Saṅghasāmaggīsutta — Upālivagga — the fourth chapter of the Tens
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
Venerable Upāli questioning the Buddha
Form
A single question, a single ten-ground definition, the exact mirror of AN 10.37's
Length
~1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a straightforward positive mirror of the preceding discourse
Why this discourse
Immediately after defining schism, Upāli asks for its exact opposite: what counts as harmony in the Saṅgha? The Buddha's answer takes the same five categories from AN 10.37 and flips every reversal back the right way round — explaining what is not the teaching as not the teaching, and so on, so that no split occurs.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Harmony in the Saṅgha is defined as a mendicant correctly representing the same five things schism distorts — the teaching, the training, and what the Realized One said, practiced, and prescribed — so that no split occurs and legal acts and the monastic code continue to be performed together.
An exact mirror, category by category
This discourse does not introduce new material: it takes AN 10.37's five categories one by one and simply corrects each reversal — where schism explained the teaching as not-the-teaching, harmony explains the teaching as the teaching. The structure is identical; only the direction of each item is flipped.
A pairing typical of this project
Positive-negative discourse pairs sharing an identical underlying structure have appeared repeatedly throughout this project's earlier nipātas; this pair is among the starkest examples, since the two discourses' ten grounds correspond one-to-one with nothing added or removed on either side.
Still no reward named, yet
Just as AN 10.37 withheld the cost of causing schism, this discourse withholds the reward of preserving harmony — both are named only in the discourses that follow, AN 10.39 and 10.40, where Ānanda asks the question this pair leaves open.
Key terms
saṅghasāmaggī — “harmony in the Saṅgha” — this discourse's own title, the direct positive counterpart to saṅghabheda.
adhammaṁ adhammoti dīpeti — “explains what is not the teaching as not the teaching” — the corrected, harmonious version of AN 10.37's first reversal.
na āveni kammāni karonti, na āveni pātimokkhaṁ uddisanti — “they don't perform legal acts autonomously or recite the monastic code autonomously” — the concrete outcome of harmony: one Saṅgha, acting as one.
dhammaṁ dhammoti dīpeti — “explains the teaching as the teaching” — the corrected, harmonious version of the first reversal, reading straightforwardly rather than against itself.
samaggo — “united, harmonious” — the state of the Saṅgha this discourse defines and protects, the direct opposite of bhinno, split.
The text
The discourse in full: Upāli's question, and the Buddha's definition of harmony. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Upāli's question
§1“Sir, they speak of ‘harmony in the Saṅgha’. How is harmony in the Saṅgha defined?”
Ten grounds defining harmony
§2“Upāli, it’s when a mendicant explains what is not the teaching as not the teaching, and what is the teaching as the teaching. They explain what is not the training as not the training, and what is the training as the training. They explain what was not spoken and stated by the Realized One as not spoken and stated by the Realized One, and what was spoken and stated by the Realized One as spoken and stated by the Realized One. They explain what was not practiced by the Realized One as not practiced by the Realized One, and what was practiced by the Realized One as practiced by the Realized One. They explain what was not prescribed by the Realized One as not prescribed by the Realized One, and what was prescribed by the Realized One as prescribed by the Realized One. On these ten grounds they don’t split off and go their own way. They don’t perform legal acts autonomously or recite the monastic code autonomously. That is how harmony in the Saṅgha is defined.”
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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 does Upāli ask about in this discourse?
Correct: A. The exact positive counterpart to AN 10.37's definition of schism.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse's structure compare to AN 10.37's?
Correct: B. Category-by-category, the same structure with the direction of each item flipped.
Question 3 of 6
What is the concrete outcome of harmony described as?
Correct: B. The institutional opposite of schism's separate, autonomous acts.
Question 4 of 6
According to the guide, what does this discourse still withhold?
Correct: B. Just as AN 10.37 withheld schism's cost, this discourse withholds harmony's reward.
Question 5 of 6
According to the guide, how does this pair compare to other positive-negative pairs in this project?
Correct: B. A very tight structural mirror, typical of this project's recurring pairing pattern but unusually exact here.
Question 6 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given, as throughout this chapter.
