Reading guide
A question about solitude, redirected
Migajāla's question sounds like it concerns physical company, but the Buddha's own answer relocates it entirely onto the six sense fields — the same reframing move this saṃyutta has already used for “the world” and, later in this very vagga, for “Māra” and “a sentient being.”
Two full sixfold sweeps, not one
The full chain — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind — is elaborated twice over, once for “living with a partner” and once for “living alone,” each closing with its own refrain. This vagga's own commitment to independent files, rather than merged peyyāla ranges, shows up here as genuine double elaboration rather than one elaboration plus an elided repeat.
A short chain: approve, relish, lust, yoke
Approving and clinging to a liked object gives rise to relishing (nandi); relishing gives rise to lust (rāga); lust gives rise to yoking (saṃyoga) — a compact causal chain distinct from the dependent-origination chain that closed Avijjāvagga (SN 35.60–62) and the gratification/drawback/escape triad that structured Yamakavagga.
The refrain: craving is the partner
Both halves close by naming craving (taṇhā) itself as the true “partner” — present and un-given-up for the fettered mendicant, given up for the free one — explaining why physical isolation is neither necessary nor sufficient for “living alone” in the sense this discourse means.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then Venerable Migajāla went up to the Buddha … and said to him: “Sir, they speak of one who lives alone. How is one who lives alone defined? And how is living with a partner defined?”
§2“Migajāla, there are sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to them, this gives rise to relishing. When there’s relishing there’s lust. When there’s lust there is yoking. A mendicant who is fettered by relishing is said to live with a partner. There are sounds … smells … tastes … touches … There are ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to them, this gives rise to relishing. When there’s relishing there’s lust. When there’s lust there is yoking. A mendicant who is fettered by relishing is said to live with a partner. A mendicant who lives like this is said to live with a partner, even if they frequent remote lodgings in the wilderness and the forest that are quiet and still, far from the madding crowd, remote from human settlements, and fit for retreat. Why is that? For craving is their partner, and they haven’t given it up. That’s why they’re said to live with a partner.
§3There are sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant doesn’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to them, relishing ceases. When there’s no relishing there’s no lust. When there’s no lust there’s no yoking. A mendicant who is not fettered by relishing is said to live alone. There are sounds … smells … tastes … touches … There are ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant doesn’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to them, relishing ceases. When there’s no relishing there’s no lust. When there’s no lust there’s no yoking. A mendicant who is not fettered by relishing is said to live alone. A mendicant who lives like this is said to live alone, even if they live within a village crowded by monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen; by rulers and their chief ministers, and monastics of other religions and their disciples. Why is that? For craving is their partner, and they have given it up. That’s why they’re said to live alone.”
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