The opening announcement and goal-definition kept in full; the closing exhortation elided with a bare ellipsis — this vagga's own first step down in compression
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a single substitution on SN 43.1's own formula
Why this discourse
The second of eleven path-formulations pairs samatha (“serenity,” calm concentration) with vipassanā (“discernment,” insight into impermanence) as a single joint practice leading to the unconditioned — the two terms this project has already met separately many times over now named together as one complete path, confirmed by reading the discourse's own single line directly rather than assumed from the pair's familiarity elsewhere on this site.
Reading guide
A pair named together, not ranked
“Samatho ca vipassanā ca” — serenity and discernment, joined with a plain “and,” neither named as preparation for the other; this discourse itself gives no further elaboration of how the two combine, only that together they constitute one path-formulation among the vagga's own eleven.
The first compression: a formula down to two lines
This discourse keeps the opening announcement and the goal-definition (both presupposed rather than restated from here through SN 43.10) but elides its own closing exhortation with a bare “…” — confirmed as real elision by reading bilara-data directly, not merely inferred from the file's own shortness.
Key terms
samatho ca vipassanā ca — “serenity and discernment” — the second of eleven path-formulations, named together as one joint practice
asaṅkhataṁ — “the unconditioned” — the goal, restated in full here for the second and, in this vagga, next-to-last time before the definition itself is presupposed from SN 43.3 onward
rāgakkhayo dosakkhayo mohakkhayo — “the ending of greed, hate, and delusion” — the fixed definition of the unconditioned, restated once more here
asaṅkhatagāmimaggo — “the path that leads to the unconditioned” — the term this discourse's own single substitution fills with serenity and discernment together
… — the elision mark itself — standing here for this discourse's own closing exhortation, given in full only at SN 43.1 and SN 43.11 within this vagga
The text
The complete discourse, as genuinely translated — the closing exhortation itself is elided in the source, not by this reading guide. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you the unconditioned and the path that leads to the unconditioned. Listen … And what is the unconditioned? The ending of greed, hate, and delusion. This is called the unconditioned. And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned? Serenity and discernment. This is called the path that leads to the unconditioned. …”
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Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 3
What two practices does this discourse name together as "the path that leads to the unconditioned"?
Correct: A. Samatha and vipassanā, named together with a plain "and," neither ranked above the other in this discourse's own single line.
Question 2 of 3
What happens to this discourse's own closing exhortation?
Correct: A. Confirmed by reading bilara-data directly: the elision is in the source, not a shortcut taken by this reading guide.
Question 3 of 3
How is "the unconditioned" defined in this discourse?
Correct: A. SN 43.2 is the last discourse in this vagga to restate the definition in full; from SN 43.3 on it is presupposed.
