Aṅguttara Nikāya | The Numerical Collection

The Aṅguttara Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are grouped by the number of their parts (aṅga), with the number growing progressively higher (uttara) with each group.

No single English term can convey the full meaning of this name, although the translation Numerical Collection gives a workable idea of the principle behind it. The complete collection, counting all its formulaic expansions, contains more than 9,500 discourses. When these expansions are not counted, the total comes to approximately 2,300 discourses, of which 428 are translated here.

Ones

  • AN 1:21  Ekadhamma Suttas (AN 1:21–30, 39–40) | A Single Thing  —  Short statements on the importance of training one thing: the mind.
  • AN 1:45  Udakarahada Suttas (AN 1:45–46) | A Pool of Water  —  The sullied and unsullied mind compared to a sullied and unsullied pond of water.
  • AN 1:48  Mudu Sutta | Soft  —  A trained mind is pliant, like balsam.
  • AN 1:49  Lahu-parivaṭṭa Sutta | Quick to Reverse Itself  —  Even the Buddha, a master of analogies, couldn’t find an analogy for how quick the mind is to reverse itself.
  • AN 1:50  Pabhassara Suttas (AN 1:50–53) | Luminous  —  Discerning that the mind is luminous but invaded by defilements enables you to develop it.
  • AN 1:140  Bahujanahitāya Sutta (AN 1:140–141) | For the Benefit of Many People  —  It’s for the benefit of the world that Dhamma is explained as Dhamma, and not-Dhamma as not-Dhamma.
  • AN 1:329  Duggandha Sutta | Foul-smelling  —  Becoming compared to feces.

Twos

  • AN 2:5  Appaṭivāṇa Sutta | Relentlessly  —  The secret to the Buddha’s awakening: discontent with regard to skillful qualities and unrelenting exertion.
  • AN 2:9  Lokapāla Sutta | Guardians of the World  —  Shame and compunction as guardians of the world.
  • AN 2:18  Ekaṁsena Sutta | Categorically  —  One of two teachings that the Buddha taught as categorically true across the board (the other is the four noble truths: see DN 9).
  • AN 2:19  Kusal’akusala Sutta | Skillful & Unskillful  —  “If it were not possible to abandon what is unskillful, I would not say to you, ‘Abandon what is unskillful.’”
  • AN 2:21  Bāla-paṇḍita Sutta | Fools & Wise People  —  Foolish and wise ways of dealing with your own transgressions and those of others.
  • AN 2:23  Abhāsita Sutta | What Was Not Said  —  To misquote the Buddha is to slander him.
  • AN 2:24  Neyyattha Sutta | A Meaning to be Inferred  —  Two other ways of slandering the Buddha.
  • AN 2:29  Vijjā-bhāgiya Sutta | A Share in Clear Knowing  —  Tranquility and insight, along with the purposes they serve.
  • AN 2:30  Vimutti Sutta | Release  —  What brings about awareness-release and discernment-release.
  • AN 2:31  Kataññu Suttas (AN 2:31–32) | Gratitude  —  Two people who are not easy to repay: your mother and father.
  • AN 2:35  Samacitta Sutta | Like-minded  —  What it means to be fettered outside and fettered inside.
  • AN 2:36  Ārāmadaṇḍa Sutta | To Ārāmadaṇḍa  —  Why lay people dispute with lay people; why contemplatives dispute with contemplatives.
  • AN 2:37  Kaṇḍarāyana Sutta | To Kaṇḍarāyana  —  To be venerable is a matter, not of age, but of the mind’s freedom from sensuality.
  • AN 2:46  Ukkācita Sutta | Bombast  —  The difference between an assembly trained in bombast and one trained in cross-questioning.
  • AN 2:61  Sannivāsa Sutta | Communal Living  —  A bad community is one in which the members decide not to correct one another.
  • AN 2:74  Sukha Sutta | Pleasures  —  The pleasure of equanimity is higher than the pleasure of enjoyment.
  • AN 2:99  Bāla Sutta | Fools  —  A fool is reckoned by which kinds of burdens he picks up and which ones he doesn’t.
  • AN 2:118  Dullabhā Sutta | Hard to Find  —  People who are the first to do a kindness for you are hard to find, and so are worthy of gratitude.
  • AN 2:120  Duttappaya Sutta | Rarely Having Enough  —  Two people who rarely have a sense of enough.
  • AN 2:123  Ghosa Suttas (AN 2:123–124) | Voice  —  The internal and external conditions for the arising of wrong view and right view.
  • AN 2:134  Ananuvicca Sutta | Without Investigating  —  Investigate before settling on belief or disbelief.

