Reading guide
A fourth Kosambī narrative
Cross-ref AN 5.100, 5.106, and 5.159, all also set at Kosambī's Ghosita's Monastery — this is the fourth discourse in this nipāta sharing that setting, and the second in this chapter alone to feature Ānanda in dialogue with a named companion.
Bhaddaji's cosmological answer
Asked for the best sight, sound, happiness, perception, and state of existence, Bhaddaji answers by citing the received hierarchy of heavenly realms: seeing Brahmā is the best sight; hearing the streaming-radiance gods' spontaneous cry of bliss is the best sound; the universal-beauty gods' contentment is the best happiness; rebirth in the dimension of nothingness is the best perception; and the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception is the best state of existence.
A deflection, and a reframing
When Ānanda asks whether this matches common opinion, Bhaddaji deflects the question back to Ānanda, as at AN 5.169. Ānanda then gives a genuinely different answer: what is best in each category is simply whatever occasion — whatever seeing, hearing, feeling, perceiving, or state of existence — coincides with the ending of defilements, without delay.
Undercutting the cosmological hierarchy
Ānanda's answer doesn't reject Bhaddaji's citation as false, but reframes the whole question: no heavenly realm, however exalted, is intrinsically ‘best’ — liberation itself is what makes any sight, sound, or state genuinely best, wherever it happens to occur.
Closing the chapter, and the nipāta's midpoint
The chapter closes with its colophon, ‘Dasamaṁ. Āghātavaggo dutiyo’, followed by an uddāna verse naming this chapter's ten discourses in brief — the same summarizing mechanism explained in full at AN 5.10.
Key terms
The text
Bhaddaji's cosmological answer
§1At one time Venerable Ānanda was staying near Kosambī, in Ghosita’s Monastery. Then Venerable Bhaddaji went up to Venerable Ānanda, and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side, and Venerable Ānanda said to him: “Reverend Bhaddaji, what is the best sight, the best sound, the best happiness, the best perception, and the best state of existence?” “Reverend, there is this Divinity, the vanquisher, the unvanquished, the universal seer, the wielder of power. When you see the Divinity, that’s the best sight. There are the gods called ‘of streaming radiance’, who are drenched and steeped in pleasure. Every so often they feel inspired to exclaim: ‘Oh, what bliss! Oh, what bliss!’ When you hear that, it’s the best sound. There are the gods called ‘of universal beauty’. Since they’re truly content, they experience pleasure. This is the best happiness. There are the gods reborn in the dimension of nothingness. This is the best perception. There are the gods reborn in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is the best state of existence.” “So, Venerable Bhaddaji, do you agree with what most people say about this?”
Ānanda's reformulation: liberation itself
§2“Well, Venerable Ānanda, you’re very learned. Why don’t you clarify this yourself?” “Well then, Reverend Bhaddaji, listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.” “Yes, reverend,” Bhaddaji replied. Ānanda said this: “What you see when the defilements are ended without delay is the best sight. What you hear when the defilements are ended without delay is the best sound. The happiness you feel when the defilements are ended without delay is the best happiness. What you perceive when the defilements are ended without delay is the best perception. The state of existence in which the defilements are ended without delay is the best state of existence.”
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