Micchādiṭṭhisutta — 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
The heaven half written out in full, closing a chapter of otherwise heavily elided discourses
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this discourse
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — the chapter's close, and the resolution of a numbering question raised two chapters back
Why this discourse
Wrong view, the tenth and last of the ten courses of action, closes this chapter's systematic run through all ten with the same four-degree structure — and its heaven half is restored to full wording, the pattern this series has now seen close several chapters. Its own colophon also settles a question this series left open at AN 4.263: whether the vagga count continues or resets after a paṇṇāsaka's close.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Holding wrong view oneself, encouraging others to it, approving of it, and praising it deliver a person to hell; the four forms of holding, encouraging, approving, and praising right view deliver a person to heaven.
The tenth course, closing the set
Micchādiṭṭhiko, one who has wrong view, completes the three mental courses — covetousness, ill will, and now view — and with them the full traditional ten. Every one of the ten courses of action has now, across this chapter's ten discourses, received its own dedicated treatment of the same four degrees of complicity: doing it, encouraging it, approving of it, and praising it. No earlier point in this series has given the ten courses this complete and individuated a treatment.
Full wording, at the close
Where AN 4.265 through AN 4.272 all survive as single elided lines, this discourse's heaven half is written out completely: they themselves have right view; they encourage others to have right view; they approve of right view; and they praise right view. This matches the pattern already seen closing the Parisāvagga at AN 4.220, the Duccaritavagga at AN 4.230, and now this chapter — a chapter's final discourse tends to restore full wording even where its neighbors were heavily compressed, marking the close clearly rather than trailing off on an ellipsis.
View, last for a specific reason
That wrong view is named last among the ten, rather than first or in the middle, is consistent with how this series has already seen view treated: as the item that completes or grounds the others rather than standing alongside them as one item among equals. AN 4.212, several chapters back, already placed micchādiṭṭhi last in its own tetrad of bad conduct, for the same reason discussed there — view is what gives the other courses their moral weight, and closing the full list of ten with it repeats that same logic at a larger scale.
A numbering question, now resolved
This discourse's own colophon reads Kammapathavaggo sattamo, ‘the Kammapathavagga, the seventh’. Following the Abhiññāvagga’s chaṭṭho, sixth, at AN 4.263, this confirms the pattern this series flagged there but declined to assert without checking: the vagga count continues straight through after the fifth paṇṇāsaka’s explicit close at AN 4.253, rather than resetting to ‘first’ for a new group of five. Whatever organizes the material from AN 4.254 onward, it is not a fresh paṇṇāsaka beginning its own count from one. This reading guide will continue checking rather than assuming as it moves into the next chapter, the Rāgapeyyāla.
Key terms
micchādiṭṭhi / sammādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” and “right view” — the tenth and last of the ten courses of action, closing this chapter's set.
attanā, samādapeti, samanuñño, vaṇṇaṁ bhāsati — the same four degrees of involvement, applied here for the tenth and final time in this chapter.
dasa kammapatha — the ten courses of action, now each given a full, dedicated discourse of their own for the first time in this series.
Kammapathavaggo sattamo — “the Kammapathavagga, the seventh” — the source colophon's label, confirming the vagga count continues past the fifth paṇṇāsaka's close rather than resetting.
yathābhataṁ nikkhitto — “placed as if delivered there” — the formula carried unbroken across all ten discourses of this chapter.
The text
The discourse mostly elided, its heaven half restored to full wording. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The discourse
§1“… They themselves have wrong view … They themselves have right view; they encourage others to have right view; they approve of right view; and they praise right view. Someone with these four qualities is placed in heaven as if delivered there.”
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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 complete?
Correct: B. The tenth and last of the ten courses of action.
Question 2 of 10
What does this discourse's form do differently from AN 4.265 through AN 4.272?
Correct: B. Matching the pattern already seen closing the Parisāvagga and Duccaritavagga.
Question 3 of 10
Why does the guide say wrong view is placed last among the ten courses, rather than first?
Correct: B. The same logic already seen at AN 4.212's own tetrad, repeated here at a larger scale.
Question 4 of 10
What does this discourse's colophon confirm about the chapter's numbering?
Correct: B. Resolving the question this series flagged but declined to assert at AN 4.263.
Question 5 of 10
What does the guide say it will do going into the next chapter, given this resolved question?
Correct: B. Consistent with this project's stated practice of verifying structural claims.
Question 6 of 10
How many discourses in this chapter gave the ten courses of action individual, dedicated treatment?
Correct: B. The first point in this series to treat every course this completely and individually.
Question 7 of 10
What formula structures every discourse in this chapter, including this one?
Correct: B. Carried unbroken across all ten discourses.
Question 8 of 10
What is the fourth degree of involvement in this discourse's structure?
Correct: B. The same four degrees applied across all ten discourses in this chapter.
Question 9 of 10
What two courses of action complete the mental group alongside wrong view?
Correct: B. Together forming the traditional three mental courses of action.
Question 10 of 10
What earlier chapter-closing discourses does this discourse's full-wording restoration match, per the guide?
Correct: B. A recognized closing technique across several chapters in this series.
