Dukkhudrayasutta — 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 tenth of this chapter's eleven near-identical variations
Why this discourse
This discourse reruns chapter 14's AN 10.143 exactly by title, delivering the most immediately legible vocabulary in this entire eleven-discourse sequence — suffering and happiness — now as the direct outcome of concrete unskillful and skillful acts.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The principle whose outcome is suffering is the ten courses of unskillful action; the principle whose outcome is happiness is avoiding all ten and cultivating their opposites.
The clearest possible link between act and outcome
Where the ten-factor version of this pairing (AN 10.143) already needed no doctrinal background to parse, this discourse's version is arguably even more immediate: suffering as the outcome of literally killing, stealing, and lying is about as directly graspable a causal claim as this entire nipāta makes, with no abstraction standing between the act and its described result.
An exact title match, closing in on this chapter's own finish
This discourse's title matches AN 10.143's exactly, setting up the same near-twin relationship with AN 10.188 that AN 10.143 and 10.144 shared at the close of chapter 14 — two discourses away from ending this chapter on its own most repetitive, and most immediately felt, note.
Key terms
dukkhudraya — “with suffering as outcome” — this discourse's own title, identical to chapter 14's AN 10.143.
sukhudraya — “with happiness as outcome” — the mirrored term, applied here to avoiding the ten courses of unskillful action.
dukkha — “suffering” — the central term of the four noble truths, here applied directly as the outcome of the ten unskillful acts.
adinnādānā veramaṇī — “avoiding stealing” — one of the ten items in this discourse's list.
micchādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” — the tenth and final item, closing the list.
The text
The discourse in full: the ten courses of action defined by their outcome in suffering and happiness. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Suffering as outcome, and happiness as outcome
§1“I will teach you the principle that has suffering as outcome, and that which has happiness as outcome. … And what is the principle whose outcome is suffering? Killing living creatures … wrong view. This is the principle whose outcome is suffering. And what is the principle whose outcome is happiness? Not killing living creatures … right view. This is the principle whose outcome is happiness.”
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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: A. The same pairing already met at chapter 14's AN 10.143, with an identical title.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, why might this discourse's version be even more immediate than AN 10.143's own?
Correct: B. The clearest possible link between concrete act and outcome.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what relationship does this discourse set up with AN 10.188 immediately following it?
Correct: B. Two discourses closing this chapter on its most repetitive, immediately felt note, echoing chapter 14's own closing pair.
Question 4 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this discourse.
Question 5 of 6
What chapter of AN10 does this discourse belong to?
Correct: B. The third chapter of the Fourth Fifty, near its own close.
Question 6 of 6
How many discourses in this chapter's eleven-discourse run remain after this one?
Correct: B. AN 10.188 alone remains, closing both this word-pair pattern and the chapter itself.
