Micchācārīsutta — 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
One elided line, the same four-degree structure applied to sexual misconduct
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the third of ten, closing the bodily group
Why this discourse
Sexual misconduct, the third and last of the bodily courses of action, given the same four-degree treatment as killing and stealing before it. With this discourse, the chapter's bodily group is complete, and the four verbal courses begin next.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Committing sexual misconduct oneself, encouraging others to it, approving of it, and praising it deliver a person to hell; the four forms of abstention deliver them to heaven.
The third bodily course, same structure
Kāmesumicchācārī, one who commits sexual misconduct, fills the same four-part frame as AN 4.264 and AN 4.265, unchanged in every other respect. This completes the bodily third of the ten courses of action: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, each now given a discourse of its own.
A group completed, a group about to begin
The three bodily courses of action are traditionally grouped together as the harms one does directly through the body, distinct from the four verbal courses that follow and the three mental courses that close the traditional list. This discourse closes the first of those three groups within the chapter’s systematic treatment; the next discourse, on lying, opens the second.
Consistent compression
As with AN 4.265, this discourse is compressed to a single elided line, the pattern this series expects to continue through most of the remaining discourses in this chapter, with fuller treatment reserved for its closing discourse.
Key terms
kāmesumicchācāra — “sexual misconduct” — the third and last of the bodily courses of action, and this discourse’s subject.
kāyakammapatha — “bodily course of action” — the traditional grouping killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct belong to, now complete.
vacīkammapatha — “verbal course of action” — the group of four this chapter takes up next, beginning with lying.
attanā, samādapeti, samanuñño, vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — the same four degrees of involvement continued from AN 4.264 and AN 4.265.
yathābhataṁ nikkhitto — “placed as if delivered there” — the formula unbroken across this chapter's first three discourses.
The text
The discourse exactly as the source abridges it, ellipsis marks included. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The elided discourse
§1“… They themselves commit sexual misconduct … They themselves don’t commit sexual misconduct …”
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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 course of action does this discourse address?
Correct: B. The third and last of the bodily courses of action.
Question 2 of 10
What does this discourse complete, being the third bodily course treated?
Correct: B. Each of the three now given its own dedicated discourse.
Question 3 of 10
What group does the chapter take up next, after this discourse?
Correct: B. The traditional order continuing: bodily, then verbal, then mental.
Question 4 of 10
What structure does this discourse reuse from AN 4.264 and AN 4.265?
Correct: B. Unchanged across all three bodily-course discourses.
Question 5 of 10
What form does this discourse take?
Correct: B. Continuing the chapter's compression pattern.
Question 6 of 10
How are the three bodily courses of action traditionally grouped, per the guide?
Correct: B. The traditional threefold division of the ten courses of action.
Question 7 of 10
What formula does this discourse use?
Correct: B. Consistent across the chapter's first three discourses.
Question 8 of 10
Where is fuller treatment reserved, according to the guide's expectation for this chapter?
Correct: B. Consistent with AN 4.210, AN 4.220, AN 4.230, and others.
Question 9 of 10
What is the Pāli term for "one who commits sexual misconduct"?
Correct: B. This discourse's title and subject.
Question 10 of 10
What discourse follows this one?
Correct: B. Opening the chapter's verbal group of courses.
