Kusalasutta — Sādhuvagga — the eighteenth chapter of the Tens, the third chapter of the Fourth Fifty, echoing chapter 14's own eleven word-pairs
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The identical compressed template, with a new content base
Length
under 1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the third of this chapter's eleven near-identical variations
Why this discourse
This discourse reruns chapter 14's skillful/unskillful pairing, but notably flips which pole gives the discourse its title: chapter 14's AN 10.136 was named “Unskillful” (Akusala), while this discourse is named “Skillful” (Kusala) for otherwise identical content.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The unskillful is the ten courses of unskillful action; the skillful is avoiding all ten and cultivating their opposites.
A title flipped, content unchanged
This is the first of several small naming differences this chapter shows relative to chapter 14: where AN 10.136 emphasized the negative pole in its own title (Akusalasutta, “Unskillful”), this discourse emphasizes the positive pole instead (Kusalasutta, “Skillful”) even though both discourses define and contrast the same two poles in full.
The project's own most familiar vocabulary, once more
As already noted at AN 10.136, kusala and akusala are among the most constantly used evaluative terms across this entire project; this discourse anchors them once more to a specific, named content — this time the ten courses of action rather than the ten-factor path.
Key terms
kusala — “skillful” — this discourse's own title, the positive pole given naming priority here, unlike chapter 14's AN 10.136.
akusala — “unskillful” — the negative pole, applied to the ten courses of unskillful action.
pisuṇāya vācāya veramaṇī — “avoiding backbiting” — one of the ten items, using the abstention construction typical of this chapter's list.
abhijjhā, byāpāda — “covetousness, ill will” — the first two of the three mental courses of action closing the unskillful list.
micchādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” — the tenth and final item of the unskillful list, unchanged in form from the ten-factor path's own usage.
The text
The discourse in full: the ten courses of action defined as unskillful and skillful. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The unskillful, and the skillful
§1“I will teach you the skillful and the unskillful … And what is the unskillful? Killing living creatures … wrong view. This is called the unskillful. And what is the skillful? Not killing living creatures … right view. This is called the skillful.”
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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 to the ten courses of action?
Correct: B. This project's most frequently used evaluative pairing, applied here to the ten courses of action.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, what naming difference does this discourse show relative to chapter 14's AN 10.136?
Correct: B. A flipped naming choice, both discourses still defining and contrasting both poles.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, how central is "kusala/akusala" vocabulary to this entire project?
Correct: B. Already noted at AN 10.136 in chapter 14, here anchored once more to a different specific content.
Question 4 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this discourse.
Question 5 of 6
What construction do most of this discourse's ten items use, distinct from chapter 14's ten-factor path?
Correct: B. A grammatical signature of the ten courses of action, distinct from the ten-factor path's own phrasing.
Question 6 of 6
How many discourses total make up this chapter, Sādhuvagga (the second of this name)?
Correct: B. AN 10.178 through AN 10.188, matching chapter 14's own eleven-discourse length exactly.
