Byāpannacittasutta — 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, continuing the mental group of three 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 ninth of ten, one short of the chapter's close
Why this discourse
Ill will, the second of the three mental courses of action, given the same four-degree structure as covetousness before it. One course of action, wrong view, remains to complete the set of ten.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Having ill will oneself, encouraging others to it, approving of it, and praising it deliver a person to hell; the corresponding good will, and encouraging, approving, and praising it, deliver a person to heaven.
The mental group continues
Byāpannacitto, one with a mind full of ill will, fills the same structure as the eight discourses before it. Its opposite, abyāpannacitto, having a mind of good will, closes the heaven half. As with covetousness at AN 4.271, this discourse applies the encourage/approve/praise structure to an inner state rather than an outward act, without qualification.
A term already tied to solitude
Byāpāda, ill will, already appeared in this chapter’s own vagga, at AN 4.262, as one of the three harmful thoughts — alongside sensual and cruel thought — that disqualify a mendicant from wilderness dwelling. This discourse treats the same disposition not as a bar to solitary practice but as a course of action in its own right, complete with its own four degrees of complicity.
One course remaining
Wrong view, the last of the three mental courses and the last of the ten overall, closes both this group and the chapter at the next discourse.
Key terms
byāpāda / abyāpāda — “ill will” and “good will” — the second of the three mental courses of action.
byāpādavitakka — “thought of ill will” — the same disposition named among the wilderness-disqualifying thoughts at AN 4.262, in this same chapter.
attanā, samādapeti, samanuñño, vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — the same four degrees of involvement, applied here to a second inner state.
micchādiṭṭhi / sammādiṭṭhi — wrong view and right view — the third mental course, closing this group and the chapter at the next discourse.
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 have ill will … … They themselves have good will …”
· · ·
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 second of the three mental courses of action.
Question 2 of 10
Where did this same disposition, ill will, already appear elsewhere in this chapter?
Correct: B. There as a bar to solitary practice; here as a course of action with its own four degrees.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's treatment of ill will differ from AN 4.262's treatment of the same disposition?
Correct: B. Two different angles on the same underlying disposition.
Question 4 of 10
What structure does this discourse apply?
Correct: B. Doing it, encouraging, approving, and praising, applied to an inner state without qualification.
Question 5 of 10
What is the heaven half's defining term?
Correct: B. The positive counterpart to ill will.
Question 6 of 10
What course of action remains after this discourse?
Correct: B. Closing both the mental group and the chapter.
Question 7 of 10
What form does this discourse take?
Correct: B. Continuing the chapter's compression pattern.
Question 8 of 10
What formula wraps this discourse?
Correct: B. Unbroken across this chapter.
Question 9 of 10
What three thoughts did AN 4.262 name as disqualifying a mendicant from wilderness dwelling?
Correct: B. Ill will, this discourse's subject, was one of the three.
Question 10 of 10
What position does ill will occupy among the ten courses of action?
Correct: B. One course, wrong view, remains to complete the set.
