Āsavakkhayasutta — Paccorohaṇivagga — the twelfth chapter of the Tens, the Chapter on the Ceremony of Descent
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single flat list of ten, with a single stated outcome
Length
under 1 minute to read
Closing this chapter
This discourse closes Paccorohaṇivagga, the twelfth chapter, with its own untranslated colophon and uddāna verse naming all ten discourses
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the plainest possible closing statement
Why this discourse
After ten discourses reframing the ten-factor path through principles and results, a heartwood simile, hollow debating tactics, two shores, and a reinterpreted purification ceremony, this chapter closes by simply stating what the ten factors, developed together, actually accomplish.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
These ten things — right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom — when developed and cultivated, lead to the ending of defilements.
The shortest possible statement of the chapter's whole subject
Every discourse in this chapter, however differently dressed, has ultimately concerned itself with these same ten factors; this final discourse strips away every remaining frame — no brahmin, no simile, no narrative — and states their single, ultimate outcome as plainly as the teaching allows.
A destination named, not merely a process
Where AN 10.103–110's whole run in the previous chapter emphasized process — wearing away, washing, purging — this discourse names the destination those processes lead to directly: not another metaphor for removal, but the actual outcome, the ending of defilements, stated without any intervening image at all.
Closing both a chapter and its own long argument
The source's own colophon marks this discourse as both the tenth of Paccorohaṇivagga and the close of the chapter, with its own uddāna verse naming all ten discourses — a fitting final note to a chapter that has spent its entire length demonstrating just how many different doors lead to the same ten factors.
Key terms
āsavānaṁ khayāya saṁvattanti — “lead to the ending of defilements” — this discourse's own title and stated outcome for all ten factors together.
bhāvitā bahulīkatā — “developed and cultivated” — the condition attached to the ten factors, an ongoing practice rather than a one-time attainment.
sammādiṭṭhi — “right view” — the first factor, opening this discourse's list exactly as it opened AN 10.103's original chain.
sammāvimutti — “right freedom” — the tenth and final factor, closing both this discourse's list and the chapter's own long exploration of it.
Paccorohaṇivaggo dutiyo — “the Ceremony of Descent Chapter, the second” — the chapter's own closing colophon, left untranslated in the English text.
The text
The discourse in full: the ten factors and their single stated outcome. The chapter's own colophon and uddāna verse, in Pāli only, are described but not reproduced. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Ten things that end the defilements
§1“Mendicants, these ten things, when developed and cultivated, lead to the ending of defilements. What ten? Right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom. These ten things, when developed and cultivated, lead to the ending of defilements.”
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Self-check quiz
5 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 5
What outcome does this discourse attribute to the ten factors, developed and cultivated together?
Correct: B. The single, ultimate outcome of the entire ten-factor path.
Question 2 of 5
According to the guide, what does this discourse strip away compared to the rest of the chapter?
Correct: B. The plainest possible closing statement to a chapter full of varied images.
Question 3 of 5
According to the guide, how does this discourse differ from the process-focused images earlier in this material (wearing away, washing, purging)?
Correct: B. A shift from process metaphors to a stated destination.
Question 4 of 5
What does this discourse close, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A fitting final note to a chapter built entirely around one recurring content.
Question 5 of 5
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this brief, closing discourse.
