sn36.17:1 Then several mendicants went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, what is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?” “Mendicants, there are these three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. Feeling originates from contact. When contact ceases, feeling ceases. The practice that leads to the cessation of feelings is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. The pleasure and happiness that arise from feeling: this is its gratification. That feeling is impermanent, suffering, and perishable: this is its drawback. Removing and giving up desire and greed for feeling: this is its escape.

sn36.17:2 But I have also explained the progressive cessation of activities. … For someone who has attained the first absorption, speech has ceased. … For a mendicant who has ended the defilements, greed, hate, and delusion have ceased. And I have also explained the progressive settling of activities. For someone who has attained the first absorption, speech has stilled. … For a mendicant who has ended the defilements, greed, hate, and delusion have stilled. There are these six levels of tranquility. For someone who has attained the first absorption, speech has been tranquilized. For someone who has attained the second absorption, the placing of the mind and keeping it connected have been tranquilized. For someone who has attained the third absorption, rapture has been tranquilized. For someone who has attained the fourth absorption, breathing has been tranquilized. For someone who has attained the cessation of perception and feeling, perception and feeling have been tranquilized. For a mendicant who has ended the defilements, greed, hate, and delusion have been tranquilized.”

2. In Private

With Several Mendicants (2nd)

sn36.18:1 Then several mendicants went up to the Buddha … The Buddha said to them: “Mendicants, what is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?” “Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. …” “Mendicants, there are these three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. …” (Tell in full as in the previous discourse.)

2. In Private

With Pañcakaṅga

sn36.19:1 Then the chamberlain Pañcakaṅga went up to Venerable Udāyī, bowed, sat down to one side, and asked him, “Sir, how many feelings has the Buddha spoken of?” “Chamberlain, the Buddha has spoken of three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. The Buddha has spoken of these three feelings.” When he said this, Pañcakaṅga said to Udāyī, “Sir, Udāyī, the Buddha hasn’t spoken of three feelings. He’s spoken of two feelings: pleasant and painful. The Buddha said that neutral feeling is included as a peaceful and subtle kind of pleasure.”

sn36.19:2 For a second time, Udāyī said to him, “The Buddha hasn’t spoken of two feelings, he’s spoken of three.” For a second time, Pañcakaṅga said to Udāyī, “The Buddha hasn’t spoken of three feelings, he’s spoken of two.”

sn36.19:3 And for a third time, Udāyī said to him, “The Buddha hasn’t spoken of two feelings, he’s spoken of three.” And for a third time, Pañcakaṅga said to Udāyī, “The Buddha hasn’t spoken of three feelings, he’s spoken of two.” But neither was able to persuade the other. Venerable Ānanda heard this discussion between Udāyī and Pañcakaṅga.

sn36.19:4 He went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and informed the Buddha of all they had discussed.

sn36.19:5 “Ānanda, the explanation by the mendicant Udāyī, which the chamberlain Pañcakaṅga didn’t agree with, was quite correct. But the explanation by Pañcakaṅga, which Udāyī didn’t agree with, was also quite correct. In one explanation I’ve spoken of two feelings. In another explanation I’ve spoken of three feelings, or five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings. I’ve explained the teaching in all these different ways. This being so, you can expect that those who don’t concede, approve, or agree with what has been well spoken will fight, quarrel, and dispute, continually wounding each other with barbed words. I’ve explained the teaching in all these different ways. This being so, you can expect that those who do concede, approve, or agree with what has been well spoken will live in harmony, appreciating each other, without dispute, blending like milk and water, and regarding each other with kindly eyes.

sn36.19:6 There are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The pleasure and happiness that arise from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called sensual pleasure. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:7 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:8 And what is that pleasure? It’s when, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, a mendicant enters and remains in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:9 And what is that pleasure? It’s when, with the fading away of rapture, a mendicant enters and remains in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’ This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:10 And what is that pleasure? It’s when, with the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, a mendicant enters and remains in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:11 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the ending of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:12 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite consciousness. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:13 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:14 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is a pleasure that is finer than that. There are those who might say that this is the highest pleasure and happiness that sentient beings experience. But I don’t grant them that. Why is that? Because there is another pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:15 And what is that pleasure? It’s when a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, enters and remains in the cessation of perception and feeling. This is a pleasure that is finer than that.

sn36.19:16 It’s possible that wanderers of other religions might say: ‘The ascetic Gotama spoke of the cessation of perception and feeling, and he includes it in happiness. What’s up with that?’ When wanderers of other religions say this, you should say to them: ‘Reverends, when the Buddha describes what’s included in happiness, he’s not just referring to pleasant feeling. The Realized One describes pleasure as included in happiness wherever it is found, and in whatever context.’”

