Not given — continuing directly from SN 55.61's own setting
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
A single, bare statement of the four causal conditions
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★★ — opens this saṃyutta's own final vagga, a thirteen-part catalog naming distinct qualities of wisdom, all produced by the identical four conditions
Why this discourse
Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse opens a thirteen-discourse catalog (SN 55.62-74) naming distinct qualities of wisdom in turn — great, widespread, abundant, deep, and so on through penetrating — each attributed to the identical four causal conditions already confirmed throughout SN 55.55-61: associating with true persons, listening to the true teaching, rational application of mind, and practicing in line with the teaching.
Reading guide
A catalog of qualities, one formula
This project's own direct comparison across the thirteen discourses of this vagga: only the named quality of wisdom changes from discourse to discourse — the causal conditions themselves remain fixed throughout, confirming this vagga's own structure as a systematic exploration of wisdom's own many facets rather than thirteen genuinely distinct teachings.
"Great," the first and broadest term
Confirmed by direct reading, “mahāpaññā” (“great wisdom”) opens the sequence with the most general possible descriptor, before the following twelve discourses each specify a more particular quality — breadth, depth, speed, sharpness, and so on.
Key terms
mahāpaññatāya saṁvattanti — “lead to great wisdom” — this discourse's own specific result, opening the thirteen-part catalog
mahāpaññā — “great wisdom” — the broadest, most general term in this vagga's own catalog of thirteen distinct wisdom-qualities
sappurisasaṁsevo — “associating with true persons” — the first of the four causal conditions, unchanged throughout this vagga
saddhammassavanaṁ — “listening to the true teaching” — the second condition
dhammānudhammappaṭipatti — “practicing in line with the teaching” — the fourth and final condition
The text
Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, when four things are developed and cultivated they lead to great wisdom. What four? Associating with true persons, listening to the true teaching, rational application of mind, and practicing in line with the teaching. When these four things are developed and cultivated they lead to great wisdom.”
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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 structure does SN 55.62-74 share across all thirteen discourses?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct comparison across the vagga's own thirteen discourses.
Question 2 of 3
What role does "great wisdom" (mahāpaññā) play as this vagga's own opening term?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — a general opening term, refined by the twelve discourses that follow.
Question 3 of 3
What does this discourse's own opening confirm about this saṃyutta's own final vagga?
Correct: A. This project's own reading of the vagga's own overall design.
