Paṭhamavivādamūlasutta — Akkosavagga — the fifth chapter of the Tens, closing the First Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
Venerable Upāli questioning the Buddha, continuing directly from AN 10.41
Form
A single question, a single ten-item answer, identical in substance to AN 10.37 and 10.41
Length
~1 minute to read
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a third appearance of familiar content
Why this discourse
Upāli asks a more clinical version of AN 10.41's question: not what causes disputes in general, but how many roots of dispute there are. The Buddha's answer is, for a third time, the identical five reversals — here given their most technical framing yet.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are ten roots of dispute: a mendicant explaining the teaching, the training, and what the Realized One said, practiced, and prescribed, each as its opposite — the same content as AN 10.37's definition of schism and AN 10.39's account of its cause.
Third framing, same substance
AN 10.37 asked what defines schism; AN 10.41 asked what causes ordinary discord; this discourse asks, most abstractly, how many roots (mūla) of dispute exist. All three questions receive the identical ten-item answer, without variation.
A title announcing its own sequel
This discourse's title, “Roots of Dispute (1st)”, explicitly signals a second installment to come — and AN 10.43 delivers it, but not as a mere repeat: it swaps in a wholly different list, about disciplinary offenses rather than doctrine, under the same title format.
Key terms
vivādamūla — “root of dispute” — this discourse's own title, the most abstract framing yet given to the same five-reversal content.
dhammaṁ adhammoti dīpeti — “explains the teaching as not the teaching” — the second half of the first reversal, completing the pair begun in AN 10.37's terms.
paṭhama — “first” — marking this as the first of a paired discourse, with AN 10.43 as its explicitly numbered sequel.
avinayaṁ vinayoti dīpeti — “explains what is not the training as the training” — the second reversal in this identical five-category list.
apaññattaṁ tathāgatena paññattaṁ tathāgatenāti dīpeti — “explains what was not prescribed by the Realized One as prescribed by the Realized One” — the fifth and final reversal.
The text
The discourse in full: Upāli's question, and the Buddha's ten roots. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Upāli's question
§1“Sir, how many roots of dispute are there?” “Upāli, there are ten roots of dispute. What ten?
Ten roots of dispute
§2It’s when a mendicant explains what is not the teaching as the teaching, and what is the teaching as not the teaching. They explain what is not the training as the training, and what is the training as not the training. They explain what was not spoken and stated by the Realized One as spoken and stated by the Realized One, and what was spoken and stated by the Realized One as not spoken and stated by the Realized One. They explain what was not practiced by the Realized One as practiced by the Realized One, and what was practiced by the Realized One as not practiced by the Realized One. They explain what was not prescribed by the Realized One as prescribed by the Realized One, and what was prescribed by the Realized One as not prescribed by the Realized One. These are the ten roots of dispute.”
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Self-check quiz
4 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 4
What does Upāli ask about in this discourse?
Correct: A. The most abstract framing yet of the same recurring content.
Question 2 of 4
How does the content of this discourse compare to AN 10.37 and 10.41?
Correct: B. Three questions, one unchanged ten-item answer.
Question 3 of 4
What does this discourse's title signal, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A numbered pairing that resolves differently than expected.
Question 4 of 4
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: D. No location is given, continuing the pattern for the Upāli exchanges.
