Reading guide
Two questions, answered in one breath
“What is the spiritual path? And what is the culmination of the spiritual path?” receives two answers in immediate succession, the path itself named first and its own endpoint second, with no further elaboration — this discourse's own entire content beyond the setting.
The same closing formula as SN 43's own asaṅkhata
“The ending of greed, hate, and delusion” is confirmed by direct comparison to be the identical phrase this project's own SN 43 used throughout to define asaṅkhata, “the unconditioned” — here applied to “the culmination of the spiritual path” instead, the same goal reached through this book's own different vocabulary.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, they speak of this thing called the ‘spiritual path’. What is the spiritual path? And what is the culmination of the spiritual path?” “Mendicant, the spiritual path 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 ending of greed, hate, and delusion. This is the culmination of the spiritual path.”
Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.