Appaṁsupatisutta — Rājavagga — the fourteenth chapter of the Fives
Setting
None stated; the discourse continues from AN 5.1, whose setting at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove is understood to hold
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
a single bare list, almost proverb-like in its brevity and imagery
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
not identified in this collection
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short and vividly recognizable
Why this discourse
One of this collection's more folk-observational discourses: a woman longing for a man, a man longing for a woman, a thief longing for loot, a king busy with duties, and a mendicant longing for freedom — five kinds of restless, wakeful yearning, placed side by side without ranking or moralizing.
Reading guide
Five kinds of wakeful yearning
A woman longing for a man; a man longing for a woman; a thief longing for their loot; a king busy with his duties; and a mendicant longing for freedom from the yoke — each said to sleep little at night, staying mostly awake.
No ranking among the four worldly examples
The discourse doesn't moralize about or rank the first four items; romantic desire, greed, and royal duty are simply named as sharing the same insomnia-producing intensity, without further comment on their relative worth.
The mendicant's longing, placed alongside the others
The fifth item — a mendicant longing for freedom from the yoke (visaṁyoga, release from bondage) — is presented structurally identical to the other four: an intense, wakeful yearning, not qualitatively different in kind, only in its object.
Royal duty, echoing this chapter's title
The fourth example, a king busy with his duties, directly echoes this chapter's own title and recurring royal imagery, this time from an unusually intimate, human angle: even an ideal ruler doesn't sleep well.
What comes next
AN 5.138 returns to elephant imagery: a royal elephant that nominally counts as ‘royal’ despite being practically useless.
Key terms
appaṁ rattiyā supati, bahuṁ jaggati — “sleeps little at night, stays mostly awake” — the refrain describing all five figures.
purisādhippāya / itthādhippāya — longing for a man / longing for a woman — the first two figures.
ādānādhippāya — longing for one's loot — the thief's motivating desire.
rājakaraṇīyesu yutto — “busy with royal duties” — the king's occupying concern.
visaṁyogādhippāya — “longing for freedom from the yoke” — the mendicant's motivating aspiration.
The text
The discourse in full: five figures who sleep little, staying mostly awake. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Five who sleep little
§1“Mendicants, these five sleep little at night, staying mostly awake. What five? A woman longing for a man. A man longing for a woman. A thief longing for their loot. A king busy with his duties. A mendicant longing for freedom from the yoke. These five sleep little at night, staying mostly awake.”
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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 five figures does this discourse name?
Correct: A. Five figures sharing wakeful, restless yearning.
Question 2 of 10
What do all five figures have in common, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. The shared refrain across all five.
Question 3 of 10
Does the discourse rank or moralize among the four worldly examples?
Correct: B. Placed without further comment on relative worth.
Question 4 of 10
What does 'visaṁyogādhippāya' mean?
Correct: A. The mendicant's motivating aspiration.
Question 5 of 10
How is the mendicant's longing presented, relative to the other four?
Correct: B. The same intensity of wakeful yearning, applied to a different object.
Question 6 of 10
Which figure directly echoes this chapter's own title and recurring imagery?
Correct: B. Continuing the Rājavagga's royal thread from a human angle.
Question 7 of 10
What does the thief long for?
Correct: B. Ādānādhippāya.
Question 8 of 10
How long is this discourse, relative to others in this nipāta?
Correct: B. Brief and proverb-like.
Question 9 of 10
What chapter does this discourse belong to?
Correct: B. Continuing the chapter on kings.
Question 10 of 10
What does AN 5.138 return to next?
Correct: B. A new figurative thread within this chapter.
