Saṃyuktāgama Sutta 292, Part 3

(3) Original Text: Furthermore, a bhikkhu, contemplating and observing the complete cessation of suffering and reaching the end of suffering, considers what causes craving, what accumulation, what birth, what contact. Knowing that craving arises due to feeling, from the accumulation of feeling, from the birth of feeling, from the contact of feeling — when that feeling ceases completely without remainder, then craving ceases. He knows the path leading to the cessation of craving as it truly is, and cultivates the preliminary practices directed toward that goal. This is called a bhikkhu directed toward the complete cessation of suffering, reaching the end of suffering, namely, the cessation of feeling.

Explanation: Furthermore, for a bhikkhu to contemplate and observe the complete cessation of suffering and reach the ultimate end of suffering, he must consider what causes craving to arise, what dharmas accumulate to produce it, what dharmas give birth to it, and what dharmas contact to generate it. After contemplating and observing, he understands that craving arises due to feeling, is produced by the accumulation of feeling, is born from the birth of feeling, and is generated by the contact of feeling. If feeling ceases completely and forever, craving will cease. Bhikkhus must know the path leading to the cessation of craving as it truly is and cultivate the preliminary practices and supporting path factors. In this way, bhikkhus will be directed toward the complete cessation of suffering and reach the ultimate end of suffering, which is the cessation of feeling.

Feeling is preceded by contact; without contact, feeling cannot arise. Without feeling, there can be no craving; without craving, there can be no clinging. Sentient beings experience contact incessantly every day — if the six senses do not contact the six sense-objects, they feel unbearable. Why do they feel unbearable? Because of ignorance; its root is ignorance. Only when a true practitioner’s mental faculty (manas) is subdued, when conceptual proliferation ceases, and when emptiness is realized, can they endure stillness.