In SN 44.9, the wanderer Vacchagotta declares:
> So I was simply befuddled. I was uncertain: How is the teaching of
> Gotama the contemplative to be understood?
Then, later, the befuddled Vacchagotta asks the Buddha:
> And at the moment when a being (satto) sets this body (kāyaṁ) aside
> and is not yet reborn (anupapanno) in another body, what do you
> designate as its sustenance (upādānasmiṁ) then?
The Buddha replies:
> Vaccha, when a being (satto) sets this body aside and is not yet
> reborn (anupapanno) in another body, I designate it as
> craving-sustained, for craving is its sustenance (upādānaṁ) at that time.
Is SN 44.9 a supramundane ([lokuttara](https://suttacentral.net/define/lokuttara?lang=en)) sutta?
Asked by Paraloka Dhamma Dhatu
(45880 rep)
Jun 16, 2025, 10:14 AM