Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourses 35.43–51

Nine Discourses on Impermanence, Etc.

Aniccādisutta — Sabbaaniccavagga

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants
Form
Nine discourses compressed by bilara-data into a single file — one full worked example followed by eight one-line substitutions; the vagga's own tenth discourse is held back in its own separate file
Length
~2 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 single repeated frame, easy to follow once the compressed structure is recognized

Why this discourse

This file opens Sabbaaniccavagga — Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta's own fifth vagga, and the first vagga in this book whose bilara-data source splits its ten discourses across two separate files rather than keeping every discourse individually (Aniccavagga, Yamakavagga, Sabbavagga) or merging the whole vagga into one (Jātidhammavagga). The opening discourse, SN 35.43, declares that everything is "impermanent" (aniccaṁ) across the six sense fields — the same claim Aniccavagga opened this book with, back at SN 35.1; the eight discourses that follow apply the identical claim, one substituted word at a time, to suffering, not-self, and five further tasks.

Reading guide

One full worked example: all is impermanent

SN 35.43 opens with the standard six-sense-field declaration: the eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and the feeling that arises from eye contact are all impermanent — spelled out for the eye, compressed for the ear, nose, and tongue together, then spelled out again for the mind, closing with this project's own familiar disillusionment-to-liberation formula.

Eight more claims, one line each

SN 35.44 through 35.51 each substitute a single word into the identical frame — "all is suffering … not-self … to be directly known … to be completely understood … to be given up … to be realized … to be directly known and completely understood … harried" — trusting the reader to supply SN 35.43's own full six-sense-field elaboration and closing formula for each.

A synthesis, not only a new theme

Impermanence, suffering, and not-self are this project's own three marks, already the whole subject of Aniccavagga; three of the remaining five words — to be completely understood, to be given up, to be realized — are the very verbs traditionally paired elsewhere in the canon with the four noble truths' own three tasks (suffering to be completely understood, its origin to be given up, its cessation to be realized). Here all five are applied instead to "the all" itself — the twelve-item schema Sabbavagga's own opening discourse (SN 35.23) defined — folding two of this book's own earlier themes into a single nine-part list.

Each discourse counted, not translated

The root text closes each of these nine discourses with its own Pāli ordinal — paṭhamaṁ, dutiyaṁ, tatiyaṁ, and on through navamaṁ ("first" through "ninth") — left blank in Sujato's own English throughout, the same guide-only treatment this project gives every other untranslated closing marker.

Key terms

sabba — "the all" — the recurring subject of every discourse in this file, defined at SN 35.23 as the six interior sense fields paired with their six exterior objects
anicca — impermanent — SN 35.43's own opening claim, and Aniccavagga's own subject at the start of this book
pariññeyya — to be completely understood — SN 35.47's own substituted word, elsewhere paired with suffering itself as the first of the four tasks
pahātabba — to be given up — SN 35.48's own substituted word, elsewhere paired with craving as the second of the four tasks
peyyāla — an elision mark — here compressing eight of this file's nine discourses to a single substituted word each

The text

The complete file's own nine discourses: SN 35.43's own full worked example (eye and mind spelled out, the rest compressed), followed by SN 35.44 through 35.51's eight one-line variants. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

SN 35.43 — all is impermanent

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, all is impermanent. And what is the all that is impermanent? The eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact are impermanent. And the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact is also impermanent. The ear … nose … tongue … body …

§2The mind, ideas, mind consciousness, and mind contact are impermanent. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact is also impermanent. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned … 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.’”

SN 35.44-51 — eight more, one line each

§3“Mendicants, all is suffering. …”

§4“Mendicants, all is not-self. …”

§5“Mendicants, all is to be directly known. …”

§6“Mendicants, all is to be completely understood. …”

§7“Mendicants, all is to be given up. …”

§8“Mendicants, all is to be realized. …”

§9“Mendicants, all is to be directly known and completely understood. …”

§10“Mendicants, all is harried. …”

· · ·

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
How does this file's own ten-discourse vagga split across bilara-data's files, and what's new about that for Book IV?
Correct: A. A fifth distinct shape for a Book IV vagga: nine here, one held back in its own file.
Question 2 of 5
What does the one full worked example, SN 35.43, declare, and where has this project seen that claim before?
Correct: A. SN 35.43 reprises this book's own opening claim before the file moves on to eight further substitutions.
Question 3 of 5
What do SN 35.44 through 35.51 each do?
Correct: A. Eight substitutions on SN 35.43's own frame, completing nine of this vagga's own ten discourses.
Question 4 of 5
Three of the substituted words in this file are traditionally paired elsewhere with what?
Correct: A. To be completely understood, to be given up, and to be realized are the classic task-verbs of the four noble truths, here applied instead to “the all.”
Question 5 of 5
How are this file's own nine closing ordinals (paṭhamaṁ, dutiyaṁ, and so on) handled here, and why?
Correct: A. The same guide-only treatment this project gives every other untranslated closing marker.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 35.33–42 · Ten Discourses on Liable to Be Reborn, Etc.