Muṭṭhassatisutta — Kimilavagga — the twenty-first 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
two paired five-item lists, drawbacks then benefits
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
not identified in this collection
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — short, closing the chapter with a practical teaching
Why this discourse
This chapter closes exactly as it spent much of its second half: with genuinely practical guidance — here, mindfulness treated as something that should carry through the moment of falling asleep, not only through waking practice.
Reading guide
Five drawbacks of unmindful sleep
Falling asleep unmindful and unaware leads to sleeping badly, waking up miserable, having bad dreams, going unprotected by protective deities, and experiencing nocturnal emission — five concrete physical and experiential costs.
Five matching benefits
Falling asleep with mindfulness and full awareness produces the exact mirror: sleeping at ease, waking up happy, no bad dreams, protective deities watching over the sleeper, and no nocturnal emission — the same five concerns, reversed.
Mindfulness as a bridge into sleep, not just waking practice
This discourse's real content is a genuinely practical point: mindfulness isn't only for seated meditation or daytime awareness — the specific manner of falling asleep, mindful or careless, is itself treated as a meaningful practice with real consequences.
Deities and dreams, alongside bodily effects
Alongside plainly physical outcomes (sleep quality, nocturnal emission), this discourse also names protective deities and dream content as genuine effects of mindful or unmindful sleep — the same willingness, seen elsewhere in this project, to state the text's own cosmology plainly rather than filtering it out.
Closing the chapter
The chapter closes with its colophon, ‘Dasamaṁ. Kimilavaggo paṭhamo’ (‘The tenth. The first chapter on Kimbila’), 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
muṭṭhassati asampajāna — “unmindful and unaware” — the state this discourse's title concept describes, and its negative condition.
upaṭṭhitassati sampajāna — “mindful and aware” — the positive counterpart, carried into the moment of falling asleep.
pāpakaṁ supinaṁ passati — “has bad dreams” — one of the five drawbacks of unmindful sleep.
devatā rakkhanti — “deities protect [them]” — one of the five benefits of mindful sleep.
asuci muccati — “emits semen” — the fifth drawback of unmindful sleep, and its avoidance the fifth benefit of mindful sleep.
The text
The discourse in full, closing this chapter: five drawbacks of unmindful sleep, and five benefits of mindful sleep. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Five drawbacks of unmindful sleep
§1“Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks of falling asleep unmindful and unaware. What five? You sleep badly and wake miserably. You have bad dreams. The deities don’t protect you. And you emit semen. These are the five drawbacks of falling asleep unmindful and unaware.
Five benefits of mindful sleep
§2There are these five benefits of falling asleep mindful and aware. What five? You sleep at ease and wake happily. You don’t have bad dreams. The deities protect you. And you don’t emit semen. These are the five benefits of falling asleep mindful and aware.”
· · ·
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 drawbacks does this discourse name for falling asleep unmindfully?
Correct: A. Five concrete physical and experiential costs.
Question 2 of 10
How does the benefits list relate to the drawbacks list?
Correct: A. The same five concerns, reversed through mindful sleep.
Question 3 of 10
What is this discourse's real, practical point?
Correct: A. The manner of falling asleep is itself treated as a meaningful practice.
Question 4 of 10
What does this discourse name alongside plainly physical outcomes like sleep quality?
Correct: A. Stating the text's own cosmology plainly, as elsewhere in this project.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'muṭṭhassati asampajāna' mean?
Correct: A. The negative condition this discourse's title concept describes.
Question 6 of 10
What colophon closes this chapter?
Correct: A. 'The tenth. The first chapter on Kimbila.'
Question 7 of 10
What does 'devatā rakkhanti' mean?
Correct: A. One of the five benefits of mindful sleep.
Question 8 of 10
What mechanism does the closing uddāna verse use?
Correct: A. The same summarizing mechanism used throughout this project.
Question 9 of 10
What chapter comes next?
Correct: A. AN 5.211 begins this collection's twenty-second chapter.
Question 10 of 10
What does 'asuci muccati' mean?
Correct: A. The fifth drawback of unmindful sleep, avoided through mindful sleep.
