Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 10.134

Good

Sādhusutta — Sādhuvagga — the fourteenth chapter of the Tens, the Chapter on Good

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A brief announcement, then the ten-factor path defined as good and not good
Length
under 1 minute to read
Chapter's namesake
This discourse gives its own name to the new chapter, Sādhuvagga, the Chapter on Good — a second compact, eleven-discourse chapter in a row, each discourse cycling one different word-pair through the same underlying content
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — as simple as this project's vocabulary gets

Why this discourse

Opening a second chapter in a row built almost entirely from one recurring template, the Buddha announces he will teach “what is good and what is not good” — the plainest evaluative language possible, mapped directly onto the familiar ten-factor path.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

What is not good is the ten wrong factors from wrong view to wrong freedom; what is good is the ten right factors from right view to right freedom.

A new chapter, an even simpler word

Where chapter 13 built its eleven discourses around exclusivity claims of increasing complexity, this chapter opens with the single plainest evaluative term available: sādhu, good, and its simple negation, asādhu, not good — no exclusivity clause, no cultivation condition, just the most basic possible value judgment.

A template for ten more variations

This discourse establishes the exact template every other discourse in this chapter will follow: “I will teach you X and not-X,” followed by defining not-X as the ten wrong factors and X as the ten right factors — a formula this chapter will run through ten more distinct value-pairs without ever varying its underlying structure.

Announced to a general audience, this time

Unlike several discourses in the previous two chapters, this one opens with the Buddha explicitly announcing his intention to teach before beginning — “listen and apply your mind well, I will speak” — the formal preparatory address this chapter's remaining discourses will largely economize by eliding.

Key terms

sādhu — “good” — this discourse's own title and the plainest evaluative term this chapter's whole eleven-discourse run is built from.
asādhu — “not good” — the simple negation applied to the ten wrong factors.
suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasi karotha, bhāsissāmi — “listen and apply your mind well, I will speak” — the Buddha's own formal preparatory address, given here in full and often elided in the discourses that follow.
micchādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” — the first of the ten factors defined here as not good.
sammāvimutti — “right freedom” — the tenth and final factor, closing the list defined as good.

The text

The discourse in full: the announcement, and the ten-factor path defined as good and not good. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

An announcement

§1“Mendicants, I will teach you what is good and what is not good. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

Not good, and good

§2“And what, mendicants, is not good? Wrong view, wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom. This is called what is not good. And what is good? Right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom. This is called what is good.”

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Self-check quiz

6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 6
What does the Buddha announce he will teach?
Correct: A. The plainest possible evaluative pairing, opening a new chapter.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, how does this chapter's opening word compare to chapter 13's?
Correct: B. A simpler starting point than chapter 13's increasingly elaborate claims.
Question 3 of 6
What template does this discourse establish for the rest of the chapter?
Correct: B. A formula ten more discourses will each apply to a new value-pair.
Question 4 of 6
What is distinctive about this discourse's opening, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A fuller opening than most of the discourses that follow in this chapter.
Question 5 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this discourse.
Question 6 of 6
How many chapters in a row does this discourse's chapter continue the compact, near-identical-template form, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Chapter 13's Purified and chapter 14's Good run the same compact, single-template pattern back to back.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

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