Threes

  • AN 3:2  Lakkhaṇa Sutta | Characterized (by Action)  —  Fools and wise people are to be recognized by their bodily, verbal, and mental conduct.
  • AN 3:5  Ayoniso Sutta | Inappropriately  —  People can be recognized as foolish or wise by the way they formulate and answer questions, and by whether they acknowledge when a question has received an appropriate response.
  • AN 3:10  Mala Sutta | Impurities  —  Qualities that can create a hell or a heaven in this very lifetime.
  • AN 3:15  Pacetana Sutta | The Chariot Maker  —  The Buddha, recounting one of his previous lives in which he was an expert chariot maker, uses the chariot maker’s skills as an analogy for his current skills as a trainer of monks and nuns.
  • AN 3:20  Pāpaṇika Sutta | The Shopkeeper  —  How a good monk is like a good shopkeeper.
  • AN 3:22  Gilāna Sutta | Sick People  —  Why the Buddha teaches even those who will gain awakening without his teaching, and those who won’t even when he teaches them.
  • AN 3:24  Bahukāra Sutta | Great Benefactors  —  One’s three greatest benefactors.
  • AN 3:30  Avakujja Sutta | Upside Down  —  Pay attention to a Dhamma talk, both during the talk and afterwards.
  • AN 3:32  Ānanda Sutta | To Ven. Ānanda  —  The Buddha explains a passage from Sn 5:3 by describing a state of concentration free from I-making and mine-making.
  • AN 3:33  Sāriputta Sutta | To Ven. Sāriputta  —  The Buddha explains a passage from Sn 5:13 by describing a state of concentration free from I-making and mine-making.
  • AN 3:34  Nidāna Sutta | Causes  —  An action (kamma) performed by an arahant bears no kammic fruit. This sutta explains why.
  • AN 3:35  Hatthaka Sutta | To Hatthaka  —  The state of the mind, rather than the comfort of the bed, determines who gets a good night’s sleep.
  • AN 3:39  Sukhamāla Sutta | Refinement  —  The Buddha recalls how, as a young man living in extreme refinement, he overcame intoxication with youth, health, and life.
  • AN 3:40  Ādhipateyya Sutta | Governing Principles  —  How to use thoughts of self, the world, and the Dhamma as motivating factors to stick with the path.
  • AN 3:42  Ṭhāna Sutta | Instances  —  How conviction shows in one’s actions.
  • AN 3:47  Saṅkhata Sutta (AN 3:47–48) | Fabricated  —  The defining characteristics of what’s fabricated and what’s unfabricated.
  • AN 3:49  Pabbata Sutta | A Mountain  —  Three ways in which the descendents of a person of conviction prosper.
  • AN 3:50  Ātappa Sutta | Ardency  —  When to exercise ardency.
  • AN 3:52  Dvejana Sutta | Two People (1)  —  The Buddha teaches restraint and merit-making to two aged brahmans who have no good deeds to look back on: “Keeping sight of this danger in death, do merit-deeds that bring bliss.”
  • AN 3:53  Dvejana Sutta | Two People (2)  —  The Buddha teaches restraint and generosity to two aged brahmans who have no good deeds to look back on: “When a house is aflame, the vessel salvaged is the one that will be of use, not the one left there to burn.”
  • AN 3:58  Vaccha Sutta | To Vaccha (on Giving)  —  Whoever prevents another from giving a gift creates three obstructions: an obstruction to the merit of the giver, an obstruction to the recipient’s gains, and prior to that he undermines and harms his own self.
  • AN 3:61  Saṅgārava Sutta | To Saṅgārava  —  Do the practices of merit-making and going-forth benefit only the person who does them?
  • AN 3:62  Tittha Sutta | Sectarians  —  In a rare instance where the Buddha seeks out other sectarians to argue with them, he confronts three doctrines that, remaining stuck in a doctrine of inaction, leave their adherents unprotected from the impulse to engage in unskillful action: the belief that everything experienced is the result of old actions (a belief, ironically, frequently attributed to the Buddha himself), the belief that everything experienced is the result of a supreme being’s act of creation, and the belief that everything experienced is without cause.
  • AN 3:63  Bhaya Sutta | Dangers  —  Three false and three genuine mother-&-child-separating dangers.
  • AN 3:64  Venāga Sutta | At Venāga  —  The Buddha’s three high & luxurious beds: the practice of jhāna, the practice of the brahmavihāras, and the attainment of arahantship.
  • AN 3:66  Kālāma Sutta | To the Kālāmas  —  The Buddha’s standards for judging whether a teaching should be rejected or adopted.
  • AN 3:68  Kathāvatthu Sutta | Topics for Discussion  —  Standards for judging whether a person is fit to talk with: a useful series of reflections for when you find yourself debating unprincipled people.
  • AN 3:69  Titthiya Sutta | Sectarians  —  The distinguishing characteristics among passion, aversion, and delusion; how they arise, and how they can be abandoned.
  • AN 3:70  Mūla Sutta | Roots  —  The three roots of unskillful behavior, the three roots of skillful behavior, and how acting on the desire for power leads a person deeper into the unskillful roots, whereas not acting on that desire makes it easier to develop the skillful roots.
  • AN 3:71  Mūluposatha Sutta | The Roots of the Uposatha  —  Three ways of observing the uposatha: like a cowherd, like a Jain, and like a noble one.
  • AN 3:72  Channa Sutta | To Channa the Wanderer  —  A wanderer asks Ven. Ānanda why he teaches the abandoning of passion, aversion, and delusion.
  • AN 3:73  Ājīvaka Sutta | To the Fatalists’ Student  —  A follower of another teacher asks Ven. Ānanda, “Among us, sir, whose Dhamma is well-taught? Who has practiced well in this world? Who in the world is Well-Gone?” In response, Ven. Ānanda gets the man to answer his own question: an excellent example of Ven. Ānanda’s skill in answering questions.
  • AN 3:74  Sakka Sutta | To the Sakyan  —  By discussing the distinction between the virtue, concentration, and discernment of one in training and the virtue, concentration, and discernment of one whose training is complete, Ven. Ānanda answers the question, “Does concentration come first, and knowledge after, or does knowledge come first, and concentration after?”
  • AN 3:77  Bhava Sutta | Becoming (1)  —  Using the analogy of the field, the seed, and moisture, the Buddha explains the arising of the three levels of becoming.
  • AN 3:78  Bhava Sutta | Becoming (2)  —  A slightly different explanation of the arising of the three levels of becoming.
  • AN 3:79  Sīlabbata Sutta | Habit & Practice  —  Is every kind of practice fruitful? Ven Ānanda gives an analytical answer.
  • AN 3:83  Gadrabha Sutta | The Donkey  —  What makes a monk a genuine monk.
  • AN 3:85  Vajjiputta Sutta | The Vajjian Monk  —  A monk complains to the Buddha that he cannot train in all the many rules of the Pāṭimokkha. The Buddha recommends that he focus instead on the three trainings, under which all those rules are gathered.
  • AN 3:87  Sekhin Sutta (1) | One in Training  —  The attainments of a stream-enterer, a non-returner, and an arahant measured in terms of their mastery of virtue, concentration, and discernment.
  • AN 3:88  Sekhin Sutta (2) | One in Training  —  An expansion of the preceding sutta, in which the various grades of stream-enterer and non-returner are listed.
  • AN 3:90  Sikkha Sutta | Trainings (1)  —  The three trainings—in heightened virtue, heightened mind, and heightened discernment—defined.
  • AN 3:91  Sikkha Sutta | Trainings (2)  —  The three trainings defined again, with a slightly different definition given for the training in heightened discernment.
  • AN 3:93  Accāyika Sutta | Urgent  —  The urgent duties of a monk compared to the urgent duties of a farmer.
  • AN 3:95  Sarada Sutta | Autumn  —  What happens if a noble disciple dies while practicing jhāna.
  • AN 3:96  Parisā Sutta | Assemblies  —  Three types of monastic communities, two of them conducive to awakening.
  • AN 3:97  Ājāniya Sutta | The Thoroughbred  —  The Buddha explains how a monk, like a thoroughbred horse, can be consummate in beauty, strength, and speed.
  • AN 3:101  Loṇaphala Sutta | The Salt Crystal  —  Three analogies to explain why an unskillful deed done by one person can lead that person to hell, while the same deed done by another person may hardly be felt at all. An important sutta for explaining why past kamma does not fully account for what is felt in the present moment. Present kamma plays an important role as well.
  • AN 3:102  Paṁsudhovaka Sutta | The Dirt-washer  —  The skills of concentration compared to the skills of a gold-washer.
  • AN 3:103  Nimitta Sutta | Themes  —  Using the analogy of a goldsmith, the Buddha explains why concentration practice should alternate, when appropriate, among three themes: the theme of concentration, the theme of uplifted energy, and the theme of equanimity.
  • AN 3:104  Pubbe Sutta | Before  —  Instead of searching for how to live in the cosmos, the Buddha searched for how to escape from the cosmos.
  • AN 3:105  Assāda Sutta | Allure (1)  —  A concise account of the Buddha’s search for awakening.
  • AN 3:106  Assāda Sutta | Allure (2)  —  How to dwell with unrestricted awareness, disjoined from the cosmos.
  • AN 3:109  Atitta Sutta | No Satiation  —  Despite what your defilements might tell you, you can never reach the point of enough through indulging in three things.
  • AN 3:110  Kuta Sutta | The Peak of the Roof  —  How protecting the mind keeps you from getting soggy.
  • AN 3:112  Nidāna Sutta | Causes (1)  —  The causes for skillful and unskillful action.
  • AN 3:113  Nidāna Sutta | Causes (2)  —  You can free yourself from the fetter of passion by discerning the future results of allowing yourself to get fettered.
  • AN 3:115  Dullabha Sutta | Rare  —  Three people who are hard to find.
  • AN 3:116  Appameyya Sutta | Immeasurable  —  People who are easy to measure, hard to measure, & those who can’t be measured at all.
  • AN 3:117  Aneñjaka Sutta | Imperturbable  —  What happens after death to those who attain imperturbable concentration.
  • AN 3:121  Soceyya Sutta | Purities (1)  —  Purity on the mundane level defined.
  • AN 3:122  Soceyya Sutta | Purities (2)  —  Purity on the transcendent level defined.
  • AN 3:123  Moneyya Sutta | Sagacity  —  Three types of sagacity—bodily, verbal, and mental—defined. This sutta is apparently the “sagacity” sutta that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time.
  • AN 3:124  Kusināra Sutta | At Kusināra  —  When a monk receives food at an invitational meal, the rewards for the donor depend, at least in part, on the monk’s attitude toward the food.
  • AN 3:126  Gotamaka-cetiya Sutta | At Gotamaka Shrine  —  The fact that the Buddha teaches through direct knowledge, with cause, and with marvels (see AN 3:61) is reason enough to take joy in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha.
  • AN 3:129  Kaṭuviya Sutta | Putrid  —  “Monk, monk, don’t let yourself putrefy! On one who lets himself putrefy & stink with the stench of carrion, there’s no way that flies won’t swarm & attack!”
  • AN 3:131  Anuruddha Sutta | To Anuruddha  —  The defilements that can potentially surround the attainments of concentration and supranormal powers, and get in the way of awakening.
  • AN 3:133  Lekha Sutta | Inscriptions  —  Three types of individuals: one like an inscription in rock, one like an inscription in soil, and one like an inscription in water.
  • AN 3:136  Mitta Sutta | A Friend  —  Qualities of a friend to be treasured.
  • AN 3:137  Dhamma-niyāma Sutta | The Orderliness of the Dhamma  —  Truths that are true regardless of whether the Buddha has pointed them out: All fabrications are inconstant; all fabrications are stressful; all phenomena are not-self.

