Pāṇātipātīsutta — Parisāvagga — the twenty-second chapter of the Fours
Setting
None stated; the Parisāvagga gives no location for this discourse, and it is addressed to the mendicants directly
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
One elided line rather than the two full paragraphs of the previous discourses, naming killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
The four items named are part of the standard ten courses of action, near-universal across the Nikāyas and Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the shortest form the chapter’s formula takes
Why this discourse
Where AN 4.212 and AN 4.213 wrote out their hell and heaven halves in full, this discourse collapses both into a single line, using the Pāli manuscript’s own ellipsis mark, …pe…, to signal that everything the reader has just seen twice does not need repeating a third time. What survives the compression is the content: four of the ten courses of action, the four most concrete and least disputable failures a person can commit.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying deliver a person to hell as if placed there; abstaining from all four delivers them to heaven the same way.
A single elided line
Unlike its two predecessors, this discourse is recorded in the source text as one compressed segment rather than two full paragraphs, with the Pāli’s own …pe… abbreviation marks standing in for the opening formula, the closing restatement, and the heaven half, all of which the reader has just seen written out in full twice over. This reading guide’s text panel shows that single line exactly as the source gives it.
This is the peyyāla technique already named earlier in this nipāta, here operating at its most aggressive: not just the middle of a discourse compressed, but nearly the whole thing, on the reasonable assumption that a reciter or reader who has just heard the two previous discourses in full needs only the new content, not the frame around it again.
The four named
Pāṇātipāta, adinnādāna, kāmesumicchācāra, musāvāda — killing living creatures, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying. These are four of the ten courses of action given in full at AN 4.204: the three bodily courses entire, and one of the four verbal courses, lying, the gravest of the four.
The selection is not arbitrary. These four are also, with the addition of a fifth, intoxication, the five precepts undertaken by lay Buddhists — the ethical floor below which conduct becomes, in the tradition’s own terms, not merely unwise but criminal. A discourse this heavily compressed still chose to preserve exactly the four items most lay listeners would recognize without needing the list named.
Reading past the ellipsis
It would be a mistake to read this discourse as saying less than AN 4.212 or AN 4.213 because it says it more briefly. The elided heaven half restores, item for item, the corresponding positive: not killing, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not lying. Nothing is lost in the compression except the words; the doctrine handed to a listener who can supply the pattern from the two previous discourses is exactly the same doctrine.
Key terms
peyyāla — “repetition-series” — the abridgment device this discourse uses at its most aggressive, compressing nearly the whole discourse into a single elided line.
pāṇātipāta — “killing living creatures” — the first and gravest of the three bodily courses of action, and this discourse’s title.
adinnādāna — “taking what is not given”, stealing — the second bodily course of action named here.
kāmesumicchācāra — “sexual misconduct” — the third bodily course of action named here.
musāvāda — “false speech, lying” — the gravest of the four verbal courses of action, the only one of the four selected for this tetrad.
The text
The discourse exactly as the source abridges it, ellipsis marks included. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The elided discourse
§1“Someone with four qualities is placed in hell as if delivered there. … They kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, and lie. … Someone with four qualities is placed in heaven as if delivered there. … They don’t kill living creatures, steal, commit sexual misconduct, or lie. …”
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
How does this discourse differ in form from AN 4.212 and AN 4.213?
Correct: B. The Pāli’s own …pe… ellipsis marks stand in for the repeated frame.
Question 2 of 10
What four items does this discourse name?
Correct: B. Three bodily courses of action, entire, plus the gravest of the four verbal courses.
Question 3 of 10
What earlier discourse gives the fuller list these four are drawn from?
Correct: B. Three bodily courses entire, and one of four verbal courses.
Question 4 of 10
What five precepts do these four items correspond to, with one addition?
Correct: B. The ethical floor for lay Buddhist conduct in the tradition’s own terms.
Question 5 of 10
According to the guide, does the heavy compression here reduce the doctrine being taught?
Correct: B. Nothing is lost except the words; the pattern is fully recoverable.
Question 6 of 10
What is the technical name for this abridgment device?
Correct: B. Already named earlier in this nipāta, operating here at its most aggressive.
Question 7 of 10
Why might a discourse be compressed this heavily, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A reasonable economy given what has just been heard.
Question 8 of 10
Which of the ten courses of action is this discourse’s only verbal item?
Correct: B. Selected over the other three verbal courses.
Question 9 of 10
What formula does this discourse still use, even in elided form?
Correct: B. Compressed to ellipsis marks, but present in the source text.
Question 10 of 10
How many discourses in this chapter use this same heavy elision, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The chapter runs a cluster of these compressed discourses before closing in full form again.
