The Buddha addressing the mendicants (by cross-reference)
Form
A peyyāla stub, mirroring SN 35.3's own compressed shape for the exterior sense objects
Length
under a 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
★☆☆☆☆ — understood only alongside SN 35.1 and SN 35.4
Why this discourse
This discourse closes this vagga's own second three-term cycle, declaring the six exterior sense objects not-self directly — mirroring SN 35.3's own compressed treatment of the interior sense fields. With this discourse, both halves of this vagga's present-tense structure (interior at SN 35.1–3, exterior at SN 35.4–6) are complete; SN 35.7 will open the identical structure again, now filtered through the three-times framing.
Reading guide
The exterior's own shortest starting point
"Sights are not-self. And what's not-self should be truly seen …" — the same direct, undived starting point as SN 35.3's own treatment of the interior sense fields, now applied to the exterior instead.
Six present-tense discourses now complete
With this discourse, SN 35.1–6 together give the complete present-tense treatment of both the interior and exterior sense fields across all three terms — impermanent, suffering, and not-self — exactly half of this vagga's own twelve-discourse total.
A structural pivot to the three-times framing
SN 35.7 will reopen this identical interior-then-exterior, impermanent-suffering-not-self structure, now adding a temporal dimension: each claim will be made not just about the present but about the past, present, and future together.
A vagga's own design, now fully visible
With six of twelve discourses complete, this vagga's own 2×2×3 structure (interior/exterior, present/three-times, impermanent/suffering/not-self) stands halfway confirmed, the remaining six discourses expected to repeat this exact shape under the three-times framing.
Key terms
anattā — not-self — this discourse's own direct starting point, closing the exterior's own three-term cycle
dukkha — suffering — SN 35.5's own starting point, not restated here
bāhira — exterior — the six sense objects this discourse concerns, closing their own cycle
ajjhatta — interior — the six sense faculties whose own identical cycle closed earlier at SN 35.3
atītānāgata — past and future — the temporal dimension SN 35.7 will add to this same structure next
The text
The discourse as the source itself preserves it, compressed to its opening line. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, sights are not-self. And what’s not-self should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ …”
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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 does this discourse declare not-self?
Correct: A. Closing this vagga's own second three-term cycle.
Question 2 of 5
What does this discourse complete, together with SN 35.1–5?
Correct: A. Exactly half of this vagga's own twelve-discourse total.
Question 3 of 5
What dimension does SN 35.7 add to this identical structure?
Correct: A. Each claim will be made about the past, present, and future together.
Question 4 of 5
What structure does this vagga's own halfway point confirm?
Correct: A. The remaining six discourses are expected to repeat this exact shape under the three-times framing.
Question 5 of 5
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. Consistent with this saṃyutta's other discourses, though given here only by cross-reference.