Fours

  • AN 4:1  Anubuddha Sutta | Understanding  —  “It’s because of not understanding and not penetrating noble virtue… noble concentration… noble discernment… noble release that we have transmigrated & wandered on for such a long, long time, you & I.”
  • AN 4:5  Anusota Sutta | With the Flow  —  How going with the flow is not a good thing.
  • AN 4:10  Yoga Sutta | Yokes  —  In many discourses, the Buddha speaks of “the unexcelled rest from the yoke.” In this discourse he explains what yokes he is referring to, and how that rest comes about.
  • AN 4:19  Agati Sutta | Off Course  —  Four states of mind—desire, aversion, delusion, and fear—that the Vinaya often cites as leading to unfair and biased behavior.
  • AN 4:24  Kāḷaka Sutta | At Kāḷaka’s Park  —  The Buddha explains how, despite his wide range of knowledge, he is “Such” with regard to all that he knows: He is not fastened to that knowledge, and it is not established in him.
  • AN 4:28  Ariya-vaṁsa Sutta | The Traditions of the Noble Ones  —  Like any good family, the “family” of the noble ones has its fine traditions. These traditions are special, however, in that they lie outside the culture of any nation, and they lead to conquest, not over others, but over displeasure within. (This is one of the suttas that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time.)
  • AN 4:31  Cakka Sutta | Wheels  —  Four qualities that lead to an abundance of wealth.
  • AN 4:32  Saṅgaha Sutta | The Bonds of Fellowship  —  Four qualities that act as a linchpin in holding societies and families together.
  • AN 4:33  Sīha Sutta | The Lion  —  The terror that the Buddha’s teaching on self-identification inspires in the heavenly worlds.
  • AN 4:34  Pasāda Sutta | Confidence  —  Four supreme objects of confidence.
  • AN 4:35  Vassakāra Sutta | With Vassakāra  —  A discussion between Vassakāra the brahman and the Buddha as to the four qualities that entitle a person to be called great and discerning.
  • AN 4:36  Doṇa Sutta | With Doṇa  —  The Buddha, asked whether he is a deva, a spirit, or a human being, replies that he is simply “awake.”
  • AN 4:37  Aparihāni Sutta | No Falling Away  —  Four qualities that make a monk incapable of falling away, and bring him in the presence of unbinding.
  • AN 4:38  Paṭilīna Sutta | Detached  —  What it means to be detached in body and mind.
  • AN 4:41  Samādhi Sutta | Concentration  —  Four purposes to which right concentration can be applied: a pleasant abiding here-&-now, mindfulness and alertness, psychic powers, and the ending of the effluents.
  • AN 4:42  Pañha Sutta | Questions  —  The Buddha classifies questions into four types in terms of the strategy of response that they deserve.
  • AN 4:45  Rohitassa Sutta | To Rohitassa  —  How the end of the cosmos is to be found within.
  • AN 4:49  Vipallāsa Sutta | Perversions  —  Four perversions of perception: perceiving what is inconstant to be constant, what is stressful to be pleasant, what is not-self to be self, and what is unattractive as attractive.
  • AN 4:50  Upakkilesa Sutta | Obscurations  —  Four types of unskillful behavior that cause a contemplative not to shine.
  • AN 4:52  Puññābhisanda Sutta | Bonanzas of Merit  —  Four factors of stream-entry as forms of merit.
  • AN 4:53  Saṁvāsa Sutta | Ways of Living Together  —  If you’re married, are you and your spouse devas or corpses?
  • AN 4:55  Samajivina Sutta | Living in Tune  —  How to behave if you want to live together with your spouse even after death.
  • AN 4:62  Anaṇa Sutta | Debtlessness  —  The bliss of blamelessness is worth far more than the bliss of having, partaking, and being debtless.
  • AN 4:67  Ahinā Sutta | By a Snake  —  A charm, whose power is based on goodwill, for protection from snakes and other creeping things.
  • AN 4:73  Sappurisa Sutta | A Person of Integrity  —  One can be recognized as a person of integrity based on how one discusses one’s own faults and good qualities, and the faults and good qualities of others.
  • AN 4:77  Acintita Sutta | Inconceivable  —  Four inconceivables that would bring madness to anyone who tried to conjecture about them.
  • AN 4:79  Vaṇijja Sutta | Trade  —  Reasons why some people succeed in business and others, engaged in the same business, don’t.
  • AN 4:85  Tama Sutta | Darkness  —  Four types of individuals: one born in darkness and headed for darkness, one born in darkness and headed for light, one born in light and headed for darkness, and one born in light and headed for light
  • AN 4:87  Putta Sutta | The Son  —  Four levels of genuine contemplatives.
  • AN 4:88  Saññojana Sutta | Fetters  —  A second way of defining four levels of genuine contemplatives.
  • AN 4:89  Diṭṭhi Sutta | View  —  A third way of defining four levels of genuine contemplatives.
  • AN 4:90  Khandha Sutta | Aggregates  —  A fourth way of defining four levels of genuine contemplatives.
  • AN 4:94  Samādhi Sutta | Concentration (Tranquility & Insight)  —  Four types of individuals—one with tranquility but no insight, one with insight but no tranquility, one with neither, and one with both—and how they should practice.
  • AN 4:95  Chalāvāta Sutta | The Firebrand  —  The Buddha ranks four types of individuals: one who practices for his/her own benefit and the benefit of others; one who practices for his/her own benefit but not for the benefit others; one who practices for the benefit of others but not for his/her own; and one who practices neither for his/her own benefit nor for the benefit of others.
  • AN 4:96  Rāga-vinaya Sutta | The Subduing of Passion  —  A definition of what it means—in light of the teachings of kamma—to practice for one’s own benefit and for the benefit of others.
  • AN 4:99  Sikkhā Sutta | Trainings  —  Another definition of what it means—in light of the teachings of kamma—to practice for one’s own benefit and for the benefit of others.
  • AN 4:100  Potaliya Sutta | To Potaliya  —  Which is more excellent: Staying equanimous and silent, or knowing when to speak criticism and praise?
  • AN 4:102  Valāhaka Sutta | Thunderheads  —  Four types of individuals: one who thunders but doesn’t rain, one who rains but doesn’t thunder, one who neither thunders nor rains, and one who both thunders and rains.
  • AN 4:111  Kesi Sutta | To Kesin the Horsetrainer  —  The Buddha compares the way he trains monks to the way a horse-trainer trains horses. A corrective to the common misperception that the Buddha’s teaching style was always mild.
  • AN 4:113  Patoda Sutta | The Goad-stick  —  Four types of students compared to four types of thoroughbred horses, based on how closely they have to be touched by suffering before being stirred to practice.
  • AN 4:115  Ṭhāna Sutta | Courses of Action  —  Four courses of action, two of which—what is unpleasant to do but leads to what is profitable, and what is pleasant to do but leads to what is unprofitable—are tests of one’s discernment.
