Floods, etc.

SN 48.115-124 · Oghādisutta

Clear spring water reveals a pale stone and gentle patterns of light.

“Mendicants, there are five higher fetters. What five? Desire for rebirth in the realm of luminous form, desire for rebirth in the formless realm, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. These are the five higher fetters.

The five faculties should be developed for the direct knowledge, complete understanding, finishing, and giving up of these five higher fetters. What five? It’s when a mendicant develops the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom, which rely on seclusion, fading away, and cessation, and ripen as letting go.

These five faculties should be developed for the direct knowledge, complete understanding, finishing, and giving up of these five higher fetters.”

(Tell in full as in the Linked Discourses on the Path, SN 45.171–179, with the above as the final discourse.)

Floods, yokes, grasping, ties, and underlying tendencies, kinds of sensual stimulation, hindrances, aggregates, and fetters high and low.

Connections

Collection & context

Saṃyutta NikāyaThe collection containing this text
The Pāli canonCanonical collection in which this edition is preserved
Theravāda traditionsTransmission and study context
The early Buddhist communityHistorical and traditional setting

Books

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta NikāyaBhikkhu Bodhi; Bhikkhu Bodhi (translator) · Complete collection edition

About this edition

Translation by Bhikkhu Sujato · SuttaCentral · CC0

This translation is an expression of an ancient spiritual text that has been passed down by the Buddhist tradition for the benefit of all sentient beings. It is dedicated to the public domain via Creative Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make use of this translation. The translator respectfully requests that any use be in accordance with the values and principles of the Buddhist community. In particular, please do not use this work in AI training datasets, for the development of any AI model or algorithm, or in any AI-derived technologies.

Published source. Translation wording and order are preserved; source headings and notes are retained, with navigation and formatting adapted for this reader. This source combines a range of related numbered discourses.

The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork for Buddhist Atlas, an evocative companion rather than a historical depiction.