Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 35.60

The Complete Understanding of All Grasping

Sabbupādānapariññāsutta — Avijjāvagga

Setting
Sāvatthī (by cross-reference)
Speakers
The Buddha addressing the mendicants directly, with no question this time
Form
A new formula entirely — a short chain of dependent origination, then this project's own familiar disillusionment-to-freedom sequence, closing on complete understanding of grasping
Length
~1–2 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 genuinely new formula, not a substitution on what came before

Why this discourse

This discourse pivots Avijjāvagga away from the four pahāna/samugghāta targets that filled its first seven discourses (ignorance, fetters, defilements, underlying tendencies) toward a new and final subject: grasping (upādāna) itself, which this discourse and its two companions (SN 35.61–62) will treat across this vagga's own closing three discourses. The form changes too: rather than a mendicant's question, the Buddha announces the teaching directly (“Mendicants, I will teach you the principle for the complete understanding of all grasping”), and rather than the pahāna/samugghāta chain's own knowing-and-seeing formula, this discourse builds a short chain of dependent origination — consciousness arising dependent on a sense faculty and its object, their meeting as contact, contact as a requirement for feeling — before closing on this project's own familiar disillusionment-to-freedom sequence, now landing on a specific realization: “I have completely understood grasping.”

Reading guide

A new subject: grasping itself

After four targets built on knowing and seeing a quality (impermanence or not-self), this discourse turns to grasping (upādāna) directly — this vagga's own closing subject, carried through its final three discourses.

A different opening: announcement, not question

Unlike every discourse from SN 35.53 through SN 35.59, no mendicant asks a question here; the Buddha announces the teaching directly, the same shift in form this vagga's own closing run will keep.

A short chain of dependent origination

Consciousness arises dependent on a sense faculty and its object; their meeting is contact; contact is a requirement for feeling — a compact restatement of dependent origination's own early links, here serving as the platform for disillusionment rather than an end in itself.

This project's own familiar formula, with a new landing point

Disillusionment, fading desire, and freedom — the same sequence this project has traced since Book III — here lands not on the standard “rebirth is ended” declaration but on a narrower realization: “I have completely understood grasping.”

Key terms

upādāna — grasping — this discourse's own new subject, replacing the four pahāna/samugghāta targets that came before it
pariññā — complete understanding — this discourse's own closing achievement, the gentler of two verbs this vagga's closing three discourses apply to grasping
nibbindati — grows disillusioned — the first link in this project's own familiar liberation sequence, here applied to grasping specifically
phassa — contact — the meeting of faculty, object, and consciousness, the pivot point this discourse's own short dependent-origination chain turns on
vedanā — feeling — arising dependent on contact, the last link before disillusionment sets in

The text

The complete discourse: the Buddha's own direct announcement, a short chain of dependent origination, and this project's own familiar disillusionment sequence, closing on grasping fully understood. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, I will teach you the principle for the complete understanding of all grasping. Listen … And what is the principle for the complete understanding of all grasping?

§2Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and feeling. Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When they are liberated, they understand: ‘I have completely understood grasping.’

§3Ear consciousness arises dependent on the ear and sounds. …

§4Nose consciousness arises dependent on the nose and smells. …

§5Tongue consciousness arises dependent on the tongue and tastes. …

§6Body consciousness arises dependent on the body and touches. …

§7Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a requirement for feeling. Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the mind, ideas, mind consciousness, mind contact, and feeling. Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When they are liberated, they understand: ‘I have completely understood grasping.’

§8This is the principle for the complete understanding of all grasping.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 6
What new subject does this discourse introduce, replacing this vagga's own first four targets?
Correct: A. Carried through this vagga's own closing three discourses.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse open, unlike SN 35.53-59 before it?
Correct: A. This vagga's own closing three discourses all share this new form.
Question 3 of 6
What short chain does this discourse build before its own closing formula?
Correct: A. A compact restatement of dependent origination's own early links.
Question 4 of 6
What does the noble disciple realize at this discourse's own close?
Correct: A. A narrower landing point than the standard full liberation declaration.
Question 5 of 6
How many more discourses in this vagga will also treat grasping?
Correct: A. SN 35.61 and SN 35.62 complete this vagga's own closing trio.
Question 6 of 6
What formula does this discourse's own closing draw on, familiar from elsewhere in this project?
Correct: A. The same sequence, here landing on grasping understood rather than rebirth ended.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousSN 35.59 · Uprooting Tendencies