The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A prose definition of the three feelings followed by a single three-line verse
Length
~1 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
★☆☆☆☆ — a short, foundational statement
Why this discourse
This discourse opens Vedanāsaṃyutta ("Linked Discourses on Feeling"), the second saṃyutta of Book IV (Saḷāyatanavagga), with the threefold classification that will run through every discourse in the 31 that follow: pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling. Its own closing verse compresses an entire path into three lines — a stilled, aware disciple understands feelings and their origin, where they cease, and the path leading to that ending, becoming, at the end of feelings, “hungerless, quenched.” This discourse's own title, “Immersion,” reflects the verse's own opening word, samāhito, “stilled” or “composed” — the same root as samādhi — though the word itself never appears in the prose definition that precedes it.
Reading guide
Three feelings, stated as this saṃyutta's own foundation
Pleasant, painful, and neutral (adukkhamasukhā, literally “neither painful nor pleasant”) feeling are named here exactly as they will be in nearly every discourse of this saṃyutta — a threefold classification distinct from the five aggregates' own single feeling-aggregate (vedanākkhandha) already covered in Book III, now given a saṃyutta of its own.
A four-part chain compressed into three lines
The verse names four things a stilled, aware disciple understands in sequence: feelings themselves, their origin (sambhava), where they cease, and the path leading to that ending — the same arising/ceasing/path structure this project has met applied to the five aggregates and the six sense fields, now applied to feeling.
Hungerless, quenched: an ending stated, not described
The verse's own closing pair, nicchāto parinibbuto (“hungerless, quenched”), states the outcome directly rather than describing a process — the same terse, declarative ending style this project has already met at the close of many opening discourses in this book.
A title drawn from one word in the verse, not the prose
Unlike most opening discourses in this project's coverage, whose titles typically name their own subject matter directly, this discourse's title, “Immersion,” is drawn from a single word in the verse (samāhito) rather than from the three-feelings definition that makes up most of the discourse's actual content.
Key terms
tisso vedanā — the three feelings — pleasant (sukhā), painful (dukkhā), and neutral (adukkhamasukhā) — this saṃyutta's own foundational classification
samāhito sampajāno — “stilled, aware” — the verse's own opening description of the disciple, giving this discourse its title
vedanānañca sambhavaṁ — “the cause of feelings” — the second link in the verse's own four-part chain
maggañca khayagāminaṁ — “the path that leads to their ending” — the verse's own fourth link, completing the arising/ceasing/path structure
nicchāto parinibbuto — “hungerless, quenched” — the verse's own closing description of a mendicant at the ending of feelings
The text
The complete discourse: the definition of the three feelings and the closing verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling. These are the three feelings.
§2Stilled, aware, a mindful disciple of the Buddha understands feelings, the cause of feelings, where they cease, and the path that leads to their ending. With the ending of feelings, a mendicant is hungerless, quenched.”
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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 three feelings does this discourse name, opening Vedanāsaṃyutta?
Correct: A. Sukhā, dukkhā, and adukkhamasukhā vedanā — the classification this whole saṃyutta is built on.
Question 2 of 5
What four things does the closing verse say a stilled, aware disciple understands?
Correct: A. An arising/ceasing/path structure applied to feeling, the same pattern met elsewhere applied to the aggregates and sense fields.
Question 3 of 5
What does the verse say happens at the ending of feelings?
Correct: A. "With the ending of feelings, a mendicant is hungerless, quenched" — nicchāto parinibbuto.
Question 4 of 5
Where does this discourse's own title, "Immersion," come from?
Correct: A. Samāhito shares its root with samādhi, though the word for immersion itself never appears in the prose definition.
Question 5 of 5
How does "neutral feeling" (adukkhamasukhā) translate literally?
Correct: A. A literal, negative construction — neither of the other two, rather than a positive third category.
