Ariyamaggasutta — Ariyamaggavagga — the nineteenth chapter of the Tens, the fourth chapter of the Fourth Fifty, echoing chapter 15's own ten word-pairs
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A brief announcement, then the ten courses of action defined as noble and ignoble
Length
under 1 minute to read
Chapter's namesake
This discourse gives its own name to the new chapter, Ariyamaggavagga, reusing chapter 15's own theme (Ariyavagga) with content now explicitly named in the title itself
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — as simple as this project's vocabulary gets
Why this discourse
Just as chapter 18 reran chapter 14's eleven word-pairs against the ten courses of action, this chapter reruns chapter 15's own ten word-pairs (closing the Third Fifty) against the same ten courses of action, opening with the identical noble/ignoble pairing that opened AN 10.145.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The ignoble path is the ten courses of unskillful action; the noble path is avoiding all ten and cultivating their opposites.
A fourth chapter, a now-familiar pattern
This chapter is this nipāta's second instance of reusing an entire word-pair sequence wholesale (after chapter 18's reuse of chapter 14's own eleven pairs), confirming a deliberate editorial structure rather than coincidence: chapters 13–15 established a set of closely related naming templates for the ten-factor path, and chapters 18–19 now rerun those same templates for the ten courses of action instead.
Ten pairs, not eleven, mirroring chapter 15's own shorter run
Just as chapter 15 (Ariyavagga) ran to only ten discourses rather than chapters 13 and 14's eleven, this chapter mirrors that same shorter length exactly — confirmed by checking bilara-data before writing, which shows AN 10.189 through AN 10.198, ten discourses, no compression.
The chapter's own title already names its content
Unlike chapter 15's own title (Ariyavagga, simply “the noble chapter”), this chapter's title (Ariyamaggavagga, “the noble path chapter”) borrows its own opening discourse's full title rather than just the bare adjective — a small naming difference from its own model, even while the underlying content-swap pattern matches chapter 18's own precedent exactly.
Key terms
ariyamagga — “the noble path” — this discourse's own title, identical to chapter 15's own opening discourse, AN 10.145.
anariyamagga — “the ignoble path” — the negation, applied here to the ten courses of unskillful action.
Ariyamaggavagga — “the Noble Path Chapter” — this chapter's own name, borrowing its opening discourse's full title rather than chapter 15's shorter Ariyavagga.
pāṇātipātā, adinnādānā, kāmesumicchācārā — “killing, stealing, sexual misconduct” — the three bodily courses of action opening this discourse's list, exactly as at chapter 18's own opening discourse.
micchādiṭṭhi, sammādiṭṭhi — “wrong view, right view” — the tenth and final pairing, closing the list of ten courses of action rather than the ten-factor path's own longer list.
The text
The discourse in full: the ten courses of action defined as the noble path and the ignoble path. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The ignoble path, and the noble path
§1“I will teach you the noble path and the ignoble path. … And what is the ignoble path? Killing living creatures … wrong view. This is called the ignoble path. And what is the noble path? Not killing living creatures … right view. This is called the noble path.”
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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. The same opening pairing already used at chapter 15's AN 10.145, this time for a different underlying content.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, what pattern does this chapter's existence confirm about the nipāta's editorial structure?
Correct: B. The second instance of this exact editorial move within this nipāta.
Question 3 of 6
How many discourses does this chapter contain, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Confirmed by checking bilara-data before writing: no compression, ten discourses exactly.
Question 4 of 6
According to the guide, how does this chapter's own title differ from chapter 15's?
Correct: B. A small naming difference even while the content-swap pattern matches chapter 18's own precedent.
Question 5 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given for this discourse.
Question 6 of 6
What chapter of AN10 does this discourse open?
Correct: B. The second consecutive-Fifty chapter to rerun an earlier word-pair sequence for the ten courses of action.
