Catutthavohārasutta — Āpattibhayavagga — the twenty-fifth chapter of the Fours
Setting
None stated; the Āpattibhayavagga gives no location for this discourse, and it is addressed to the mendicants directly
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single sentence completing the set of four expressions, closing the chapter
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, but its close marks a structural milestone worth naming plainly
Why this discourse
Truthfully saying one has seen, heard, thought, or known something one actually has — the fourth and final combination, completing this chapter's atomized treatment of the diṭṭha-suta-muta-viññāta vocabulary. With this discourse, the Āpattibhayavagga closes, and the source colophon marks something larger closing alongside it: the entire fifth paṇṇāsaka of the Fours, five chapters and fifty-three discourses that began at AN 4.201.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Truthfully saying one has seen, heard, thought, or known something one actually has is one of the four noble ways of speaking.
The set, completed
Diṭṭhe diṭṭhavāditā, sute sutavāditā, mute mutavāditā, viññāte viññātavāditā — honest claim, the positive counterpart already read paired with false denial at AN 4.218 and AN 4.228. With this discourse, all four logical combinations of experience and claim — true claim, true denial, false claim, false denial — have now each received an independent discourse in this chapter: AN 4.250, 251, 252, and this one.
A vocabulary's history, now complete across this series
It is worth pausing at this close to survey the full path this vocabulary has taken. Introduced whole at AN 4.24, to describe a Realized One’s unaffectedness. Given as a mirrored pair under the hell/heaven formula at AN 4.217–218. Given as a mirrored pair again under the khata formula at AN 4.227–228. And now given as four fully independent statements under a noble/ignoble frame, AN 4.250–253. Four terms, unchanged in meaning across nine discourses and four chapters, organized three structurally different ways without ever needing to be redefined.
The chapter closes, and so does its paṇṇāsaka
The source colophon marks two closures at once here: Āpattibhayavaggo pañcamo, the Āpattibhayavagga, the fifth [vagga of its group]; and immediately after, Pañcamo paṇṇāsako samatto, the fifth paṇṇāsaka is complete. This is a larger milestone than any chapter-close this series has yet marked: not merely the end of a ten- or eleven-discourse chapter, but the end of the entire five-chapter group — Sappurisavagga, Parisāvagga, Duccaritavagga, Kammavagga, and Āpattibhayavagga — that opened at AN 4.201 and now closes here at AN 4.253, fifty-three discourses in total.
What comes next
The chapters that follow, beginning with the Abhiññāvagga at AN 4.254, belong to whatever structure organizes the material beyond this paṇṇāsaka’s close. This reading guide has not yet verified how the traditional numbering treats that material and will establish it directly when that chapter is reached, rather than asserting a structure here in advance.
Key terms
diṭṭhe diṭṭhavāditā — “truthfully saying one has seen what one has seen” — the fourth and final combination, completing this chapter's set.
ariyavohāra — “noble expression” — this discourse's frame, matching AN 4.251's for honest denial.
Āpattibhayavaggo pañcamo — “the Āpattibhayavagga, the fifth” — the source colophon's label, marking this as the fifth and final vagga of its paṇṇāsaka.
pañcamo paṇṇāsako samatto — “the fifth paṇṇāsaka is complete” — the colophon marking the close of the entire five-chapter group beginning at AN 4.201.
diṭṭha suta muta viññāta — the fourfold division of experience, unchanged across all nine discourses and four chapters this vocabulary has appeared in across this series.
The text
The discourse in full: the fourth and final expression, completing the set. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
A noble expression
§1“Mendicants, there are these four noble expressions. What four? Saying you’ve seen, heard, thought, or known something, and you have. These are the four noble expressions.”
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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 does this discourse name as a noble expression?
Correct: B. The fourth and final combination in this chapter's set.
Question 2 of 10
How many of the four logical combinations have now received independent discourses, with this one included?
Correct: B. True claim, true denial, false claim, and false denial, each its own discourse.
Question 3 of 10
What three structurally different ways has this vocabulary been organized across this series?
Correct: B. Nine discourses and four chapters, with the four terms never needing to be redefined.
Question 4 of 10
What two closures does the source colophon mark at this discourse?
Correct: B. A larger milestone than any chapter-close this series has yet marked.
Question 5 of 10
What five chapters make up the paṇṇāsaka that closes with this discourse?
Correct: B. Opening at AN 4.201 and closing here at AN 4.253, fifty-three discourses in total.
Question 6 of 10
What does the guide say about the structure of the chapters that follow this close?
Correct: B. Consistent with this project's practice of checking sources before making structural claims.
Question 7 of 10
Where was this vocabulary given as a mirrored pair for the first time?
Correct: B. The vocabulary's second organizational shape in this series.
Question 8 of 10
What chapter begins after this paṇṇāsaka's close?
Correct: B. The next chapter this series will take up.
Question 9 of 10
What frame does this discourse use?
Correct: B. Matching AN 4.251's frame for honest denial.
Question 10 of 10
What did AN 4.24 originally describe using this same vocabulary?
Correct: B. The vocabulary's origin point in this series, many chapters before this closing discourse.
