Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Harmony is defined exactly as in AN 10.38, and the Buddha adds its reward: whoever forges harmony in a divided Saṅgha brims with divine merit and rejoices in heaven for an eon, sealed with a four-line verse mirroring AN 10.39's.
The chapter's final mirrored pair
AN 10.39 and 10.40 complete the same positive-negative pairing already seen between AN 10.37 and 10.38, now carried one step further into consequence: sin for an eon versus merit for an eon, hell for an eon versus heaven for an eon, verse for verse.
A verse answering a verse
This discourse's closing verse mirrors AN 10.39's line by line — where that verse named a schismatic “taking a stand against the teaching, favoring factions,” this one names the harmonizer “taking a stand on the teaching, favoring harmony” — the same structure, inverted in substance.
Closing the chapter, and naming all ten discourses
The source's own colophon, left untranslated in the English text, marks this both as the tenth discourse and as the close of Upālivaggo catuttho, the fourth chapter, followed by an uddāna verse listing all ten discourse names in brief — the same closing device seen at the end of chapters 1 through 3.
Key terms
The text
Ānanda's question, and the definition repeated
§1“Sir, they speak of ‘harmony in the Saṅgha’. How is harmony in the Saṅgha defined?” “Ānanda, 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.”
The reward of harmony
§2“But sir, what does someone who has forged harmony in a schismatic Saṅgha brim with?” “They brim with divine merit.” “But what is divine merit?” “They rejoice in heaven for an eon, Ānanda.
Closing verse
§3A Saṅgha in harmony is happy, as is support for those in harmony. Taking a stand on the teaching, favoring harmony, they ruin no sanctuary. After forging harmony in the Saṅgha, they rejoice in heaven for an eon.”
Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.