Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The principle not to activate is the ten wrong factors from wrong view to wrong freedom; the principle to activate is the ten right factors from right view to right freedom.
A shift from identity to instruction
This chapter's first four discourses all asked, in various registers, what the ten factors essentially ARE; starting here, the remaining five discourses instead ask what a practitioner should DO about them — a shift from classification to instruction that will run through activate, cultivate, develop, make much of, and recollect.
Uppādetabba, a term of arousal or generation
Uppādetabba, “should be activated,” shares its root with uppāda, arising or origination — the verb suggests deliberately bringing something into being, an act of will rather than passive recognition.
Five verbs, one chain of practical engagement
Read together, this discourse and the four that follow sketch an implicit progression of practical engagement with the right factors: first arouse them, then repeatedly engage (cultivate) with them, develop them further, give them substantial weight (make much of), and finally hold them in mind (recollect) — five distinct verbs for what remains, underneath, a single sustained practice.
Key terms
The text
Not to be activated, and to be activated
§1“I will teach you the principle to activate and the principle not to activate. … And what is the principle not to activate? Wrong view, wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, wrong immersion, wrong knowledge, and wrong freedom. This is called the principle not to activate. And what is the principle to activate? Right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right immersion, right knowledge, and right freedom. This is called the principle to activate.”
Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.