  • AN 4:116  Appamāda Sutta | Heedfulness  —  How to avoid fear of where you will be reborn.
  • AN 4:117  Ārakkha Sutta | Guarding  —  Guarding your mind brings freedom from fear.
  • AN 4:123  Jhāna Sutta | Mental Absorption (1)  —  The levels of rebirth to which mastery of each of the four jhānas can lead, along with the subsequent course of one who is an educated disciple of the noble ones contrasted with the subsequent course of one who is not.
  • AN 4:124  Jhāna Sutta | Mental Absorption (2)  —  How mastery of any of the four jhānas, together with an analysis of those jhānas in terms of insight, can lead to rebirth in the Pure Abodes.
  • AN 4:125  Mettā Sutta | Goodwill (1)  —  The levels of rebirth to which mastery of each of the four brahmavihāras can lead, along with the subsequent course of one who is an educated disciple of the noble ones contrasted with the subsequent course of one who is not.
  • AN 4:126  Mettā Sutta | Goodwill (2)  —  How mastery of any of the four brahmavihāras, together with an analysis of those brahmavihāras in terms of insight, can lead to rebirth in the Pure Abodes.
  • AN 4:128  Abbhūta Sutta | Astounding  —  When the Buddha appears, people want to listen to the Dhamma that goes against their usual inclinations.
  • AN 4:131  Saṁyojana Sutta | Fetters  —  Once-returners, two types of non-returners, and arahants, analyzed in terms of the fetters they have and haven’t abandoned.
  • AN 4:138  Nikkaṭṭha Sutta | Withdrawn  —  Living in the seclusion of the wilderness isn’t necessarily a sign that your mind is secluded.
  • AN 4:144  Obhāsa Sutta | Brightness  —  The brightness of discernment outshines the brightness of the sun, the moon, and fire.
  • AN 4:156  Kappa Sutta | An Eon  —  What are the parts of an eon, and how long are they?
  • AN 4:158  Parihāni Sutta | Decline  —  How to recognize whether you are declining in the practice.
  • AN 4:159  Bhikkhunī Sutta | The Nun  —  Ven. Ānanda teaches a nun that although food can be used to lead to the abandoning of food, craving to lead to the abandoning of craving, and conceit to lead to the abandoning of conceit, the same principle doesn’t apply to sexual intercourse.
  • AN 4:160  Sugata Sutta | The One Well-gone  —  What causes the True Dhamma to disappear? What causes it to remain?
  • AN 4:162  Vitthāra Sutta | (Modes of Practice) in Detail  —  Four modes of practice—painful with slow intuition, painful with quick intuition, pleasant with slow intuition, and pleasant with quick intuition—defined.
  • AN 4:163  Asubha Sutta | Unattractiveness  —  Alternative definitions for the modes of practice defined in the preceding sutta.
  • AN 4:164  Khama Sutta | Tolerant (1)  —  Four modes of practice: intolerant, tolerant, self-controlled, and even.
  • AN 4:165  Khama Sutta | Tolerant (2)  —  The same four modes of practice listed in the preceding sutta, but with alternative definitions for intolerant and tolerant practice.
  • AN 4:170  Yuganaddha Sutta | In Tandem  —  Four paths of practice to arahantship: insight preceded by tranquility, tranquility preceded by insight, tranquility and insight developed in tandem, and concentration attained after restlessness concerning the Dhamma has been brought under control.
  • AN 4:173  Koṭṭhita Sutta | To Koṭṭhita  —  Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita asks Ven. Sāriputta: “With the remainderless fading & cessation of the six contact-media, is it the case that there is anything else? …nothing else? …both? …neither?” Ven. Sāriputta, explains why none of these alternatives is the case.
  • AN 4:178  Jambālī Sutta | The Waste-water Pool  —  The jhānas and brahmavihāras, on their own, do not automatically lead to the cessation of self-identification or ignorance.
  • AN 4:179  Nibbāna Sutta | Unbinding  —  It’s because they do or don’t discern the consequences of four types of perceptions that some beings attain unbinding in the present life, and some don’t.
  • AN 4:181  Yodhājīva Sutta | The Professional Warrior  —  Four qualities of an excellent monk that parallel four qualities of an expert archer.
  • AN 4:182  Pāṭibhoga Sutta | Guarantor  —  Four things for which you can find no guarantor.
  • AN 4:183  Suta Sutta | On What is Heard  —  Four types of things that should not be spoken about, even if one knows or believes them to be true.
  • AN 4:184  Abhaya Sutta | Fearless  —  Four reasons why some people fear death and others don’t.
  • AN 4:191  Sotānugata Sutta | Followed by Ear  —  The rewards of memorizing and contemplating the Dhamma.
  • AN 4:192  Ṭhāna Sutta | Traits  —  How to know another person’s virtue, purity, endurance, and discernment.
  • AN 4:194  Sāpuga Sutta | At Sāpuga  —  Ven. Ānanda teaches a large number of Koliyans four factors of exertion: with regard to purity of virtue, purity of mind, purity of discernment, and purity of release.
  • AN 4:195  Vappa Sutta | To Vappa  —  Would a person totally free of ignorance face any pain after death?
  • AN 4:199  Taṇhā Sutta | Craving  —  108 craving verbalizations.
  • AN 4:200  Pema Sutta | Love  —  Love is not one of the immeasurable mind states. This sutta not only explains why, but also shows how love born of love, aversion born of love, love born of aversion, and aversion born of aversion can be overcome, along with the rewards of overcoming these things.
  • AN 4:201  Sikkhāpada Sutta | Training Rules  —  It’s bad enough when you break the precepts. It’s even worse when you get others to break them, too. It’s good when you keep the precepts, and even better to encourage others to keep them, too.
  • AN 4:233  Vitthāra Sutta | In Detail  —  Bright kamma, dark kamma, kamma that is both bright and dark, and kamma that is neither bright nor dark, and that leads to the end of kamma.
  • AN 4:235  Sikkhāpada Sutta | Training Rules  —  Bright kamma, dark kamma, kamma that is both bright and dark, and kamma that is neither bright nor dark, and that leads to the end of kamma.
  • AN 4:237  Ariyamagga Sutta | The Noble Path  —  Bright kamma, dark kamma, kamma that is both bright and dark, and kamma that is neither bright nor dark, and that leads to the end of kamma.
  • AN 4:238  Bojjhaṅga Sutta | Factors for Awakening  —  Bright kamma, dark kamma, kamma that is both bright and dark, and kamma that is neither bright nor dark, and that leads to the end of kamma.
  • AN 4:245  Sikkhā Sutta | Training  —  “Monks, this holy life is lived with training as a reward, with discernment as its surpassing state, with release as its heartwood, and with mindfulness as its governing principle.”
  • AN 4:252  Pariyesanā Sutta | Searches  —  Four ignoble searches and four noble searches.
  • AN 4:255  Kula Sutta | On Families  —  Four reasons why some families can hold onto great wealth for a long time, and why other families can’t.
  • AN 4:263  Araññaka Sutta | A Wilderness Dweller  —  Four qualities that make a monk fit to dwell in isolated wilderness dwellings.

