Paṭhamavohārapathasutta — 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 same four false claims about perception as AN 4.217
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — familiar vocabulary, now carried by a third formula
Why this discourse
Claiming to have seen, heard, sensed, or known something one has not — the same false claims AN 4.217 named, using the same diṭṭha suta muta viññāta vocabulary first defined at AN 4.24. What began as a fourfold division of experience has now carried three different consequence formulas across this series: the tādī discourse at AN 4.24, the hell/heaven formula at AN 4.217, and this chapter’s khata formula here.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Claiming to have seen, heard, sensed, or known something one has not keeps a fool broken and blameworthy; honestly denying what one has not experienced keeps an astute person intact and praiseworthy.
A third setting for one vocabulary
Adiṭṭhe diṭṭhavādī, asute sutavādī, amute mutavādī, aviññāte viññātavādī is the exact wording of AN 4.217. The underlying terms, diṭṭha, suta, muta, viññāta, were first defined in this series at AN 4.24, describing the Realized One as unaffected in the midst of things seen, heard, sensed, and known. This discourse is the third distinct context in which this series has now met that vocabulary: description of an awakened person’s poise, a rule about honest testimony under the hell/heaven formula, and now the same rule under the khata formula.
What stays fixed across three settings
Across all three appearances, the four terms themselves never change meaning or order. What changes is only the frame around them — unaffectedness, destination, or condition and social standing. This is the clearest single example in the collection of a content unit’s stability against the formula wrapping it: the vocabulary is portable in a way the surrounding consequence-language is not.
Its mirror still to come
As at AN 4.217–218, this discourse’s mirror — falsely denying experience one actually had — follows immediately at AN 4.228, completing the same pair of directions a second time.
Key terms
diṭṭha suta muta viññāta — “seen, heard, sensed, known” — first defined at AN 4.24, now met for the third time under a third formula.
adiṭṭhe diṭṭhavādī — “claiming to have seen what one has not seen” — identical wording to AN 4.217.
khataṁ upahataṁ attānaṁ pariharati — this chapter’s formula, continued from AN 4.222 through AN 4.226.
vohārapatha — “way of speaking, ground of expression” — the term naming this discourse and its pair, as at AN 4.217–218.
tādī — “the unaffected one” — the term AN 4.24 built around this same vocabulary, in its first and most different setting.
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. … They say they’ve seen, heard, thought, or known something, but they haven’t. … An astute person … brims with much merit. … They say they haven’t seen, heard, thought, or known something, and they haven’t. …”
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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
What four false claims does this discourse name?
Correct: B. Identical wording to AN 4.217.
Question 2 of 10
In how many distinct settings has this series now met the diṭṭha-suta-muta-viññāta vocabulary?
Correct: B. The same four terms, three different consequence-formulas around them.
Question 3 of 10
What does the guide say stays fixed across all three settings?
Correct: B. The clearest example in the collection of content stability against a changing formula.
Question 4 of 10
Where was diṭṭha-suta-muta-viññāta first defined in this series?
Correct: B. Describing the Realized One as unaffected amid what is seen, heard, sensed, and known.
Question 5 of 10
What formula wraps this discourse?
Correct: B. This chapter’s consistent wrapper.
Question 6 of 10
What does the next discourse, AN 4.228, do with this same vocabulary?
Correct: B. Completing the mirrored pair, as at AN 4.217–218.
Question 7 of 10
What did AN 4.24 use this vocabulary to describe?
Correct: B. The vocabulary’s first and most different setting in this series.
Question 8 of 10
What is muta, the third of the four terms?
Correct: B. One quarter of the fixed fourfold division of experience.
Question 9 of 10
What term names this discourse and its pair together?
Correct: B. As at AN 4.217–218.
Question 10 of 10
What does the guide identify as the significance of vocabulary surviving three different formula-settings?
Correct: B. The vocabulary is portable in a way the surrounding formula is not.
