Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.53

Giving Up Ignorance

Avijjāpahānasutta — Avijjāvagga

Setting
Sāvatthī
Speakers
An unnamed mendicant questioning the Buddha
Form
A question-and-answer opening this vagga, then the standard sixfold sense-field sweep — closing on knowledge replacing ignorance rather than the usual liberation formula
Length
~1 minute 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
★★☆☆☆ — the same six-field chain as Aniccavagga, redirected toward a new closing claim

Why this discourse

This discourse opens Avijjāvagga ("Ignorance"), Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta's own sixth vagga (SN 35.53–62) — and, as its own vagga colophon at SN 35.62 will later confirm, the first vagga of this saṃyutta's own second paṇṇāsaka, its own second fifty discourses, following directly on Sabbaaniccavagga's close of the first fifty at SN 35.52. Where Aniccavagga's own opening discourse (SN 35.1) closed on the full disillusionment-to-liberation formula, this discourse closes on something narrower and more epistemic: not liberation itself, but the exchange of ignorance (avijjā) for knowledge (vijjā) — the single move this vagga's own remaining nine discourses will vary across three further targets (fetters, defilements, underlying tendencies) before pivoting, in its own final three discourses, to a second formula built on grasping (upādāna) instead.

Reading guide

A mendicant's own question opens the vagga

An unnamed mendicant approaches the Buddha and asks how one knows and sees so that ignorance is given up and knowledge arises — this vagga's own opening move, a question rather than an unprompted declaration.

Six sense fields, one shared closing claim

The same sixfold sweep this project has already traced across Aniccavagga applies here: eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and the feeling that arises from it, then the same set for ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind — but every instance closes not on suffering or not-self, but on ignorance given up and knowledge arising.

Impermanence is this discourse's own lens

"Aniccato jānato passato" — knowing and seeing as impermanent — is the mode this discourse specifies throughout. This project will trace, beginning at SN 35.55, how this vagga's later "uprooting" discourses switch this same lens to not-self instead.

The pattern this vagga is about to vary

Ignorance stands alone here, without a matching "uprooting" companion discourse — but the three targets that follow (fetters, defilements, underlying tendencies) will each receive both a "giving up" and an "uprooting" discourse in turn, this vagga's own structural design now beginning to unfold.

Key terms

avijjā — ignorance — this vagga's own name and opening target, given up rather than uprooted here
vijjā — knowledge, true knowledge — the state this discourse pairs with ignorance's own ending
pahāna — giving up, abandoning — the gentler of two verbs this vagga applies to its four targets, this discourse's own verb
samugghāta — uprooting, complete extraction — the more thorough companion verb this vagga will apply beginning at SN 35.55
aniccato — as impermanent — the mode of knowing and seeing this discourse specifies throughout

The text

The complete discourse: a mendicant's question and the Buddha's own sixfold answer, closing not on liberation but on knowledge replacing ignorance. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, how does one know and see so as to give up ignorance and give rise to knowledge?”

§2“Mendicant, knowing and seeing the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact as impermanent, ignorance is given up and knowledge arises. And also knowing and seeing the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact as impermanent, ignorance is given up and knowledge arises.

§3Knowing and seeing the ear …

§4nose …

§5tongue …

§6body …

§7Knowing and seeing the mind, ideas, mind consciousness, and mind contact as impermanent, ignorance is given up and knowledge arises. And also knowing and seeing the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact as impermanent, ignorance is given up and knowledge arises.

§8That’s how to know and see so as to give up ignorance and give rise to knowledge.”

· · ·

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 does the mendicant ask the Buddha at the start of this discourse?
Correct: A. This vagga's own opening question, answered with the standard sixfold sweep.
Question 2 of 5
What does this discourse's answer apply, identically, to all six sense fields?
Correct: A. Aniccato jānato passato — knowing and seeing as impermanent — this discourse's own lens.
Question 3 of 5
What replaces the usual disillusionment-to-liberation formula at this discourse's close?
Correct: A. Narrower and more epistemic than Aniccavagga's own closing formula.
Question 4 of 5
What position does this discourse's own vagga occupy within Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta, confirmed later at SN 35.62?
Correct: A. Confirmed by this vagga's own closing colophon at SN 35.62, "Avijjāvaggo paṭhamo."
Question 5 of 5
Which two verbs will this vagga apply to its remaining three targets (fetters, defilements, underlying tendencies)?
Correct: A. Each of the three later targets receives both a gentler and a more thorough companion discourse.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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