Fives

  • AN 5:2  Vitthata Sutta (Strengths) | In Detail  —  Five strengths for one in training: conviction, a sense of shame, a sense of compunction, persistence, and discernment.
  • AN 5:7  Kāmesu Sutta | By Sensuality  —  At what point a monk can be trusted to look after himself.
  • AN 5:20  Hita Sutta | Benefit  —  Five ways of practicing for your own benefit and that of others.
  • AN 5:23  Upakkilesa Sutta | Defilements  —  When the mind is freed of hindrances, it’s like gold that has been freed of impurities.
  • AN 5:25  Anugghita Sutta | Supported  —  Five supports for right view that lead to release.
  • AN 5:26  Vimutti Sutta | Release  —  Five ways to induce an opening to release.
  • AN 5:27  Samādhi Sutta | (Immeasurable) Concentration  —  Five rewards of practicing immeasurable concentration.
  • AN 5:28  Samādhaṅga Sutta | The Factors of Concentration  —  Five-factored concentration and the six higher knowledges that it can lead to.
  • AN 5:29  Caṅkama Sutta | Walking  —  Five rewards of walking meditation.
  • AN 5:30  Nāgita Sutta | To Nāgita  —  In a stern rebuke to Ven. Nāgita, the Buddha explains why he is not attracted to “this slimy-excrement-pleasure, this torpor-pleasure, this pleasure of gains, offerings, & fame.”
  • AN 5:31  Sumanā Sutta | To Princess Sumanā  —  Princess Sumanā asks the Buddha about the different rewards awaiting two people who are equal in terms of conviction, virtue, and discernment, but who differ in that one gives alms and the other doesn’t.
  • AN 5:34  Sīha Sutta | To General Sīha (On Giving)  —  Four rewards of generosity in the here-&-now, and one in the next life.
  • AN 5:36  Kāladāna Sutta | Seasonable Gifts  —  Five seasonable gifts, and the rewards of giving in season—or of assisting with such gifts and/or rejoicing in them.
  • AN 5:37  Bhojana Sutta | A Meal  —  What one gives to another person when giving a meal, and what one receives in return.
  • AN 5:38  Saddha Sutta | Conviction  —  Five rewards that a layperson receives because of his/her conviction.
  • AN 5:41  Ādiya Sutta | Benefits to be Obtained (from Wealth)  —  Five benefits that can be obtained from wealth such that, if one then loses ones wealth, one feels no remorse.
  • AN 5:43  Iṭṭha Sutta | What is Welcome  —  If long life, beauty, happiness, status, and rebirth in heaven were to be obtained by reason of prayers or wishes, who here would lack them?
  • AN 5:49  Kosala Sutta | The Kosalan  —  After King Pasenadi learns of the death of Queen Mallikā, the Buddha counsels him on how to deal with grief.
  • AN 5:51  Āvaraṇa Sutta | Obstacles  —  Without abandoning the five hindrances, it’s impossible to understand what is for one’s own benefit, for the benefit of others, or for the benefit of both, or to realize a superior human state.
  • AN 5:53  Aṅga Sutta | Factors (for Exertion)  —  Physical and mental prerequisites for exerting yourself on the path.
  • AN 5:57  Upajjhaṭṭhana Sutta | Subjects for Contemplation  —  Five reflections that help one to abandon bad conduct, and that—when further developed—can help give rise to the path. This sutta is the basis for a reflection widely chanted in Theravāda monasteries.
  • AN 5:59  Dullabha Sutta | Hard to Find (1)  —  Five qualities that are hard to find in one who has gone forth when old.
  • AN 5:60  Dullabha Sutta | Hard to Find (2)  —  Another list of five qualities that are hard to find in one who has gone forth when old.
  • AN 5:73  Dhammavihārin Sutta | Dwelling in the Dhamma (1)  —  What it means to have the Dhamma as your home.
  • AN 5:74  Dhammavihārin Sutta | Dwelling in the Dhamma (2)  —  Another explanation of what it means to have the Dhamma as your home.
  • AN 5:75  Yodhājīva Sutta | The Professional Warrior (1)  —  The Buddha compares the victorious monk to a victorious warrior. In this analogy, a celibate is not a wimp, but is instead a warrior to the highest degree.
  • AN 5:76  Yodhājīva Sutta | The Professional Warrior (2)  —  Another sutta in which the Buddha compares the victorious monk to a victorious warrior.
  • AN 5:77  Anāgata-bhayāni Sutta | Future Dangers (1)  —  This sutta and the three following it are apparently the “future danger” suttas that King Asoka advised monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women to listen to frequently and to ponder so that the True Dhamma will last a long time. This sutta advises reflecting on the dangers of living in the wilderness as a goad to practice.
  • AN 5:78  Anāgata-bhayāni Sutta | Future Dangers (2)  —  This sutta advises reflecting on the dangers of aging, illness, famine, social unrest, and a split in the Saṅgha as a goad to practice.
  • AN 5:79  Anāgata-bhayāni Sutta | Future Dangers (3)  —  This sutta advises reflecting on the dangers of the future corruption of the Dhamma and Vinaya as a goad to practice.
  • AN 5:80  Anāgata-bhayāni Sutta | Future Dangers (4)  —  This sutta advises reflecting on the dangers of the future luxury of the Saṅgha as a goad to practice.
  • AN 5:96  Sutadhara Sutta | One Who Retains What He Has Heard  —  Five qualities that help a person practicing mindfulness of breathing to gain release.
  • AN 5:97  Kathā Sutta | Talk  —  Another list of five qualities that help a person practicing mindfulness of breathing to gain release.
  • AN 5:98  Ārañña Sutta | Wilderness  —  Another list of five qualities that help a person practicing mindfulness of breathing to gain release.
  • AN 5:99  Sīha Sutta | The Lion  —  The Buddha teaches the Dhamma with the same care that a lion uses in giving a blow.
  • AN 5:106  Phāsu Sutta | Comfortably  —  How can a monk live peacefully in a community of monks?
  • AN 5:109  Catuddisa Sutta | [A Monk] of the Four Directions  —  How to be at home everywhere.
  • AN 5:110  Arañña Sutta | Wilderness  —  The qualities needed for living in isolation in the wilderness.
  • AN 5:114  Andhakavinda Sutta | At Andhakavinda  —  Newly ordained monks should be encouraged to develop these five qualities.
  • AN 5:121  Gilāna Sutta | To One Who Is Sick  —  Five perceptions that, when held to, help a weak or sickly monk to gain full release.
  • AN 5:129  Parikuppa Sutta | In Agony  —  Five grave deeds that are said to prevent one’s chances of attaining any of the noble attainments in this lifetime. People who commit them fall—immediately at the moment of death—into hell.
  • AN 5:130  Sampadā Sutta | Being Consummate  —  Five kinds of loss, two serious and three not so serious. This sutta serves as a strong reminder not to break the precepts even for the sake of people or things you hold dear.
  • AN 5:137  Appaṁ Supati Sutta | One Sleeps Little  —  Five people who get little sleep at night.
  • AN 5:139  Akkhama Sutta | Not Resilient  —  Five qualities in a monk compared to five parallel qualities in an elephant gone into battle.
  • AN 5:140  Sotar Sutta | The Listener  —  Another list of five qualities in a monk compared to five parallel qualities in an elephant gone into battle.
  • AN 5:148  Sappurisadāna Sutta | A Person of Integrity’s Gifts  —  Five qualities of a gift made by a person on integrity—giving with a sense of conviction, attentively, in season, with an empathetic heart, and without adversely affecting oneself or others—and the rewards of giving in these ways.
  • AN 5:151  Saddhamma-niyāma Sutta | Assuredness in the True Dhamma (1)  —  Five ways of listening to a Dhamma talk that will determine whether you can alight on the True Dhamma while listening.
  • AN 5:152  Saddhamma-niyāma Sutta | Assuredness in the True Dhamma (2)  —  Another list of five ways of listening to a Dhamma talk that will determine whether you can alight on the True Dhamma while listening.
  • AN 5:159  Udāyin Sutta | About Udāyin (On Teaching the Dhamma)  —  Five attitudes that should be established in a person teaching the Dhamma.
  • AN 5:161  Āghatāvinaya Sutta | The Subduing of Hatred (1)  —  Five reflections that help to subdue hatred.
  • AN 5:162  Āghātavinaya Sutta | The Subduing of Hatred (2)  —  Another list of five reflections for subduing hatred.
  • AN 5:165  Pañhapucchā Sutta | On Asking Questions  —  Five motivations for asking questions.
  • AN 5:166  Nirodha Sutta | Cessation  —  Ven. Sāriputta makes an important statement about the cessation of perception and feeling, but then he gets contradicted, and none of the monks support him.
  • AN 5:170  Bhaddaji Sutta | To Bhaddaji  —  Illustrating one of the motivations in the above sutta, Ven. Ānanda tests another monk: “What is supreme among sights? Supreme among sounds? Supreme among pleasures? Supreme among perceptions? Supreme among states of becoming?”
  • AN 5:175  Caṇḍāla Sutta | The Outcaste  —  This sutta lists—first in negative and then in positive form—the basic requirements for being a Buddhist lay follower in good standing.
  • AN 5:176  Pīti Sutta | Rapture  —  The Buddha advises Anāthapiṇḍika to meditate to develop seclusion and rapture, and Ven. Sāriputta describes five benefits of doing so.
  • AN 5:177  Vaṇijjā Sutta | Business (Wrong Livelihood)  —  Five types of business that a lay follower should not engage in.
  • AN 5:179  Gihi Sutta | The Householder  —  The traits that characterize a lay follower who is a stream-winner.
  • AN 5:180  Gavesin Sutta | About Gavesin  —  Recalling an incident from the time of the Buddha Kassapa, the Buddha breaks into a smile. He then tells Ven. Ānanda what he recalls: a story that illustrates well the way in which conceit can be turned to good use in the practice.
  • AN 5:191  Soṇa Sutta | The Dog Discourse  —  The Buddha compares brahmans with dogs, and the dogs come out better in the comparison. An example of how pointed the Buddha’s sense of humor could be.
  • AN 5:196  Supina Sutta | Dreams  —  Five prophetic dreams that appeared to the Buddha prior to his awakening.
  • AN 5:198  Vācā Sutta | A Statement  —  Five characteristics of a well-spoken statement.
  • AN 5:199  Kula Sutta | A Family  —  When a virtuous person who has gone forth approaches a family, the people there give rise to a great deal of merit by five means.
  • AN 5:200  Nissāraṇīya Sutta | Leading to Escape  —  Five means of escape: from sensuality, from ill will, harmfulness, forms, and self-identification.
  • AN 5:202  Dhammassavana Sutta | Listening to the Dhamma  —  Five rewards of listening to the Dhamma.
  • AN 5:254  Macchariya Suttas (AN 5:254–259) | Stinginess  —  Five forms of stinginess, the rewards of abandoning them, and the dangers—in terms of blocking off the higher levels of the practice—of not.

