Reading guide
A named questioner, not an anonymous mendicant
Unlike most of this vagga's own discourses, delivered as unprompted general statements, this one is shaped by Udāyī's own specific follow-up question — a pattern that will recur at SN 46.28 and culminate in his own extended personal testimony at SN 46.30, the discourse that gives this vagga its own name.
A three-step chain, not a single-step claim
Rather than stating simply that the awakening factors “end craving,” this discourse traces a specific causal sequence confirmed by close reading: developing each awakening factor (described here as “abundant, expansive, limitless, and free of ill will”) leads to craving being given up; when craving is given up, deeds (kamma, the volitional actions that generate further rebirth) are given up; and when deeds are given up, suffering itself is given up.
Key terms
The text
§1 — the opening statement and Udāyī's own question“Mendicants, you should develop the path and the practice that leads to the ending of craving. And what is the path and the practice that leads to the ending of craving? It is the seven awakening factors. What seven? The awakening factors of mindfulness, investigation of principles, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, and equanimity.” When he said this, Udāyī said to him: “Sir, how are the seven awakening factors developed and cultivated so as to lead to the ending of craving?”
§2 — the causal chain, mindfulness through equanimity“Udāyī, it’s when a mendicant develops the awakening factor of mindfulness, which relies on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripens as letting go. And it is abundant, expansive, limitless, and free of ill will. As they do so, craving is given up. When craving is given up, deeds are given up. When deeds are given up, suffering is given up. … A mendicant develops the awakening factor of equanimity, which relies on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripens as letting go. And it is abundant, expansive, limitless, and free of ill will. As they do so, craving is given up. When craving is given up, deeds are given up. When deeds are given up, suffering is given up. And so, Udāyī, when craving ends, deeds end; when deeds end suffering ends.”
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