Paṭhamamaggasutta — Duccaritavagga — the twenty-third chapter of the Fours
Setting
None stated; the Duccaritavagga 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, the first four factors of the noble eightfold path
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — the same split path, met a second time
Why this discourse
View, thought, speech, action — the same first half of the eightfold path AN 4.215 gave, split for the same reason: eight factors do not fit one tetrad. Here the split is made a second time, in a different chapter, under a different formula, confirming that the constraint AN 4.215 identified is a constraint of the collection’s tetrad form itself, not a one-off feature of a single chapter.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Wrong view, wrong thought, wrong speech, and wrong action keep a fool broken and blameworthy; the right counterparts keep an astute person intact and praiseworthy.
The same split, repeated
Micchādiṭṭhi, micchāsaṅkappa, micchāvācā, micchākammanta are AN 4.215’s first four path factors exactly. That discourse explained why the eightfold path is cut here rather than elsewhere — a natural seam between the wisdom-and-ethics grouping and the livelihood-and-cultivation grouping — and why the split happens at all: this collection’s tetrads cannot hold eight items in one piece.
Confirmation, not coincidence
That the identical split recurs here, in a different chapter and under a different formula, is worth pausing on. If AN 4.215’s split had been a one-off editorial choice specific to that chapter, there would be no reason for this chapter to divide the path at exactly the same seam. That it does confirms the constraint is structural: wherever the eightfold path needs to fit inside this collection’s four-item form, it breaks at the same joint.
A pair to read together, again
As with AN 4.215 and AN 4.216, this discourse and the next, AN 4.226, are one path artificially divided by the chapter’s form and should be read as a single unit. The remaining four factors, held over to the next discourse, complete the same path given whole at AN 4.205 and in two parts at AN 4.215–216.
Key terms
ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga — “the noble eightfold path” — here split for the second time in this series, at the identical seam used at AN 4.215.
micchādiṭṭhi, micchāsaṅkappa, micchāvācā, micchākammanta — wrong view, thought, speech, and action — the first four factors, identical to AN 4.215.
khataṁ upahataṁ attānaṁ pariharati — this chapter’s formula, continued from AN 4.222 through AN 4.224.
peyyāla — “repetition-series” — the same heavy elision seen at AN 4.224, applied here to half the path.
wisdom / ethics grouping — the traditional division that places view and thought with speech and action, as the first half of the path, distinct from livelihood and the three concentration factors.
The text
The discourse exactly as the source abridges it, ellipsis marks included. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The elided discourse
§1“A foolish person … brims with much wickedness. … wrong view, wrong purpose, wrong speech, wrong action. … An astute person … brims with much merit. … right view, right purpose, right speech, right action. …”
· · ·
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
What four path factors does this discourse name?
Correct: B. Identical to AN 4.215’s first half of the path.
Question 2 of 10
Why does this discourse split the path at the same seam as AN 4.215, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The same joint, in a different chapter under a different formula, shows the constraint is real.
Question 3 of 10
What discourse holds the remaining four path factors?
Correct: B. Completing the same eightfold path, as at AN 4.215–216.
Question 4 of 10
What formula wraps this discourse’s content?
Correct: B. Consistent with this chapter since AN 4.222.
Question 5 of 10
Where was this same eightfold path given as a single, unsplit list?
Correct: B. The source both this chapter’s and the previous chapter’s split versions restate.
Question 6 of 10
How should AN 4.225 and AN 4.226 best be read, per the guide?
Correct: B. The same relationship established between AN 4.215 and AN 4.216.
Question 7 of 10
What seam divides the path’s two halves, as first explained at AN 4.215?
Correct: B. A natural division the tradition already recognized.
Question 8 of 10
What form does this discourse take?
Correct: B. Continuing this chapter’s compression.
Question 9 of 10
What does the guide say this repeated split demonstrates about the collection’s tetrad form?
Correct: B. The same joint chosen twice, in different chapters, is not coincidence.
Question 10 of 10
What immediately follows this discourse in the chapter?
