"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
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."
1. Comprehension here means the arahant's full-knowing (see MN 117). As SN LVI.11 shows, the first noble truth of suffering and stress is to be comprehended. As SN LVI.20 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. [Go back]