Reading guide
A dialogue, escalating one factor at a time
Unlike this chapter's mostly single-pass lists, this discourse is built as a repeated exchange: Ānanda asks how a mendicant can live comfortably in a monastic community, the Buddha answers with one factor, Ānanda asks whether there might be ‘another way’, and the Buddha adds a further factor to the same base — five times in a row.
A base factor, held constant throughout
Every one of the five answers includes the same starting point: being accomplished in one's own ethical conduct without pressing others to match it. This base is present in all five variants, not replaced but built upon each time.
The five layers, in order
(1) Accomplished in one's own ethics, not pushing others to be ethical; (2) watching oneself rather than others; (3) being unconcerned by not being well-known; (4) attaining the four absorptions at will; (5) full liberation through the ending of defilements — a progression from an interpersonal starting discipline, through increasing indifference to external validation, to full internal attainment.
Why structure the answer this way
The escalating-question format itself makes a point: there genuinely are multiple, progressively fuller ways to ‘live comfortably’ in community, and the Buddha doesn't simply give the fullest answer first. Each partial answer is affirmed as real and sufficient before Ānanda is invited to ask for more — modeling that lesser degrees of the same practice are genuine, if partial, versions of the same comfortable living, not failures.
The final verdict
After the fifth and fullest answer, the Buddha states directly that there is no better or finer way of living comfortably than this complete, five-factor version — closing the escalation explicitly rather than leaving it open-ended.
A shared setting
This discourse shares its setting, Kosambī's Ghosita's Monastery, with AN 5.100, this nipāta's other Kosambī-set narrative discourse — a rare repeated specific location in this collection.
Key terms
The text
Ānanda's question
§1At one time the Buddha was staying near Kosambī, in Ghosita’s Monastery. Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him, “Sir, how could a mendicant live comfortably while staying in a monastic community?”
The first way
§2“It’s when a mendicant is accomplished in their own ethical conduct, but they don’t urge others to be ethical. That’s how a mendicant could live comfortably while staying in a monastic community.”
A second way
§3“But sir, could there be another way for a mendicant to live comfortably while staying in a monastic community?” “There could, Ānanda. It’s when a mendicant is accomplished in their own ethical conduct, but they don’t urge others to be ethical. And they watch themselves, but don’t watch others. That’s how a mendicant could live comfortably while staying in a monastic community.”
A third way
§4“But sir, could there be another way for a mendicant to live comfortably while staying in a monastic community?” “There could, Ānanda. It’s when a mendicant is accomplished in their own ethical conduct, but they don’t urge others to be ethical. And they watch themselves, but don’t watch others. And they’re not well-known, but aren’t bothered by that. That’s how a mendicant could live comfortably while staying in a monastic community.”
A fourth way
§5“But sir, could there be another way for a mendicant to live comfortably while staying in a monastic community?” “There could, Ānanda. It’s when a mendicant is accomplished in their own ethical conduct, but they don’t urge others to be ethical. And they watch themselves, but don’t watch others. And they’re not well-known, but aren’t bothered by that. And they get the four absorptions—blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind—when they want, without trouble or difficulty. That’s how a mendicant could live comfortably while staying in a monastic community.”
The fifth and fullest way
§6“But sir, might there be another way for a mendicant to live comfortably while staying in a monastic community?” “There could, Ānanda. It’s when a mendicant is accomplished in their own ethical conduct, but they don’t urge others to be ethical. And they watch themselves, but don’t watch others. And they’re not well-known, but aren’t bothered by that. And they get the four absorptions—blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind—when they want, without trouble or difficulty. And they realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And they live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements. That’s how a mendicant could live comfortably while staying in a monastic community. And I say that there is no better or finer way of living comfortably than this.”
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