don’t conceive it in that, they don’t conceive it as that, and they don’t conceive that ‘that is mine.’ They don’t conceive anything to be all, they don’t conceive it in all, they don’t conceive it as all, and they don’t conceive that ‘all is mine.’
§3Not conceiving, they don’t grasp at anything in the world. Not grasping, they’re not anxious. Not being anxious, they personally become extinguished. They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’ This is the practice fit for uprooting all conceiving.”
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