Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A schismatic is defined exactly as in AN 10.37, but here the Buddha adds the consequence: whoever splits a harmonious Saṅgha brims with sin lasting an eon and burns in hell for that eon, a verdict sealed with a closing verse.
A new narrative frame, a new questioner
Unlike AN 10.32–38, which read as one continuous conversation with Upāli, this discourse opens with its own narrative: “Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side” — the same formal opening used for AN 10.31, signaling a fresh scene rather than a continued exchange.
The same definition, elided
Rather than restating the ten grounds in full, the source elides most of the definition with an ellipsis, trusting the reader to recall AN 10.37's exact wording — a repeat acknowledged rather than reproduced.
A cost finally named, in verse
This is the first point in the chapter where a karmic consequence is stated outright, and the first appearance of a closing verse anywhere in this chapter: the four lines drive home in poetic form what the preceding prose already said in legal form — a schismatic burns in hell for an eon.
Key terms
The text
Ānanda's question, and the definition repeated
§1Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to the Buddha: “Sir, they speak of ‘schism in the Saṅgha’. How is schism in the Saṅgha defined?” “Ānanda, it’s when a mendicant explains what is not the teaching as the teaching … and what was prescribed by the Realized One as not prescribed by the Realized One. On these ten grounds they split off and go their own way. They perform legal acts autonomously and recite the monastic code autonomously. That is how schism in the Saṅgha is defined.”
The cost of schism
§2“But sir, what does someone who has split a harmonious Saṅgha brim with?” “They brim with sin that lasts for an eon.” “But sir, what is the sin that lasts for an eon?” “They burn in hell for an eon, Ānanda.
Closing verse
§3A schismatic remains for the eon in a place of loss, in hell. Taking a stand against the teaching, favoring factions, they ruin their sanctuary. After causing schism in a harmonious Saṅgha, they burn in hell for an eon.”
Self-check quiz
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