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SN 35.1PTS SN 4.11 min read

The Interior as Impermanent

Ajjhattāniccasutta

The six interior sense fields are impermanent, suffering, and not-self. When a noble disciple truly sees them like this, they become disillusioned and liberated.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 35.1Linked Discourses 35.1
  • 0.21. Aniccavagga1. Impermanence

0.3AjjhattāniccasuttaThe Interior as Impermanent

1.1PTS 4.1Evaṁ me sutaṁ.So I have heard.11.2Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.1.3Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi:There the Buddha addressed the mendicants,1.4“bhikkhavo”ti.“Mendicants!”

1.5“Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.“Venerable sir,” they replied.1.6Bhagavā etadavoca:The Buddha said this:

2.1PTS 4.2“Cakkhuṁ, bhikkhave, aniccaṁ.“Mendicants, the eye is impermanent.22.2Yadaniccaṁ taṁ dukkhaṁ;What’s impermanent is suffering.2.3yaṁ dukkhaṁ tadanattā.What’s suffering is not-self.2.4Yadanattā taṁ ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṁ yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṁ.And what’s not-self should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’

2.5Sotaṁ aniccaṁ.The ear is impermanent. …2.6Yadaniccaṁ …pe…

2.7ghānaṁ aniccaṁ.The nose is impermanent. …2.8Yadaniccaṁ …pe…

2.9jivhā aniccā.The tongue is impermanent. …32.10Yadaniccaṁ taṁ dukkhaṁ;2.11yaṁ dukkhaṁ tadanattā.2.12Yadanattā taṁ ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṁ yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṁ.

2.13Kāyo anicco.The body is impermanent. …2.14Yadaniccaṁ …pe…

2.15mano anicco.The mind is impermanent.2.16Yadaniccaṁ taṁ dukkhaṁ;What’s impermanent is suffering.2.17yaṁ dukkhaṁ tadanattā.What’s suffering is not-self.2.18Yadanattā taṁ ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṁ yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṁ.And what’s not-self should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’

2.19Evaṁ passaṁ, bhikkhave, sutavā ariyasāvako cakkhusmimpi nibbindati, sotasmimpi nibbindati, ghānasmimpi nibbindati, jivhāyapi nibbindati, kāyasmimpi nibbindati, manasmimpi nibbindati.Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.2.20Nibbindaṁ virajjati; virāgā vimuccati; vimuttasmiṁ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṁ hoti.Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When they’re freed, they know they’re freed.

2.21‘Khīṇā jāti, vusitaṁ brahmacariyaṁ, kataṁ karaṇīyaṁ, nāparaṁ itthattāyā’ti pajānātī”ti.They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this place.’”

2.22Paṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. The “interior” aspects of the sense fields are the sensory organs starting with the “eye”, as opposed to the sense stimuli starting with “sights”, which are “exterior” (bāhira).

    Ajjhattika/bāhira (“interior/exterior”) are used for the senses because they refer to inner and outer aspects of a thing, in this case, the individual. The similar pair ajjhatta/bahiddha (“internal/external” or “inside/outside”) indicates the relation of two things to each other (see SN 35.69:1.4). Thus a house may have its interior painted white and exterior painted blue (ajjhatika/bāhira), while a chair might be inside the house or outside of it (ajjhatta/bahiddha). This agrees with Vedic usage. For bahirdhā, Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.12.7 mentions “what is outside a person”; it’s also someone who is “outside” the sacrifice (eg. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.9.2.2). Bāhya is used in philosophical contexts, where it sometimes contrasts with ādhyātmika (Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad Kārikā 2.38), but more commonly antara: “the body is exterior, the womb interior” (ŚB 6.6.2.16); “eyes are interior, ears exterior” (ŚB 13.4.4.8). Sages aspire to transcend this duality: “As a man embraced by a woman he loves is oblivious to everything within or without, so this person embraced by the self consisting of knowledge is oblivious to everything within or without” (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.21, Olivelle translation). See also note on SN 35.4:1.5.

    ↩ sn35.1:1.1

  2. This section gives a series of basic teachings with systematic variations. These can be understood as meditation instructions. The various templates and their usage patterns are mapped in the concordances appended to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s Connected Discourses.

    ↩ sn35.1:2.1

  3. Right from this first discourse, the teachings on the six senses are highly abbreviated in the Pali. A standard pattern, which is used in the next several discourses, is to give the first and last items in full, while the middle ones are abbreviated. However, in this discourse, while the “ear” and “nose” have been abbreviated, the Pali gives the “tongue” in full, then abbreviates “body”, then tells the “mind” in full. This pattern recurs throughout this Saṁyutta (eg. SN 35.7:1.10, SN 35.13:1.15, SN 35.25:1.6) and elsewhere in this collection (SN 44.7:4.1). Often, the pattern is even more extreme, as the “ear” and “nose” and sometimes “body” are omitted entirely, while the “tongue” is given in full (SN 35.26:1.6, SN 35.27:1.4). This only applies to the interior “tongue”, not to the exterior “taste”. As to why this odd pattern appears, I think it is because “tongue” (jivhā) is the only term among the twelve that is feminine. Feminine declensions in Pali are quite different to masculine and neuter. Perhaps these passages are spelled out in full to ensure the correct forms are used. In any case, I do not attempt to represent this in my translation, but use the standard pattern.

    ↩ sn35.1:2.9