Ten discourses compressed into a single bilara-data file, giving one explicit example before an explicit cross-reference instruction
Length
<1 minute to read, per the source's own actual content
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief in its own written form, but structurally confirmed to represent ten discourses
Why this discourse
The three searches — for sensual pleasures, for continued existence, and for a spiritual path — open a vagga confirmed by its own closing uddāna to move through ten distinct topics of unwholesome craving and affliction, each said to be uprooted by developing the seven awakening factors, the identical framework already met at SN 45.161 in this book's own Maggasaṃyutta.
Reading guide
A direct cross-reference, not independent content
Confirmed by direct reading, the source itself instructs readers to “tell in full as in SN 45.161–170” — this project's own already-completed Esanāvagga from the Maggasaṃyutta — rather than rewriting the full topic-by-topic content again. The closing uddāna's own ten items (searches, kinds, defilements, existence, three forms of suffering, barrenness, stain, trouble, feeling, and craving/thirst) confirm this vagga's own ten-discourse structure.
A more specific elaboration instruction than the previous two vaggas
Unlike Appamādavagga's and Balakaraṇīyavagga's own generic instruction to elaborate “by way of the awakening factors,” this vagga's own Pāli instruction specifies elaborating “starting from ‘relying on seclusion’” — a genuine textual variation confirmed by direct reading and reported honestly here rather than smoothed into identical wording with its own two predecessors.
The same name, a different position
This vagga's own Pāli name, “Esanāvagga,” matches SN 45's own name for this vagga exactly. Its own colophon numbers it “dvādasamo” (“the twelfth”) within the Bojjhaṅgasaṃyutta, differing from its own position as SN 45's thirteenth vagga — a difference in each saṃyutta's own internal count, not in the underlying content.
Key terms
tisso esanā: kāmesanā, bhavesanā, brahmacariyesanā — “three searches: for sensual pleasures, for continued existence, and for a spiritual path” — the identical opening list already met at SN 45.161, this book's own recurring threefold search
vitthāretabbaṁ — “to be elaborated in full” — the source's own explicit cross-reference instruction, pointing to SN 45.161-170 rather than repeating that content
vivekanissitato vitthāretabbaṁ — “to be elaborated in full, starting from ‘relying on seclusion’” — this vagga's own more specific elaboration instruction, differing from the generic wording used by the two preceding vaggas
esanāvaggo dvādasamo — “the Searches chapter, the twelfth” — confirming this vagga's own position within this saṃyutta's own count, distinct from (but not in conflict with) its own thirteenth position within SN 45
esanā vidhā āsavo, bhavo ca dukkhatā tisso — “search, kind, defilement, existence, and three forms of suffering” — the closing uddāna's own opening line, listing the first five or so of this vagga's own ten topics
The text
Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, there are these three searches. What three? The search for sensual pleasures, the search for continued existence, and the search for a spiritual path. …”
§2(Tell in full as in SN 45.161–170.)
· · ·
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 does the source itself instruct, rather than rewriting the full topic-by-topic content?
Correct: A. A direct cross-reference to this project's own already-completed Esanāvagga from the Maggasaṃyutta.
Question 2 of 3
How does this vagga's own elaboration instruction differ from the two preceding vaggas?
Correct: A. A genuine textual variation confirmed by direct reading, reported honestly rather than smoothed over.
Question 3 of 3
What are the three searches that open this vagga?
Correct: A. The identical threefold search already met at SN 45.161 in this project's own Maggasaṃyutta.
