In the Nikāyas and Āgamas, dependent origination serves as the portal to the first breakthrough to the Dhamma. […] When the Susīma-sutta states that “the knowledge of the persistence of principles” precedes “the knowledge of nibbāna”, the intention may well have been the same as that of the other versions, namely, that knowledge of the arising sequence of dependent origination precedes knowledge of the cessation sequence.

A sequel to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s previous study of the Susīma Sutta, attempting a reconstruction of the sutta’s history from its parallels and giving a master class on comparitive hermeneutics.