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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 10.154

Should Be Realized

Sacchikātabbasutta — Ariyavagga — the fifteenth chapter of the Tens, the Chapter on the Noble, closing the Third Fifty

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The identical template, with a closing realization-verb
Length
under 1 minute to read
Closing this chapter and the Third Fifty
This discourse closes Ariyavagga, the fifteenth chapter, and with it the entire Third Fifty (chapters 11–15), with its own untranslated colophon “Ariyavaggo pañcamo, tatiyo paṇṇāsako samatto” and uddāna verse
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the final variation closing a chapter, a fifty, and a five-verb progression all at once

Why this discourse

Closing both this chapter and the entire Third Fifty, the Buddha delivers the strongest of the five closing verbs: not merely arousing, resorting to, developing, making abundant, or recollecting the right factors, but personally realizing them — direct, experiential attainment rather than any prior stage of practice.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

The principle not to realize is the ten wrong factors from wrong view to wrong freedom; the principle to realize is the ten right factors from right view to right freedom.

Sacchikātabba, the strongest verb in the progression

Sacchikaroti, “to realize” or witness directly, literally combines sacchi, “with one's own eyes,” and karoti, “to make or do” — unlike arousing, cultivating, developing, or recollecting, realization names not an ongoing practice but its consummation, the moment the path stops being practiced and becomes directly known.

A triple closure, not just one

This single brief discourse closes three things at once: the five-verb practice progression opened at AN 10.149, the ten-discourse Ariyavagga opened at AN 10.145, and the entire Third Fifty opened at AN 10.101 — twenty-five discourses across five chapters, all elaborating the same core ten-factor path first stated bare at AN 10.103.

A closing colophon naming the larger structure

This discourse's own colophon, left untranslated, explicitly names both closures: “Ariyavaggo pañcamo” (the Noble Chapter, the fifth [of the Third Fifty]) and “Tatiyo paṇṇāsako samatto” (the Third Fifty is finished) — the same double-colophon pattern already met at AN 10.100's closing of the Second Fifty.

Key terms

sacchikātabba — “should be realized,” from sacchi, “with one's own eyes,” and karoti, “to make or do” — this discourse's own title, naming direct experiential attainment.
na sacchikātabba — “should not be realized” — the negation applied to the ten wrong factors.
Ariyavaggo pañcamo — “the Noble Chapter, the fifth” — this chapter's own closing colophon, naming it as the fifth chapter of the Third Fifty.
Tatiyo paṇṇāsako samatto — “the Third Fifty is finished” — the second half of this discourse's closing colophon, marking the end of chapters 11 through 15 as a unit.
sammāñāṇaṁ, sammāvimutti — “right knowledge” and “right freedom” — the ninth and tenth factors, closing the final right-factor list of the Third Fifty.

The text

The discourse in full: the ten-factor path defined by what should, and should not, be realized. The chapter's own colophon and uddāna verse, in Pāli only, are described but not reproduced. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Not to be realized, and to be realized

§1“I will teach you the principle to realize and the principle not to realize. … And what is the principle not to realize? 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 realize. And what is the principle to realize? 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 realize.”

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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 pairing does this discourse apply the chapter's template to?
Correct: B. The strongest and final verb in this chapter's closing practice progression.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, what does "sacchikātabba" literally combine?
Correct: B. A term for direct, experiential attainment, distinct from the ongoing-practice verbs before it.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what three things does this single discourse close at once?
Correct: B. A triple closure spanning twenty-five discourses across five chapters.
Question 4 of 6
What does this discourse's own colophon state, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The same double-colophon pattern already met at AN 10.100's closing of the Second Fifty.
Question 5 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this brief, closing discourse.
Question 6 of 6
What does this discourse's closing colophon say, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A double closure naming both the chapter and the larger fifty it completes.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

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