Reading guide
A definitional discourse, unique so far in this vagga
Every discourse before this one assumed the meaning of “awakening factor” and moved directly to similes or causal chains; this is the first to ask, and answer, what the term itself means — a self-referential etymology (bojjhaṅga, “awakening” + “factor,” because they lead to bodhi, awakening) confirmed by direct reading rather than assumed from the term's own surface meaning.
The classic freedom declaration, appearing here in miniature
The discourse's own closing lines — freedom from the defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance; knowing that one is freed; and the fourfold declaration (“rebirth is ended... what had to be done has been done”) — are the same formula used throughout the canon to mark full awakening, here presented as the direct fruit of developing the seven awakening factors.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, they speak of the ‘awakening factors’. How are the awakening factors defined?” “Mendicant, they’re called awakening factors because they lead to awakening. A mendicant develops the awakening factors of mindfulness, investigation of principles, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, and equanimity, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. As they develop the seven awakening factors, their mind is freed from the defilements of sensuality, desire to be reborn, and ignorance. When they’re freed, they know they’re freed. They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’ They’re called awakening factors because they lead to awakening.”
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