Reading guide
A catechism grown by exactly one question
Comparing this discourse directly against SN 36.15's own sevenfold version shows precisely one addition: “what's the practice that leads to the origin of feeling?” inserted right after the origin question itself, with every other element of the catechism unchanged.
Craving named as feeling's own arising practice
Where contact (phassa) is feeling's origin, craving (taṇhā) is named as what actively leads to that origin — a distinction between the mere condition for feeling to arise and the active force that drives its arising forward, paralleling the second and third noble truths' own relationship between suffering and its cause.
The eightfold path retained as the mirror-image answer
Just as craving answers the newly added question about feeling's arising, the noble eightfold path continues to answer the cessation question — the two practices standing in careful symmetry, one leading toward feeling's continuation, the other toward its ending.
A structural link this project can now name precisely
This discourse makes explicit a link the sevenfold catechism in Rahogatavagga left implicit: feeling doesn't just happen to arise from contact; it is actively driven onward by craving, giving the whole catechism a fuller shape mirroring dependent origination's own arising and ceasing sequence.
Key terms
The text
§1Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, what is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?”
§2“Mendicant, there are these three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. Feeling originates from contact. Craving is the practice that leads to the origin of feeling. When contact ceases, feeling ceases. The practice that leads to the cessation of feelings is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. The pleasure and happiness that arise from feeling: this is its gratification. That feeling is impermanent, suffering, and perishable: this is its drawback. Removing and giving up desire and greed for feeling: this is its escape.”
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