2. In Private

A Mendicant

sn36.20:1 “Mendicants, in one explanation I’ve spoken of two feelings. In another explanation I’ve spoken of three feelings, or five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings. I’ve taught the Dhamma with all these explanations. This being so, you can expect that those who don’t concede, approve, or agree with what has been well spoken will fight, quarrel, and dispute, continually wounding each other with barbed words. I’ve taught the Dhamma with all these explanations. This being so, you can expect that those who do concede, approve, or agree with what has been well spoken will live in harmony, appreciating each other, without dispute, blending like milk and water, and regarding each other with kindly eyes.

sn36.20:2 There are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. … It’s possible that wanderers of other religions might say: ‘The ascetic Gotama spoke of the cessation of perception and feeling, and he includes it in happiness. What’s up with that?’ Mendicants, when wanderers of other religions say this, you should say to them: ‘Reverends, when the Buddha describes what’s included in happiness, he’s not just referring to pleasant feeling. The Realized One describes pleasure as included in happiness wherever it is found, and in whatever context.’”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

With Sīvaka

sn36.21:1 At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka went up to the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to the Buddha: “Worthy Gotama, there are some ascetics and brahmins who have this doctrine and view: ‘Everything this individual person experiences—pleasurable, painful, or neutral—is because of past deeds.’ What does the worthy Gotama say about this?”

sn36.21:2 “Sīvaka, some feelings stem from bile disorders. You can know this from your own personal experience, and it is generally deemed to be true. Since this is so, the ascetics and brahmins whose view is that everything an individual person experiences is because of past deeds go beyond personal experience and beyond what is generally deemed to be true. So those ascetics and brahmins are wrong, I say.

sn36.21:3 Some feelings stem from phlegm disorders … wind disorders … their conjunction … change in weather … not taking care of yourself … exertion … Some feelings are the result of past deeds. You can know this from your own personal experience, and it is generally deemed to be true. Since this is so, the ascetics and brahmins whose view is that everything an individual person experiences is because of past deeds go beyond personal experience and beyond what is generally deemed to be true. So those ascetics and brahmins are wrong, I say.”

sn36.21:4 When he said this, the wanderer Moḷiyasīvaka said to the Buddha, “Excellent, worthy Gotama! Excellent! … From this day forth, may the worthy Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”

sn36.21:5 “Bile, phlegm, and wind, their conjunction, and the weather, not taking care of yourself, exertion, and the result of deeds is the eighth.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

sn36.22:1 “Mendicants, I will teach you an exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight. Listen … And what is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight? Mendicants, in one explanation I’ve spoken of two feelings. In another explanation I’ve spoken of three feelings, or five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings.

sn36.22:2 And what are the two feelings? Physical and mental. These are called the two feelings. And what are the three feelings? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. … And what are the five feelings? The faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness, and equanimity. … And what are the six feelings? Feeling born of eye contact … ear contact … nose contact … tongue contact … body contact … mind contact. … And what are the eighteen feelings? There are six preoccupations with happiness, six preoccupations with sadness, and six preoccupations with equanimity. … And what are the thirty-six feelings? Six kinds of domestic happiness and six kinds of renunciate happiness. Six kinds of domestic sadness and six kinds of renunciate sadness. Six kinds of domestic equanimity and six kinds of renunciate equanimity. … And what are the hundred and eight feelings? Thirty six feelings in the past, future, and present. These are called the hundred and eight feelings. This is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

With a Mendicant

sn36.23:1 Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, what is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?”

sn36.23:2 “Mendicant, there are these three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. Feeling originates from contact. Craving is the practice that leads to the origin of feeling. When contact ceases, feeling ceases. The practice that leads to the cessation of feelings is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion. The pleasure and happiness that arise from feeling: this is its gratification. That feeling is impermanent, suffering, and perishable: this is its drawback. Removing and giving up desire and greed for feeling: this is its escape.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Before

sn36.24:1 “Mendicants, before my awakening—when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening—I thought: ‘What is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?’ Then it occurred to me: ‘There are these three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. Feeling originates from contact. Craving is the practice that leads to the origin of feeling … Removing and giving up desire and greed for feeling: this is its escape.’”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Knowledge

sn36.25:1 “‘These are the feelings.’ Such was the vision, knowledge, wisdom, realization, and light that arose in me regarding teachings not learned before from another. ‘This is the origin of feeling.’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the origin of feeling.’ … ‘This is the cessation of feeling.’ … ‘This is the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling.’ … ‘This is the gratification of feeling.’ … ‘This is the drawback of feeling.’ … ‘This is the escape from feeling.’ Such was the vision, knowledge, wisdom, realization, and light that arose in me regarding teachings not learned before from another.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