Sixes

  • AN 6:12  Sārāṇīya Sutta | Conducive to Amiability  —  Six conditions that lead to harmony in a group.
  • AN 6:13  Nissāraṇīya Sutta | Means of Escape  —  Six means of escape: from ill will, from harmfulness, from resentment, from passion, from mental signs, and from the arrow of perplexity & uncertainty.
  • AN 6:16  Nakula Sutta | Nakula’s Parents  —  Sensing (mistakenly) that her husband is dying, Nakula’s mother wisely advises him not to be worried at the time of death.
  • AN 6:19  Maraṇassati Sutta | Mindfulness of Death (1)  —  What does it mean to be acute in developing mindfulness of death for the sake of ending the effluents?
  • AN 6:20  Maraṇassati Sutta | Mindfulness of Death (2)  —  Why it’s wise to reflect every day at sunrise and sunset on the imminent possibility of death.
  • AN 6:29  Udāyin Sutta | With Udāyin  —  A discourse that blurs the distinctions among recollection practice, mindfulness practice, and concentration practice.
  • AN 6:31  Parihāna Sutta | Decline  —  Qualities that lead to the decline of a monk in training.
  • AN 6:37  Dāna Sutta | Giving  —  Six factors—three of the donor, and three of the recipients—that enable a donation to lead to an immeasurable mass of merit.
  • AN 6:38  Attakārin Sutta | The Self-doer  —  Is it true that beings have no free will and do not act of their own accord?
  • AN 6:41  Dārukkhandha Sutta | The Wood Pile  —  The properties or potentials in a material object that allow a monk with psychic powers to will that it be nothing but earth, water, fire, wind, beautiful, or unattractive.
  • AN 6:42  Nāgita Sutta | To Nāgita  —  Another version of the story in 5:30, in which the Buddha delivers a stern rebuke to Ven. Nāgita, explaining why he is not attracted to “this slimy-excrement-pleasure, this torpor-pleasure, this pleasure of gains, offerings, & fame.”
  • AN 6:43  Nāga Sutta | On the Nāga  —  In the Buddha’s time, the term “nāga” was applied to any large being or tree, such as an elephant, a serpent, or a tree. In this sutta, though, the Buddha defines a nāga as anyone who does no misdeed in body, speech, or mind. Ven. Udāyin, inspired by the Buddha’s statement, composes a spontaneous poem, celebrating the arahant as the true nāga.
  • AN 6:45  Iṇa Sutta | Debt  —  The six miseries of a shameless monk compared to the six miseries of a person in debt.
  • AN 6:46  Cunda Sutta | Cunda  —  Ven. Mahā Cunda counsels the monks: “‘Being Dhamma-devotee monks, we will speak in praise of jhāna monks.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.… ‘Being jhāna monks, we will speak in praise of Dhamma-devotee monks.’ That’s how you should train yourselves.”
  • AN 6:47  Sandiṭṭhika Sutta | Visible Here & Now  —  The Buddha explains to a wanderer of another sect one way in which the Dhamma is visible here-&-now.
  • AN 6:49  Khema Sutta | With Khema  —  Vens. Khema and Sumana declare their attainment of arahantship to the Buddha in impersonal terms, related to the ending of conceit.
  • AN 6:51  Ānanda Sutta | Ven. Ānanda  —  At Ven. Sāriputta’s request, Ven. Ānanda explains how a monk should practice so that he hears Dhamma he has not heard, so that the Dhammas he has heard do not get confused, so that the Dhammas he has touched with his awareness stay current, and so that he understands what previously was not understood.
  • AN 6:55  Soṇa Sutta | About Soṇa  —  The famous simile of the lute.
  • AN 6:60  Citta Sutta | On Citta  —  A monk, rebuked by Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita disrobes, but later returns to the monkhood and becomes an arahant.
  • AN 6:61  Parāyana Sutta | The Further Shore  —  A group of elder monks offer their interpretations of a line from a verse in Sn 5:2. The issue is then taken to the Buddha, who states that all six interpretations are valid, but then identifies which interpretation he had in mind when stating the verse.
  • AN 6:63  Nibbedhika Sutta | Penetrative  —  A thorough analysis of six topics: sensuality, feeling, perception, effluents, kamma, and stress.
  • AN 6:70  Samādhi Sutta | Concentration  —  Refined concentration is necessary for all six cognitive skills, including the ending of the effluents.
  • AN 6:71  Sakkhibhabba Sutta | Capable of Realizing  —  The qualities needed to realize the six cognitive skills when the opening arises.
  • AN 6:73  Jhāna Sutta | Jhāna (1)  —  Six qualities that have to be abandoned before entering the first jhāna.
  • AN 6:74  Jhāna Sutta | Jhāna (2)  —  Another list of six qualities that have to be abandoned before entering the first jhāna.
  • AN 6:78  Sukha Sutta | Pleasure  —  Although delight is sometimes listed as one of the causes for suffering, this sutta shows that, when rightly directed, it can function as a source for happiness now and as an instigation to awakening.
  • AN 6:83  Aggadhamma Sutta | The Foremost State  —  The qualities needed to attain arahantship.
  • AN 6:85  Sīti Sutta | Cooled  —  Six activities that, when applied at the proper time to the training of the mind, make one capable of realizing unbinding.
  • AN 6:86  Āvaraṇatā Sutta | Obstructions  —  Six conditions that determine whether one will be capable of alighting on the True Dhamma while listening to the Dhamma.
  • AN 6:87  Kammāvaraṇatā Sutta | Kamma Obstructions  —  Another list of six conditions that determine whether one will be capable of alighting on the True Dhamma while listening to the Dhamma.
  • AN 6:88  Sussūsa Sutta | Listening Well  —  Yet another list of six conditions that determine whether one will be capable of alighting on the True Dhamma while listening to the Dhamma.
  • AN 6:91  Abhabba Sutta | Incapable  —  Six things that a stream-enterer is incapable of doing.
  • AN 6:92  Ṭhāna Sutta | Cases  —  Six more things that a stream-enterer is incapable of doing.
  • AN 6:97  Ānisaṁsa Sutta | Rewards  —  Six rewards in realizing the fruit of stream-entry
  • AN 6:102  Anodhi Sutta | Without Exception (1)  —  The rewards of establishing the perception of inconstancy with regard to all fabrications without exception.
  • AN 6:103  Anodhi Sutta | Without Exception (2)  —  The rewards of establishing the perception of stress with regard to all fabrications without exception.
  • AN 6:104  Anodhi Sutta | Without Exception (3)  —  The rewards of establishing the perception of not-self with regard to all phenomena without exception.

Sevens

  • AN 7:6  Dhana Sutta | Treasure  —  The noble treasures defined.
  • AN 7:7  Ugga Sutta | To Ugga  —  The advantages of the noble treasures over treasures of silver and gold.
  • AN 7:11  Anusaya Sutta | Obsessions (1)  —  Seven obsessions (anusaya).
  • AN 7:12  Anusaya Sutta | Obsessions (2)  —  “With the abandoning & destruction of these seven obsessions, the holy life is fulfilled.”
  • AN 7:15  Udakupama Sutta | The Water Simile  —  In a series of similes—ranging from a person who sinks down and stays sunk to a person who crosses over a flood and stands on high ground—the Buddha describes people in terms of how far they go with their grasp of the Dhamma.
  • AN 7:21  Bhikkhu-aparihāniya Sutta | Conditions for No Decline among the Monks  —  Seven conditions that will prevent the Saṅgha of monks from declining.
  • AN 7:31  Appamāda Sutta | Heedfulness  —  Seven conditions that will keep an individual monk from declining.
  • AN 7:32  Hirimā Sutta | A Sense of Shame  —  A slightly different list of seven conditions that will keep an individual monk from declining.
  • AN 7:33  Sovacassatā Sutta | Compliance (1)  —  Another list of seven conditions that will keep an individual monk from declining.
  • AN 7:34  Sovacassatā Sutta | Compliance (2)  —  Ven. Sāriputta expands on the list in the preceding sutta, showing that non-decline is not simply a matter of one’s own qualities, but also of encouraging others in the same qualities.
  • AN 7:35  Mitta Sutta | A Friend  —  Seven qualities of a loyal friend truly worth associating with.
  • AN 7:46  Saññā Sutta | Perceptions  —  Seven perceptions that lead to the deathless.
  • AN 7:47  Methuna Sutta | Copulation  —  Seven activities that create “a gap, a break, a spot, a blemish of the holy life” even in one who doesn’t engage in sexual intercourse.
  • AN 7:48  Saññoga Sutta | Bondage  —  How bondage to one’s own masculinity or femininity leads to bondage to others.
  • AN 7:49  Dāna Sutta | Giving  —  The possible motivations for generosity and, in ascending order, the results they can lead to.
  • AN 7:50  Nandamātar Sutta | About Nandamātar  —  The amazing qualities of one of the Buddha’s foremost female lay followers.
  • AN 7:51  Abyākata Sutta | Undeclared  —  Because a disciple of the noble ones sees views, the origination of views, the cessation of views, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of views, he/she sees no need to answer any of the ten undeclared questions.
  • AN 7:54  Sīha Sutta | To Sīha  —  The rewards of giving.
  • AN 7:56  Kimila Sutta | To Kimila  —  Reasons why, after the passing of the Buddha, the True Dhamma will or will not last a long time.
  • AN 7:58  Capala Sutta | Nodding  —  The Buddha teaches Ven. Moggallāna (a) seven ways of shaking off drowsiness, (b) three attitudes to have toward others that will help promote concentration, and (c) how to be utterly free from bonds.
  • AN 7:60  Kodhana Sutta | An Angry Person  —  Seven ways, pleasing to an enemy, in which you harm yourself when you are angry.
  • AN 7:63  Nagara Sutta | The Fortress  —  In an extended metaphor, the Buddha compares the factors of the practice to a well-fortified fortress that can’t be undone by external foes or duplicitous allies.
  • AN 7:64  Dhammaññū Sutta | One With a Sense of Dhamma  —  Seven qualities of a monk worthy of respect: having a sense of Dhamma, a sense of meaning, a sense of himself, a sense of moderation, a sense of time, a sense of social gatherings, and a sense of distinctions among individuals.
  • AN 7:70  Arakenānusasani Sutta | Araka’s Instructions  —  The Buddha recalls the vivid teachings of Araka—who lived when the human life span was 60,000 years—counseling heedfulness because “next to nothing is the life of human beings.”
  • AN 7:80  Satthusāsana Sutta | The Teacher’s Instruction  —  The Buddha teaches Ven. Upāli seven ways of judging whether a dhamma—a teaching or an internal quality—is in line with the Dhamma and Vinaya.

