Reading guide
A bookend, not a repeat of SN 46.57's own exact form
Where SN 46.57 wrote out six separately titled ancient suttas in full, this discourse restates the same six benefits in three more compressed sections: the base benefit (very fruitful) written out fully; the twofold fruit (enlightenment or non-return) written out fully; and the remaining four benefits (great benefit, great sanctuary from the yoke, great inspiration, dwelling in great ease) folded together into one final ellipsis-marked sentence — confirming this vagga's own closing discourse bookends the peyyāla cycle without exactly repeating its own opening form.
A colophon and uddāna, closing both vagga and cycle
The Pāli root closes with “Dasamaṁ” (“the tenth”) and “Nirodhavaggo aṭṭhamo” (“the Cessation chapter, the eighth”), matching this project's own count without discrepancy. The closing uddāna names all ten topics in order: ugliness, death, repulsiveness of food; dissatisfaction with the whole world; impermanence, suffering, not-self, giving up; dispassion and cessation, these ten — closing both this vagga and the two-vagga peyyāla cycle spanning SN 46.57-76.
Key terms
The text
§1 — very fruitful and beneficial“Mendicants, when the perception of cessation is developed and cultivated it’s very fruitful and beneficial. How so? It’s when a mendicant develops the perception of cessation together with 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. That’s how, when the perception of cessation is developed and cultivated, it’s very fruitful and beneficial.
§2 — one of two fruitsWhen the perception of cessation is developed and cultivated you can expect one of two results: enlightenment in this very life, or if there’s residue left behind, non-return. How so? It’s when a mendicant develops the perception of cessation together with 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. When the perception of cessation is developed and cultivated in this way you can expect one of two results: enlightenment in this very life, or if there’s residue left behind, non-return.”
§3 — the remaining four benefits, combined“The perception of cessation, when developed and cultivated, leads to great benefit … great sanctuary from the yoke … great inspiration … great ease. How so? It’s when a mendicant develops the perception of cessation together with 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. That’s how the perception of cessation, when developed and cultivated, leads to great benefit … great sanctuary from the yoke … great inspiration … great ease.”
Self-check quiz
3 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.