Pāṇātipātīsutta — Kammapathavagga — the twenty-seventh chapter of the Fours
Setting
None stated; the Kammapathavagga gives no location for this discourse, and it is addressed to the mendicants directly
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Two parallel statements, hell and heaven, on four degrees of involvement in a single course of action
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
The distinction between direct action and complicity through encouragement, approval, and praise is a recurring ethical concern across the Nikāyas and Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — simple in form, with a genuinely useful ethical distinction inside it
Why this discourse
This chapter does something none of this series' many partial treatments of the ten courses of action has done: it gives each course its own discourse, one at a time, ten discourses for ten courses. This opening discourse also introduces a structure new to this series — not just whether a person kills, but whether they encourage others to kill, approve of killing, or praise it. Four distinct degrees of involvement, all judged the same way.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Killing living creatures oneself, encouraging others to kill, approving of killing, and praising killing are four qualities that together deliver a person to hell as if placed there; the four corresponding forms of abstention deliver them to heaven.
Ten courses, ten discourses, for the first time
Earlier in this series, the ten courses of action have appeared compressed into a tetrad by selecting four (AN 4.214, AN 4.224), folded into a threefold-conduct-plus-view template with wrong view standing for the whole mental category (AN 4.212 and its many descendants), or given all four verbal courses together as their own set (AN 4.221). This chapter does something none of those did: it dedicates one full discourse to each single course, ten in total, and this discourse is the first of them.
Four degrees of complicity, not previously given this shape
Attanā ca pāṇātipātī hoti, parañca pāṇātipāte samādapeti, pāṇātipāte ca samanuñño hoti, pāṇātipātassa ca vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — doing it oneself, encouraging others to do it, approving of it, and praising it. This four-part structure is more granular than anything this series has read applied to a single course of action before. AN 4.202, several chapters back, paired only two degrees, self and encouragement, across seven different qualities; this discourse adds two further degrees — silent approval and active praise — and applies all four to one specific act.
Why the extra two degrees matter
Approval and praise are worth distinguishing from encouragement, since neither requires actively persuading anyone to do anything. Approving of killing is a private stance that need never be voiced; praising it is a public statement that need never target a specific person to act. This discourse treats both as equally sufficient, alongside personal action and direct encouragement, to complete the set of four qualities that deliver a person to hell. The teaching’s implicit claim is that moral responsibility for an act extends well past the person who physically commits it, reaching anyone who endorses it in any of these forms.
A chapter's worth of the same structure ahead
This same four-part structure — self, encourage, approve, praise — will recur through the rest of this chapter, one course of action at a time: stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, nonsense, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. Having read it in full here, this reading guide will treat its later repetitions briefly, noting what is specific to each course rather than re-explaining the shared structure each time.
Key terms
pāṇātipāta — “killing living creatures” — the first of the ten courses of action, and this discourse’s subject.
samādapeti — “encourages, incites” — the second degree of involvement, actively persuading another toward the act.
samanuñño — “approving, consenting” — the third degree, a private stance that need never be voiced to anyone.
vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — “speaks in praise of” — the fourth degree, a public statement that need not target any specific person to act.
dasa kammapatha — “the ten courses of action” — the full set this chapter gives individual, dedicated treatment to for the first time in this series.
The text
The discourse in full: hell for the four degrees of killing, heaven for their opposites. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Placed in hell
§1“Mendicants, someone with four qualities is placed in hell as if delivered there. What four? They themselves kill living creatures; they encourage others to kill living creatures; they approve of killing living creatures; and they praise killing living creatures. Someone with these four qualities is placed in hell as if delivered there.
Placed in heaven
§2Someone with four qualities is placed in heaven as if delivered there. What four? They don’t themselves kill living creatures; they encourage others to not kill living creatures; they approve of not killing living creatures; and they praise not killing living creatures. Someone with these four qualities is placed in heaven as if delivered there.”
· · ·
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 degrees of involvement does this discourse name?
Correct: B. All four treated as equally sufficient to deliver a person to hell.
Question 2 of 10
What does this chapter do differently from every earlier partial treatment of the ten courses of action in this series?
Correct: B. Earlier treatments compressed, selected, or grouped them; this chapter treats each separately.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's four-degree structure compare to AN 4.202's earlier use of self and encouragement?
Correct: B. Two additional degrees of complicity, not previously given this shape in this series.
Question 4 of 10
Why does the guide say approval and praise are worth distinguishing from direct encouragement?
Correct: B. Neither requires actively persuading anyone to do anything, yet both count fully.
Question 5 of 10
What does the guide say is the implicit claim behind treating all four degrees equally?
Correct: B. Personal action, encouragement, approval, and praise are all treated as sufficient on their own.
Question 6 of 10
How many discourses will apply this same four-degree structure across this chapter?
Correct: B. Stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and so on through wrong view.
Question 7 of 10
What formula wraps this discourse?
Correct: B. The same formula this series has traced across many chapters.
Question 8 of 10
How does the guide say it will treat this structure's later repetitions across this chapter?
Correct: B. Consistent with this series' practice on other recurring structures.
Question 9 of 10
What are the four terms for this discourse's degrees of involvement, in Pāli?
Correct: B. Oneself, inciting, approving, and praising.
Question 10 of 10
What is the first of the ten courses of action, and this discourse's subject?
Correct: B. The first and gravest of the three bodily courses, opening this chapter's systematic treatment.
