Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 56.19

Expressions

Saṅkāsanasutta — Dhammacakkappavattanavagga

Setting
Not given — continuing directly from SN 56.18's own setting
Speaker
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly, returning to the first-person voice
Form
A direct claim, repeated for each of the four truths in turn
Length
<1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Significance
★★★ — the ninth of ten discourses, distinguishing the fixed content of the four truths from the unlimited ways of expressing them

Why this discourse

Confirmed by direct reading, this discourse claims that each of the four truths, once declared, admits “limitless arrangements, phrasings, and illustrations” — a distinction this project reads as separating the truths' own fixed underlying content (already confirmed unchanging at SN 56.20, this vagga's own closing discourse) from the unlimited variety of ways that content can be taught and explained.

Reading guide

Fixed content, unlimited expression

This project's own reading: this discourse's own claim distinguishes what is taught from how it can be taught — the four truths themselves do not vary, but the “arrangements, phrasings, and illustrations” used to convey them are unlimited, a distinction this project notes anticipates SN 56.20's own explicit claim that the four truths themselves are “real, not unreal, not otherwise.”

Key terms

idaṁ dukkhaṁ ariyasaccanti, bhikkhave, mayā paññattaṁ — “I've declared: 'this is the noble truth of suffering'” — this discourse's own opening claim, repeated for each of the four truths
aparimāṇā vaṇṇā aparimāṇā byañjanā aparimāṇā saṅkāsanā — “limitless arrangements, phrasings, and illustrations” — this discourse's own key claim, giving the discourse its own title
itipidaṁ dukkhaṁ ariyasaccanti — “this is another way of saying that this is the noble truth of suffering” — the formula closing each of the four truths' own statement
… — the elision marking, standing in for the second and third truths' own identical structure
navamaṁ — “the ninth” — this discourse's own root text confirming its own position directly, read rather than assumed

The text

Every genuinely translated fragment given in the consulted English source, which itself preserves the elision. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, I’ve declared: ‘This is the noble truth of suffering.’ For that there are limitless arrangements, phrasings, and illustrations: ‘This is another way of saying that this is the noble truth of suffering.’ I’ve declared: ‘This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering.’ … I’ve declared: ‘This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.’ … I’ve declared: ‘This is the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering.’ For that there are limitless arrangements, phrasings, and illustrations: ‘This is another way of saying that this is the noble truth of the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering.’

§2That’s why you should practice meditation …”

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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 distinction does this discourse draw, per this project's own reading?
Correct: A. This project's own reading of a claim about expression's own flexibility, not the truths' own content.
Question 2 of 3
What three things does this discourse claim are limitless for each declared truth?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading — the discourse's own three named terms, giving it its own title.
Question 3 of 3
What position does this discourse occupy in this vagga's own ten-discourse sequence?
Correct: A. Confirmed by direct reading of the root text's own closing marker "Navamaṁ" ("ninth").
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

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