Reading guide
The same question, a different door
SN 35.79’s own opening question recurs unchanged, and the immediate answer is identical — ignorance itself — but the explanation that follows takes a route this book has not used before.
Nothing is worth insisting on
A mendicant who has heard the teaching “nothing is worth insisting on” (sabbe dhammā nālaṁ abhinivesāya) directly knows and completely understands all things — a formula this reading guide notes is traditionally associated with MN 37, the Cūḷataṇhāsaṅkhayasutta, without asserting this discourse itself retells that scene.
Seeing all things as other, not naming them impermanent
Rather than the direct catechism of SN 35.79 (know and see as impermanent), this discourse describes seeing all signs — the eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, and so through the mind — as “other” (aññato), a distinct verb of insight this book has not used elsewhere.
Key terms
The text
§1Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, is there one thing such that by giving it up a mendicant gives up ignorance and gives rise to knowledge?”
§2“There is, mendicant.” “But what is that one thing?” “Ignorance is one thing such that by giving it up a mendicant gives up ignorance and gives rise to knowledge.” “But how does a mendicant know and see so as to give up ignorance and give rise to knowledge?”
§3“Take a mendicant who has heard: ‘Nothing is worth insisting on.’ When a mendicant has heard that nothing is worth insisting on, they directly know all things. Directly knowing all things, they completely understand all things. Completely understanding all things, they see all signs as other. They see the eye, sights,
§4eye consciousness, and eye contact as other. And they also see the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on eye contact as other. … They see the mind, ideas, mind consciousness, and mind contact as other. And they also see the pleasant, painful, or neutral feeling that arises dependent on mind contact as other. That’s how a mendicant knows and sees so as to give up ignorance and give rise to knowledge.”
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