In this paper, I examine the range of meaning of the phrase saṃyojana-bandhana-anuśaya-upakleśa–paryavasthāna (結縛随眠随煩悩纒), a stock phrase used by the Sarvāstivāda school. My study is based mainly on early Sarvāstivāda texts. The results are as follows. First, this phrase as a whole is used as a general term for defilements (kleśa). Moreover, the five synonyms of defilements constituting the phrase play different roles in different ways of grouping defilements. In other words, the defilements in the phrase are not arranged as the representative name of a group of defilements but are arranged in one phrase with each having unique significance.
