The Buddha alone, addressing the assembled mendicants
Form
A single plain sentence naming the three feelings, with nothing else attached
Length
Under 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
★☆☆☆☆ — as brief as this saṃyutta gets
Why this discourse
After eight discourses of catechisms, debates, causal analysis, and a shrinking three-part test, this discourse returns to the bare foundation: “there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. These are the three feelings.” Its own Pali title, suddhika (“plain” or “unadulterated”), names exactly what it is: the foundational statement stripped of every elaboration this saṃyutta has built onto it since SN 36.1.
Reading guide
A title that names its own function
Suddhika (plain, unmixed, unadulterated) is a rare instance in this project's coverage of a discourse titled for its own bare structural role rather than for any image, person, or place within it — the title itself is a description of the form.
Nothing this saṃyutta has since added
No verse, no simile, no questioner, no gratification/drawback/escape triad, no underlying tendency, no eightfold catechism — every elaboration this saṃyutta has built onto the three feelings since its own opening discourse is absent here.
A deliberate return, not a lapse
Positioned this late in the saṃyutta, after so much structural development, this discourse's own bareness reads as a deliberate return to the foundation rather than an earlier draft mistakenly preserved — a reminder of what all the elaboration has been elaborating on.
A pause before the saṃyutta's own final word
Following this stripped-down restatement, the saṃyutta's own closing discourse (SN 36.31) will immediately deepen the sāmisa/nirāmisa distinction met at SN 36.14 into a three-tiered structure closing on the cessation of perception and feeling — this discourse's own plainness makes that final elaboration land with more contrast.
Key terms
suddhika — “plain” or “unadulterated” — this discourse's own title, naming its bare structural role rather than any image or person
tisso imā vedanā — “there are these three feelings” — the identical opening formula this saṃyutta has used since SN 36.1
sukhā vedanā, dukkhā vedanā, adukkhamasukhā vedanā — the three feelings themselves, named with no further elaboration
imā vuccanti, bhikkhave, tisso vedanā — “these are called the three feelings” — the discourse's own closing line, ending exactly where it began
cuddasamaṁ — “fourteenth” — this discourse's own untranslated closing marker, its position within Aṭṭhasatapariyāyavagga
The text
The complete discourse: a single plain statement of the three feelings. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. These are the three feelings.”
· · ·
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 does this discourse's own Pali title, suddhika, mean?
Correct: A. Naming the discourse's own bare structural role rather than any image, person, or place.
Question 2 of 5
What elaborations does this discourse omit, compared to earlier discourses in this saṃyutta?
Correct: A. Every elaboration built onto the three feelings since SN 36.1 is absent here.
Question 3 of 5
How does this discourse's placement late in the saṃyutta affect how it should be read?
Correct: A. A reminder of what all the surrounding elaboration has been elaborating on.
Question 4 of 5
What discourse immediately follows this one, and how does it contrast?
Correct: A. This discourse's own plainness makes the saṃyutta's final elaboration land with more contrast.
Question 5 of 5
How does this discourse's closing line relate to its opening line?
Correct: A. "These are called the three feelings" — closing on the identical statement that opened the discourse.
