Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 36.22

The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Aṭṭhasatasutta — Aṭṭhasatapariyāyavagga

Setting
Not restated in this discourse
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A named teaching (the “exposition on the hundred and eight”) unpacked through seven successive definitions
Length
~3 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
★★★★☆ — clean arithmetic, worth tracking term by term

Why this discourse

This discourse gives the vagga its name and finally supplies the exact mechanism behind SN 36.19's own open-ended list — “two, three, five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings” — that this project noted at the time without full explanation. Each count is defined in turn: two (physical and mental), three (pleasant, painful, neutral), five (the faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness, and equanimity), six (feeling born of contact at each of the six senses), eighteen (six preoccupations each with happiness, sadness, and equanimity), thirty-six (each of those eighteen split into a domestic and a renunciate version), and finally a hundred and eight (those thirty-six multiplied across past, future, and present).

Reading guide

An arithmetic answer to an earlier open question

SN 36.19 named seven possible feeling-counts without showing how the larger ones were built; this discourse supplies the missing derivation, confirming each number was never arbitrary but the product of a specific, traceable expansion.

From two to eighteen: three genuinely new distinctions

Two (physical/mental) and three (pleasant/painful/neutral) are already familiar from this saṃyutta's own opening pages. Five introduces feeling-faculties (indriya) that split pleasant and painful into bodily and mental versions (pleasure/happiness, pain/sadness) plus equanimity; six locates feeling at each of the six sense doors; eighteen multiplies happiness, sadness, and equanimity by six “preoccupations” (upavicāra) apiece — the discourse's own first genuinely new structural idea.

From eighteen to a hundred and eight: two clean multiplications

Thirty-six comes from splitting each of the eighteen preoccupations into a domestic (gehasita, tied to ordinary lay life) and a renunciate (nekkhammasita, tied to spiritual practice) version — doubling eighteen. A hundred and eight comes from tripling those thirty-six across past, future, and present — the same temporal tripling this project has already met applied to other objects.

A single concrete answer replacing what looked like flexibility

Where SN 36.19's own resolution treated the multiple valid counts as different pariyāyas without detailing them, this discourse shows every number after three is built by strict, nameable multiplication rather than by loose or arbitrary re-grouping — the flexibility of “different manners of speaking” turns out to rest on precise arithmetic underneath.

Key terms

aṭṭhasatapariyāyo dhammapariyāyo — “the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight” — the discourse's own name, giving this vagga its own title
kāyikā ca cetasikā ca — “physical and mental” — the twofold feeling, this saṃyutta's own simplest possible count
sukhindriyaṁ, dukkhindriyaṁ, somanassindriyaṁ, domanassindriyaṁ, upekkhindriyaṁ — the five feeling faculties — bodily pleasure, bodily pain, mental happiness, mental sadness, and equanimity
cha somanassūpavicārā, cha domanassūpavicārā, cha upekkhūpavicārā — eighteen “preoccupations” — six each of happiness, sadness, and equanimity, the first genuinely new multiplication in the sequence
gehasita / nekkhammasita — “domestic” and “renunciate” — the split that doubles eighteen into thirty-six, tied respectively to ordinary lay life and spiritual practice

The text

The complete discourse: the named teaching and its seven successive definitions, from two feelings up to a hundred and eight. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, I will teach you an exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight. Listen … And what is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight? Mendicants, in one explanation I’ve spoken of two feelings. In another explanation I’ve spoken of three feelings, or five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings.

§2And what are the two feelings? Physical and mental. These are called the two feelings. And what are the three feelings? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. … And what are the five feelings? The faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness, and equanimity. … And what are the six feelings? Feeling born of eye contact … ear contact … nose contact … tongue contact … body contact … mind contact. … And what are the eighteen feelings? There are six preoccupations with happiness, six preoccupations with sadness, and six preoccupations with equanimity. … And what are the thirty-six feelings? Six kinds of domestic happiness and six kinds of renunciate happiness. Six kinds of domestic sadness and six kinds of renunciate sadness. Six kinds of domestic equanimity and six kinds of renunciate equanimity. … And what are the hundred and eight feelings? Thirty six feelings in the past, future, and present. These are called the hundred and eight feelings. This is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight.”

· · ·

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 earlier discourse in this project's coverage does this discourse finally explain in full?
Correct: A. SN 36.19 named "two, three, five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings" without showing the derivation.
Question 2 of 5
How does the discourse arrive at eighteen feelings?
Correct: A. Cha somanassūpavicārā, cha domanassūpavicārā, cha upekkhūpavicārā — the first genuinely new structural idea in the sequence.
Question 3 of 5
How does the discourse arrive at thirty-six feelings from eighteen?
Correct: A. Doubling eighteen through the domestic/renunciate distinction.
Question 4 of 5
How does the discourse arrive at a hundred and eight feelings from thirty-six?
Correct: A. Atītā chattiṁsa vedanā, anāgatā chattiṁsa vedanā, paccuppannā chattiṁsa vedanā — the same temporal tripling met applied to other objects elsewhere.
Question 5 of 5
What does this discourse reveal about the apparent flexibility of SN 36.19's own multiple valid feeling-counts?
Correct: A. Precise arithmetic underlies what looked like open-ended flexibility.
Answered 0 of 5 · Correct 0

Further reading

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