Reading guide
A vagga closing, not a saṃyutta closing
Confirmed by direct reading, this file's own final segment is simply “(Evaṁ vitthāretabbā),” (“thus it should be elaborated”) — no “Oghavaggo pañcamo”-style colophon, and no uddāna verse, appear anywhere in this file. Confirmed by directly listing bilara-data's own directory, five further merged files (SN 50.55-66 through SN 50.99-108) follow, meaning this vagga does not close the saṃyutta, unlike its own SN 48 and SN 49 counterparts.
The five higher fetters, once more
Mirroring the higher-fetters discourse already met three times before, this discourse gives the five higher fetters (desire for the form and formless realms, conceit, restlessness, ignorance) in full, now developed by the five powers rather than the eightfold path, five faculties, or four right efforts.
A genuinely larger saṃyutta, confirmed rather than assumed
This project's own explicit observation: SN 50's own ten merged files (versus SN 49's own five) already suggested a roughly doubled scale when this saṃyutta was first opened; this file's own missing colophon, confirming further content still lies ahead, settles that suggestion into direct confirmation rather than leaving it an inference.
Key terms
The text
§1“Mendicants, there are five higher fetters. What five? Desire for rebirth in the realm of luminous form, desire for rebirth in the formless realm, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. These are the five higher fetters. The five powers should be developed for the direct knowledge, complete understanding, finishing, and giving up of these five higher fetters. What five? It’s when a mendicant develops the powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go. These five powers should be developed for the direct knowledge, complete understanding, finishing, and giving up of these five higher fetters.” (Tell in full as in SN 45.171–179, with the above as the final discourse.)
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