Samphappalāpasutta — 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, closing the verbal group of four courses of action
Length
under a minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — the mildest of the four verbal courses, and worth pausing on for that reason
Why this discourse
Nonsense, the mildest and most easily overlooked of the four verbal courses, closes this chapter's verbal group with the same four-degree structure. This is the course this series already flagged, at AN 4.148, as needing no malice, dishonesty, or victim to count as a fault — which makes asking about complicity in it a genuinely different kind of question than asking about complicity in lying or cruelty.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Talking nonsense 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 verbal group's mildest member, closing the set
Samphappalāpī, one who talks nonsense, closes the four verbal courses this chapter has treated one at a time: lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and now nonsense. This series already discussed, at AN 4.148, why this item belongs on the same list as the other three despite requiring no malice, dishonesty, or victim — idle, untimely, unbeneficial talk, judged as bad conduct in its own right.
What would it mean to praise idle talk?
The other three verbal courses in this chapter make intuitive sense as things a person might actively promote or celebrate in someone else: encouraging a lie, approving of gossip, praising a cutting remark. Nonsense sits differently. Praising someone’s skill at idle chatter, or actively encouraging it, is a harder case to picture with the same moral weight — and that difficulty is itself worth noticing rather than smoothing over. The discourse applies the identical four-degree structure regardless, treating even this mildest course of action as something a person can be complicit in beyond simply doing it themselves.
The verbal group, complete
With this discourse, all four verbal courses of action — lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, and nonsense — have each received their own dedicated discourse in this chapter, following the three bodily courses already completed at AN 4.264–266. Three courses remain: covetousness, ill will, and wrong view, the traditional mental group, next.
Key terms
samphappalāpa — “nonsense, idle chatter” — the mildest of the four verbal courses, requiring no malice, dishonesty, or victim to count as a fault.
attanā, samādapeti, samanuñño, vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — the same four degrees of involvement, here applied to the group's mildest member.
manokammapatha — “mental course of action” — covetousness, ill will, and wrong view, the three courses this chapter takes up next.
vacīkammapatha — “verbal course of action” — the group this discourse completes, opened at AN 4.267.
yathābhataṁ nikkhitto — “placed as if delivered there” — the formula continued unbroken across this chapter.
The text
The discourse exactly as the source abridges it, ellipsis marks included. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The elided discourse
§1“… They themselves talk nonsense … … They themselves don’t talk nonsense …”
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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, and what does it close?
Correct: B. All four verbal courses now given their own dedicated discourses.
Question 2 of 10
What did this series already note about nonsense at AN 4.148?
Correct: B. Idle, untimely, unbeneficial talk, judged as bad conduct in its own right.
Question 3 of 10
What genuine difficulty does the guide raise about this discourse's structure?
Correct: B. A difficulty worth noticing rather than smoothing over.
Question 4 of 10
Does the discourse modify its structure to account for this difficulty?
Correct: B. Even this mildest course of action is treated as something a person can be complicit in beyond doing it themselves.
Question 5 of 10
What three courses of action remain after this discourse?
Correct: B. The traditional mental group, taken up next.
Question 6 of 10
What structure does this discourse apply?
Correct: B. Doing it, encouraging, approving, and praising.
Question 7 of 10
What form does this discourse take?
Correct: B. Continuing the chapter's compression pattern.
Question 8 of 10
What is the traditional grouping of the ten courses of action, in order?
Correct: B. This chapter follows that order discourse by discourse.
Question 9 of 10
What formula wraps this discourse?
Correct: B. Unbroken across this chapter.
Question 10 of 10
What discourse follows this one, opening the mental group?
Correct: B. The first of the three mental courses of action.