With Several Mendicants

sn36.26:1 Then several mendicants went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Sir, what is feeling? What’s the origin of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the origin of feeling? What’s the cessation of feeling? What’s the practice that leads to the cessation of feeling? And what is feeling’s gratification, drawback, and escape?” “Mendicants, there are these three feelings. pleasant, painful, and neutral. These are called feelings. Feeling originates from contact. Craving is the practice that leads to the origin of feeling. When contact ceases, feeling ceases. … Removing and giving up desire and greed for feeling: this is its escape.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Ascetics and Brahmins (1st)

sn36.27:1 “Mendicants, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling. There are ascetics and brahmins who don’t truly understand these three feelings’ gratification, drawback, and escape. I don’t deem them as true ascetics and brahmins. Those venerables don’t realize the goal of life as an ascetic or brahmin, and don’t live having realized it with their own insight in this very life. There are ascetics and brahmins who do truly understand these three feelings’ gratification, drawback, and escape. I deem them as true ascetics and brahmins. Those venerables realize the goal of life as an ascetic or brahmin, and live having realized it with their own insight.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Ascetics and Brahmins (2nd)

sn36.28:1 “Mendicants, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feeling. There are ascetics and brahmins who don’t truly understand these three feelings’ origin, disappearance, gratification, drawback, and escape. … There are ascetics and brahmins who do truly understand …”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Ascetics and Brahmins (3rd)

sn36.29:1 “Mendicants, there are ascetics and brahmins who don’t understand feeling, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation. … There are ascetics and brahmins who do understand …”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Plain Version

sn36.30:1 “Mendicants, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. These are the three feelings.”

3. The Explanation of the Hundred and Eight

Not of the Flesh

sn36.31:1 “Mendicants, there is rapture of the flesh, rapture not of the flesh, and rapture even more spiritual than that not of the flesh. There is pleasure of the flesh, pleasure not of the flesh, and pleasure even more spiritual than that not of the flesh. There is equanimity of the flesh, equanimity not of the flesh, and equanimity even more spiritual than that not of the flesh. There is liberation of the flesh, liberation not of the flesh, and liberation even more spiritual than that not of the flesh. And what is rapture of the flesh? There are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds … Smells … Tastes … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The rapture that arises from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called rapture of the flesh.

sn36.31:2 And what is rapture not of the flesh? It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. This is called rapture not of the flesh.

sn36.31:3 And what is rapture even more spiritual than that not of the flesh? When a mendicant who has ended the defilements reviews their mind free from greed, hate, and delusion, rapture arises. This is called rapture even more spiritual than that not of the flesh.

sn36.31:4 And what is pleasure of the flesh? Mendicants, there are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds … Smells … Tastes … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The pleasure and happiness that arise from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called pleasure of the flesh.

sn36.31:5 And what is pleasure not of the flesh? It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected. And with the fading away of rapture, they enter and remain in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’ This is called pleasure not of the flesh.

sn36.31:6 And what is pleasure even more spiritual than that not of the flesh? When a mendicant who has ended the defilements reviews their mind free from greed, hate, and delusion, pleasure and happiness arises. This is called pleasure even more spiritual than that not of the flesh.

sn36.31:7 And what is equanimity of the flesh? There are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds … Smells … Tastes … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The equanimity that arises from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called equanimity of the flesh.

sn36.31:8 And what is equanimity not of the flesh? It’s when, with the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, a mendicant enters and remains in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness. This is called equanimity not of the flesh.

sn36.31:9 And what is equanimity even more spiritual than that not of the flesh? When a mendicant who has ended the defilements reviews their mind free from greed, hate, and delusion, equanimity arises. This is called equanimity even more spiritual than that not of the flesh.

sn36.31:10 And what is liberation of the flesh? Liberation connected with form is liberation of the flesh.

sn36.31:11 And what is liberation not of the flesh? Liberation connected with the formless is liberation not of the flesh.

sn36.31:12 And what is liberation even more spiritual than that not of the flesh? When a mendicant who has ended the defilements reviews their mind free from greed, hate, and delusion, liberation arises. This is called liberation even more spiritual than that not of the flesh.”

sn36.31:13 The Linked Discourses on feelings are complete.