Eights

  • AN 8:2  Paññā Sutta | Discernment  —  Eight conditions that lead to the arising and development of the discernment basic to the holy life.
  • AN 8:6  Lokavipatti Sutta | The Failings of the World  —  Eight worldly conditions: gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. If you don’t reflect properly on them, welcoming the desirable and rebelling against the undesirable, they keep you from being released.
  • AN 8:7  Devadatta Sutta | About Devadatta  —  Why it’s important for a monk to keep conquering, again and again, any arisen material gain, lack of material gain, status, lack of status, offerings, lack of offerings, evil ambition, and evil friendship.
  • AN 8:8  Uttara Sutta | About Uttara  —  Sakka the deva-king teaches the preceding discourse to a monk who remembers only a small part of it.
  • AN 8:9  Nanda Sutta | About Nanda  —  How the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda is able to follow the holy life even though he comes from a good family, is strong, good-looking, and fiercely passionate.
  • AN 8:13  Ājāññā Sutta | The Thoroughbred  —  Eight qualities of a good monk that parallel eight good qualities of a well-trained royal thoroughbred steed.
  • AN 8:14  Khaḷuṅka Sutta | Unruly  —  Eight faults of an unruly monk that parallel eight faults of unruly horses.
  • AN 8:19  Pahārāda Sutta | Pahārāda  —  Eight ways in which the Dhamma and Vinaya are like the great ocean.
  • AN 8:22  Ugga Sutta | About Ugga  —  The amazing qualities of one of the Buddha’s foremost male lay followers.
  • AN 8:23  Hatthaka Sutta | About Hatthaka (1)  —  The Buddha praises a wealthy lay follower for having eight qualities hard to find in a wealthy person.
  • AN 8:24  Hatthaka Sutta | About Hatthaka (2)  —  Hatthaka reports that he has won over a large following by using the grounds for the bonds of fellowship taught by the Buddha (see AN 4:32).
  • AN 8:26  Jīvaka Sutta | To Jīvaka (On Being a Lay Follower)  —  Jivaka, the Buddha’s physician, asks the Buddha what qualifies one as a lay follower, a virtuous lay follower, and a lay follower who practices for his/her own benefit and the benefit of others.
  • AN 8:28  Bala Sutta | Strengths  —  Eight strengths that allow you to know that the effluents are ended.
  • AN 8:30  Anuruddha Sutta | To Anuruddha  —  The eight thoughts of a great person.
  • AN 8:39  Abhisanda Sutta | Bonanzas  —  Eight bonanzas of merit: taking refuge in the Triple Gem, and adhering to the five precepts in all situations.
  • AN 8:40  Vipāka Sutta | Results  —  The specific results that come from breaking each of the five precepts or engaging in the various forms of wrong speech.
  • AN 8:51  Gotamī Sutta | To Gotamī  —  The founding of the order of nuns.
  • AN 8:53  Saṅkhitta Sutta | In Brief  —  An important sutta in which the Buddha teaches Mahā Pajāpati eight ways of judging whether a dhamma—a teaching or an internal quality—is in line with the Dhamma and Vinaya.
  • AN 8:54  Dīghajāṇu Sutta | To Dīghajāṇu  —  Four qualities that lead to happiness in this life, four qualities that drain one’s wealth, and four qualities that lead to happiness in the next life.
  • AN 8:61  Icchā Sutta | Desire  —  How the desire for material gain—such as for food, clothing, shelter, or medicine—may or may not lead a monk to fall from the True Dhamma.
  • AN 8:70  Saṅkhitta Sutta | In Brief (Sublime Attitudes, Mindfulness, & Concentration)  —  An elderly monk asks for a brief teaching that he can then use when practicing alone. The Buddha teaches him eight concentration practices, developing the jhāna factors based on the four brahmavihāras and the four establishings of mindfulness.
  • AN 8:71  Gayā Sutta | At Gayā  —  The Buddha discusses the eight stages in which he developed the knowledge of devas that constituted part of his awakening.
  • AN 8:95  Kusīta-Ārabbhavatthu Sutta | The Grounds for Laziness & the Arousal of Energy  —  A humorous sutta showing how the eight situations that a lazy monk will use as excuses for staying lazy are the same eight situations that an energetic monk will use as motivation for being energetic.
  • AN 8:103  Yasa Sutta | Honor  —  A longer version of the story in 5:30 and 6:42, in which the Buddha delivers a stern rebuke to Ven. Nāgita, explaining why he is not attracted to “this slimy-excrement-pleasure, this torpor-pleasure, this pleasure of gains, offerings, & fame.”

Nines

  • AN 9:1  Sambodhi Sutta | Self-awakening  —  Nine prerequisites for developing the wings to self-awakening.
  • AN 9:7  Sutavā Sutta | To Sutavant  —  Nine principles that an arahant cannot transgress.
  • AN 9:8  Sajjha Sutta | To Sajjha  —  Another set of nine principles that an arahant cannot transgress.
  • AN 9:13  Koṭṭhita Sutta | With Koṭṭhita  —  Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita quizzes Ven. Sāriputta as to the purpose of the holy life lived under the Buddha.
  • AN 9:14  Samiddhi Sutta | About Samiddhi  —  Ven. Sāriputta quizzes a junior monk about thoughts and resolves: What is their basis? How do they go to multiplicity? What is their origination, meeting place, presiding state, governing principle, surpassing state, heartwood? Where to they gain a footing?
  • AN 9:15  Gaṇḍa Sutta | A Boil  —  The body compared to an oozing boil.
  • AN 9:16  Saññā Sutta | Perceptions  —  Nine perceptions that lead to the deathless.
  • AN 9:20  Velāma Sutta | About Velāma  —  The Buddha tells of a great offering he made in a previous lifetime, but then goes on to tell how goodwill and the perception of inconstancy are much more fruitful than the most fruitful gift possible.
  • AN 9:24  Sattā Sutta | Beings  —  The different levels of the cosmos where beings may take rebirth.
  • AN 9:25  Paññā Sutta | Discernment  —  The qualities of an arahant’s mind.
  • AN 9:31  Anupubbanirodha Sutta | Step-by-step Cessation  —  What ceases, step by step, as one goes progressively through the nine concentration attainments.
  • AN 9:32  Vihāra Sutta | Dwellings (1)  —  The nine concentration attainments listed.
  • AN 9:33  Vihāra Sutta | Dwellings (2)  —  The nine concentration attainments defined.
  • AN 9:34  Nibbāna Sutta | Unbinding  —  Ven. Sāriputta explains how unbinding is pleasant even though nothing is felt there.
  • AN 9:35  Gāvī Sutta | The Cow  —  Using the simile of the foolish, inexperienced cow, the Buddha shows why it is wise to establish oneself well in a concentration attainment before trying to move on to the next one. When these attainments are well mastered in this way, they lead to the six higher knowledges whenever there is an opening.
  • AN 9:36  Jhāna Sutta | Mental Absorption  —  How awakening is attained by mastering any of the first seven of the nine concentration attainments and then reflecting on that attainment, analyzing it in terms of the five aggregates.
  • AN 9:37  Ānanda Sutta | With Ānanda  —  The levels of concentration—the first three formless attainments and the concentration that is the fruit of arahantship—in which one is not percipient of the five physical senses even though they are present, and yet one is nevertheless percipient.
  • AN 9:38  Brāhmaṇa Sutta | To Two Brahmans  —  The Buddha describes how a person in the first eight of the concentration attainments comes to the end of the cosmos, defined as the five strings of sensuality. Only by gaining discernment, though, does one cross over attachment to the cosmos.
  • AN 9:39  Deva Sutta | The Devas (About Jhāna)  —  How—through the practice of concentration—to keep secluded from Māra, how to become invisible to Māra, and how to cross over attachment to the cosmos.
  • AN 9:40  Nāga Sutta | The Tusker  —  A humorous sutta in which a monk in the nine concentration attainments is compared to an elephant who, going off into seclusion from the bustle of the herd, scratches himself with a branch to allay his itch.
  • AN 9:41  Tapussa Sutta | To Tapussa (On Renunciation)  —  How the Buddha, prior to his awakening, was able to overcome his reluctance to renounce sensuality and the pleasures of the lower concentration attainments.
  • AN 9:42  Pañcāla Sutta | Pañcāla’s Verse  —  Ven. Ānanda explains a verse spoken by a deva on the topic of jhāna.
  • AN 9:43  Kāyasakkhī Sutta | Bodily Witness*  —  Ven. Ānanda defines a “bodily witness” as one who remains “touching with his/her body” all nine concentration attainments and sees with discernment on emerging from the ninth.
  • AN 9:44  Paññāvimutti Sutta | Released through Discernment*  —  Ven. Ānanda defines a person “released through discernment” as one who gains release through developing discernment based on any of the nine concentration attainments.
  • AN 9:45  Ubhatobhāga Sutta | (Released) Both Ways*  —  Ven. Ānanda defines a person “released both ways” as one who remains “touching with his/her body” and seeing with discernment any of the nine concentration attainments.
  • AN 9:62  Bhabba Sutta | Capable  —  Nine qualities that have to been abandoned for reaching arahantship.
  • AN 9:63  Sikkhā-dubbalya Sutta | Things That Weaken the Training  —  To break the five precepts weakens the training. To abandon the actions that weaken the training, develop the four establishings of mindfulness.
  • AN 9:64  Nīvaraṇa Sutta | Hindrances  —  To abandon the five hindrances, develop the four establishings of mindfulness.

