Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 36.10

Rooted in Contact

Phassamūlakasutta — Sagāthāvagga

Setting
Not restated in this discourse
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A threefold prose analysis of feeling's dependence on contact, closed by a fire-making simile
Length
~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 clean cause-and-cessation structure, closing the vagga cleanly

Why this discourse

This discourse closes Sagāthāvagga, this saṃyutta's own first vagga, by developing at full length the dependency SN 36.8 introduced in compressed form: each of the three feelings arises dependent on its own corresponding contact (a contact “to be experienced as” pleasant, painful, or neutral), and ceases the instant that corresponding contact ceases. The discourse illustrates this with a simple, self-contained image: rubbing two sticks together generates heat, but the moment the sticks are parted, the heat simply stops — no separate act required to end it, only the ending of what produced it in the first place. The vagga's own untranslated colophon confirms Sagāthāvagga as Vedanāsaṃyutta's first vagga and lists all ten of its discourses by name.

Reading guide

Each feeling matched to its own corresponding contact

The discourse doesn't say feeling in general depends on contact in general; it specifies a contact-to-be-experienced-as-pleasant producing pleasant feeling, and likewise for painful and neutral — a precise, one-to-one correspondence rather than one shared cause for three effects.

Cessation as simply the absence of what caused arising

Feeling doesn't require a separate mechanism to stop; “with the cessation of that contact... the corresponding feeling ceases and stops” states cessation as nothing more than the withdrawal of the originating condition, the same structure this project has already met describing how feeling depends on the body or on contact in SN 36.7–8.

Two sticks, rubbed and then parted

The fire-making simile is deliberately minimal: friction between two sticks (dvinnaṁ kaṭṭhānaṁ saṅghaṭṭana) produces heat, and parting them (nānābhāvā vinikkhepā) ends it — no third factor, no residue, no delay, matching the discourse's own claim that the corresponding feeling ceases exactly when its corresponding contact does.

A vagga closing with its own untranslated colophon and uddāna

Following this project's established convention, the vagga's own closing marker — “Vedanāsaṁyuttassa sagāthāvaggo paṭhamo” (“Sagāthāvagga of Vedanāsaṃyutta, the first”) — and its uddāna naming all ten discourses by name are left untranslated in the Pali root and described here rather than quoted, confirming this vagga's own position as the first of three in this saṃyutta.

Key terms

phassajā phassamūlakā phassanidānā phassapaccayā — “born, rooted, sourced, and dependent on contact” — four near-synonymous terms opening the discourse, giving it its title
sukhavedaniyaṁ phassaṁ paṭicca — “dependent on a contact to be experienced as pleasant” — the discourse's own precise, one-to-one pairing of contact type to feeling type
nirujjhati... vūpasammati — “ceases... stops” — the paired verbs describing what happens to a feeling when its corresponding contact ends
dvinnaṁ kaṭṭhānaṁ saṅghaṭṭanasamodhānā usmā jāyati — “when you rub two sticks together, heat is generated” — the discourse's own closing simile for feeling's dependence on contact
Vedanāsaṁyuttassa sagāthāvaggo paṭhamo — “Sagāthāvagga of Vedanāsaṃyutta, the first” — this discourse's own untranslated closing colophon, confirming Sagāthāvagga's position as this saṃyutta's first vagga

The text

The complete discourse, apart from its own closing colophon and uddāna (both left untranslated in the Pali root and described, not quoted, above): the threefold analysis of feeling's dependence on contact and the closing fire-making simile. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, these three feelings are born, rooted, sourced, and dependent on contact. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling. Pleasant feeling arises dependent on a contact to be experienced as pleasant. With the cessation of that contact to be experienced as pleasant, the corresponding pleasant feeling ceases and stops. Painful feeling arises dependent on a contact to be experienced as painful. With the cessation of that contact to be experienced as painful, the corresponding painful feeling ceases and stops. Neutral feeling arises dependent on a contact to be experienced as neutral. With the cessation of that contact to be experienced as neutral, the corresponding neutral feeling ceases and stops.

§2When you rub two sticks together, heat is generated and fire is produced. But when you part the sticks and lay them aside, any corresponding heat ceases and stops. In the same way, these three feelings are born, rooted, sourced, and dependent on contact. The appropriate feeling arises dependent on the corresponding contact. When the corresponding contact ceases, the appropriate feeling ceases.”

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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
How does this discourse pair each feeling with its cause?
Correct: A. A contact to be experienced as pleasant produces pleasant feeling, and likewise for painful and neutral — a one-to-one correspondence.
Question 2 of 5
What does this discourse say happens to a feeling when its corresponding contact ceases?
Correct: A. "With the cessation of that contact... the corresponding feeling ceases and stops" — cessation as the withdrawal of the originating condition.
Question 3 of 5
What does the two-sticks simile illustrate?
Correct: A. A deliberately minimal image, matching the discourse's claim that feeling ceases exactly when its contact does.
Question 4 of 5
What does this discourse's own closing colophon confirm?
Correct: A. "Vedanāsaṁyuttassa sagāthāvaggo paṭhamo" — untranslated in the Pali root, described rather than quoted here.
Question 5 of 5
How many discourses does this vagga's own closing uddāna name?
Correct: A. Matching this reading guide's own independent count of the vagga's contents.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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