SN 22:23 · Comprehension (Pariñña Sutta)

Near Sāvatthī. “Monks, I will teach you the phenomena to be comprehended, as well as comprehension. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak.”

“As you say, lord,” the monks responded to him.

The Blessed One said, “And which are the phenomena to be comprehended? Form is a phenomenon to be comprehended. Feeling… Perception… Fabrications… Consciousness is a phenomenon to be comprehended. These are called phenomena to be comprehended.

“And which is comprehension? Any ending of passion, ending of aversion, ending of delusion:1 This is called comprehension.”

Note

1. Comprehension here means the arahant’s full-knowing (see MN 117). As SN 56:11 shows, the first noble truth of suffering and stress is to be comprehended. As SN 56:30 further implies, when the first noble truth has been comprehended, the tasks with regard to all the other noble truths have been completed as well.

See also: MN 149; SN 22:122; SN 38:14; SN 47:38

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Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).