This vagga's own compression floor from here through SN 43.10: only the “what is the path” question and its own answer, both the opening announcement and the closing exhortation elided entirely
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a single line naming three grades of one practice
Why this discourse
The third path-formulation names three grades of immersion distinguished by the presence or absence of applied thought (vitakka, coarsely directing the mind onto its object) and sustained thought (vicāra, keeping it there) — the same pair the four jhānas are conventionally analyzed through, here given a middle grade (sustained thought without applied) between the first jhāna's own full pairing and the higher jhānas' freedom from both.
Reading guide
Three grades, not one binary switch
“With applied and sustained thought” (savitakka-savicāro, the first jhāna's own signature pairing), “without applied thought, merely sustained” (avitakka-vicāramatto, an intermediate grade named explicitly rather than skipped), and “without either” (avitakka-avicāro, the higher jhānas) — three named degrees, not a simple presence-or-absence distinction.
This vagga's own compression floor
From here through SN 43.10, every discourse opens directly on “And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned?” with neither the teach-you announcement nor the closing exhortation restated — confirmed by reading each file directly, the tightest compression this saṃyutta's own first vagga reaches before SN 43.11 restores the full formula at its own close.
Key terms
savitakko savicāro samādhi — “immersion with applied and sustained thought” — the first jhāna's own signature pairing, the first of three grades named here
avitakko vicāramatto samādhi — “immersion without applied thought, merely sustained” — an intermediate grade named explicitly, not passed over
avitakko avicāro samādhi — “immersion without applied or sustained thought” — the higher jhānas' own freedom from both, the third grade
asaṅkhatagāmimaggo — “the path that leads to the unconditioned” — the question this discourse opens directly on, its own goal-definition presupposed rather than restated
tatiyaṁ — “third” — this vagga's own internal count-marker, left untranslated in the root and not fabricated into English by this reading guide
The text
The complete discourse, as genuinely translated — this vagga's own compression floor, with neither the opening announcement nor the closing exhortation restated in the source. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned? Immersion with placing the mind and keeping it connected. Immersion without placing the mind, merely keeping it connected. Immersion without placing the mind or keeping it connected. …”
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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 three grades of immersion does this discourse name?
Correct: A. Three named degrees of applied (vitakka) and sustained (vicāra) thought, not a simple binary.
Question 2 of 3
What does this discourse's own compressed form omit compared to SN 43.1?
Correct: A. From SN 43.3 through SN 43.10, every discourse opens directly on the path-question alone.
Question 3 of 3
Which jhāna's own signature pairing does "with applied and sustained thought" describe?
Correct: A. The classic pairing the first jhāna is conventionally analyzed through, here forming the first of three named grades.
