Reading guide
A companion diagnostic to SN 35.96
Where the previous discourse asked how a mendicant responds to bad states already arisen, this one asks how a mendicant responds to attractive sense objects themselves — a different diagnostic question, sharing the same decline/non-decline vocabulary.
Six adjectives for an attractive object
Likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing — the same sixfold description applied to each of the six sense objects in turn, naming exactly what restraint must hold steady against.
Unrestrained: approving, welcoming, clinging
A mendicant who approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to what is likable and arousing should recognize skillful qualities are declining — the identical verdict SN 35.96 attaches to tolerating bad states.
Restrained: the same objects, the same response withheld
The identical attractive objects may be encountered; not approving, not welcoming, not clinging marks non-decline. Restraint is not the absence of attractive objects but a withheld response to them.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you who is restrained and who is unrestrained. Listen … And how is someone unrestrained? 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, they should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are declining. For this is what the Buddha calls decline.’ There are sounds … smells … tastes … touches … ideas known by the mind, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. If a mendicant approves, welcomes, and keeps clinging to them, they should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are declining. For this is what the Buddha calls decline.’ This is how someone is unrestrained.
§2And how is someone restrained? There 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, they should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are not declining. For this is what the Buddha calls non-decline.’ There are sounds … smells … tastes … touches … 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, they should understand: ‘My skillful qualities are not declining. For this is what the Buddha calls non-decline.’ This is how someone is restrained.”
Self-check quiz
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