Tens

  • AN 10:6  Samādhi Sutta | Concentration  —  The Buddha—asked to describe an attainment of concentration in which one is not percipient of the physical properties, the formless attainments, this world or the next world, and yet one is still percipient—replies.
  • AN 10:7  Sāriputta Sutta | With Sāriputta  —  Ven. Sāriputta gives a slightly different response to the question asked in the preceding sutta.
  • AN 10:13  Saṁyojana Sutta | Fetters  —  The ten fetters listed.
  • AN 10:15  Appamāda Sutta | Heedfulness  —  Ten similes making the point that heedfulness is the root of all skillful qualities and the foremost among them.
  • AN 10:17  Nātha Sutta | Protectors (1)  —  Ten qualities by which you create a protector for yourself.
  • AN 10:18  Nātha Sutta | Protectors (2)  —  You create protection for yourself by acting in ways that inspire others to offer you instruction.
  • AN 10:20  Ariyāvāsa Sutta | Dwellings of the Noble Ones  —  Ten noble dwellings for the mind.
  • AN 10:24  Cunda Sutta | Cunda  —  Even if you can talk about the Dhamma, if you are overcome by greed. aversion, delusion, anger, hostility, hypocrisy, spite, selfishness, evil envy, or evil longing, you are still a pauper in the Dhamma.
  • AN 10:29  Kosala Sutta | The Kosalan  —  Like supremacy in the human and deva worlds, exalted states of mind—even experiences of all-encompassing white light and non-dual consciousness—are all subject to change and aberration. In this sutta the Buddha offers a series of contemplations for inducing disenchantment and dispassion for even the most supreme things in the cosmos.
  • AN 10:46  Sakka Sutta | To the Sakyans (on the Uposatha)  —  The Buddha explains to his relatives why the bliss that comes from earning a wage is next to nothing when compared to the bliss that comes from sacrificing one’s work on the uposatha day to observe the eight precepts.
  • AN 10:48  Dasa Dhamma Sutta | Ten Things  —  Ten things that a person gone-forth should reflect on often.
  • AN 10:51  Sacitta Sutta | One’s Own Mind  —  Even if you can’t read the minds of others, you should train yourself to read your own mind—and to respond properly to any defilements you read there.
  • AN 10:54  Samatha Sutta | Tranquility  —  The same message as the preceding sutta, but expressed in terms of the development of tranquility and insight.
  • AN 10:58  Mūla Sutta | Rooted  —  What is the root of all phenomena? Where do they gain a footing? What is their end?
  • AN 10:60  Girimānanda Sutta | To Girimānanda  —  The Buddha has Ven. Ānanda instruct Ven. Girimānanda—who is ill—on ten perceptions that heal body and mind. Interestingly, mindfulness of breathing is listed as one of the perceptions.
  • AN 10:61  Avijjā Sutta | Ignorance  —  Even though no past beginning point for ignorance can be discerned, it is still possible to feed it—or to starve it—in the present.
  • AN 10:69  Kathāvatthu Sutta | Topics of Conversation (1)  —  Encountering a group of monks who have been engaged in worldly conversation, the Buddha teaches them the topics that they should be talking about.
  • AN 10:70  Kathāvatthu Sutta | Topics of Conversation (2)  —  Another lesson in right conversation. Not only should you talk about good qualities, but you should also develop them in yourself.
  • AN 10:71  Ākaṅkha Sutta | Wishes  —  Ten reasons, of ascending worth, for perfecting the precepts and being committed to the development of tranquility (samatha) and insight (vipassanā).
  • AN 10:72  Kaṇṭhaka Sutta | Thorns  —  Ten “thorns” that create difficulties for the practice.
  • AN 10:73  Iṭṭhā Sutta | Wished For  —  How to obtain what is welcome but hard to obtain in the world.
  • AN 10:75  Migāsālāya Sutta | About Migāsālā  —  Why you shouldn’t try to measure the attainments of other individuals. (The implicit message here: Pay more attention to your own attainment.)
  • AN 10:76  Abhabba Sutta | Incapable  —  Things that have to be abandoned in order to be free of birth, aging, and death.
  • AN 10:80  Āghāta Sutta | Hatred  —  Ten ways of subduing hatred.
  • AN 10:81  Vāhuna Sutta | To Vāhuna  —  Released from ten things, the Tathāgata dwells with unrestricted awareness.
  • AN 10:92  Vera Sutta | Animosity  —  Ten conditions for knowing if you are a streamwinner.
  • AN 10:93  Diṭṭhi Sutta | Views  —  Anāthapiṇḍika explains to a group of sectarians why right view is a special form of view: Holding to other views, one is holding to stress, but using right view enables you to see the escape even from right view.
  • AN 10:94  Vajjiya Sutta | About Vajjiya  —  Confronted by sectarians who accuse the Buddha of being a nihilist, one who doesn’t declare anything, Vajjiya counters that the Buddha does declare two things: what’s skillful and what’s not.
  • AN 10:95  Uttiya Sutta | To Uttiya  —  After learning why the Buddha doesn’t take a stance on the ten declared questions, Uttiya asks him what percentage of the cosmos will be led by his teaching to release. The Buddha remains silent; Ven. Ānanda takes Uttiya aside and, using the simile of the wise gatekeeper, explains why.
  • AN 10:96  Kokanuda Sutta | To Kokanuda (On Viewpoints)  —  A wanderer, addressing Ven. Ānanda without knowing that it’s him, asks why the Buddha doesn’t take a stance on the ten undeclared questions.
  • AN 10:99  Upāli Sutta | To Upāli  —  Using the simile of the rabbit or cat that thinks it can imitate an elephant, the Buddha discourages Ven. Upāli from living in the forest, and encourages him instead to stay living with the Saṅgha.
  • AN 10:101  Samaṇasaññā Sutta | Contemplative Perceptions  —  Three perceptions that contemplatives should always hold in mind, and the seven rewards of doing so.
  • AN 10:103  Micchatta Sutta | Wrongness  —  How wrong view gives rise to other forms of wrongness.
  • AN 10:104  Bīja Sutta | The Seed  —  Using the similes of the bitter seed and sweet seed, the Buddha explains how wrong view gives rise to other forms of wrongness, and right view to other forms of rightness.
  • AN 10:108  Tikicchā Sutta | A Purgative  —  The right factors of the arahants tenfold path purge away the corresponding wrong factors.
  • AN 10:118  Orima Sutta | The Near Shore  —  In many discourses, the Buddha speaks of the near shore and the far shore. In this discourse he explains the near shore as the ten factors of the wrong path, and the far shore as the ten factors of the right. For another explanation of “near shore” and “far shore,” see SN 35:197 and Sn 5.
  • AN 10:165  Cunda Kammāraputta Sutta | To Cunda the Silversmith  —  The Buddha explains to Cunda the silversmith—who later offered him his last meal—that purification is a matter, not of rites, but of following the ten courses of good conduct: three bodily, four verbal, and three mental.
  • AN 10:166  Jāṇussoṇin Sutta | To Jāṇussoṇin (On Offerings to the Dead)  —  A brahman asks: When the merit of a gift is dedicated to the deceased, do they receive that merit? The Buddha explains that they do if they are hungry ghosts, but then goes on to state that—better than following the course of action leading to rebirth as a hungry ghost, and there waiting for dedications of merit—one should follow the course of action leading to rebirth in heaven, where one can enjoy the fruits of the gifts that one gave in this lifetime.
  • AN 10:196  Brahmavihāra Sutta | The Sublime Attitudes  —  The rewards of practicing the sublime abidings.

Elevens

  • AN 11:1  Kimattha Sutta | What is the Purpose?  —  Beginning with skillful virtues, and ascending all the way through dispassion, the Buddha discusses the purpose and reward of different aspects of the practice, showing how the more basic parts of the practice have the higher ones as their reward.
  • AN 11:2  Cetanā Sutta | An Act of Will  —  How the more basic parts of the practice lead naturally to the higher ones.
  • AN 11:10  Sandha Sutta | To Sandha  —  Using the simile of the thoughts that absorb a thoroughbred horse as opposed to the thoughts that absorb an unbroken colt, the Buddha describes the jhāna of an arahant as opposed to the “jhāna” of one who has not found escape from the five hindrances.
  • AN 11:12  Mahānāma Sutta | To Mahānāma (1)  —  When the Buddha and the monks prepare to leave at the end of the Rains retreat, Mahānāma—a streamwinner—asks the Buddha what he should meditate on in their absence. The Buddha advises developing the five strengths and practicing recollection of six things: the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha, his own virtue, his own generosity, and the virtues of the devas that are found within him.
  • AN 11:13  Mahānāma Sutta | To Mahānāma (2)  —  The same situation and question as in the preceding sutta, with the same answer expressed in slightly different terms.
  • AN 11:16  Mettā Sutta | Goodwill  —  The eleven rewards of developing goodwill as an awareness release.