Anukampasutta — Āvāsikavagga — the twenty-fourth 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
single five-item list, no positive/negative mirror
Length
~2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
not identified in this collection
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a warm, genuinely pastoral discourse
Why this discourse
The warmest of this chapter's related lists: alongside teaching and hospitality, this discourse describes visiting the sick with a specific deathbed exhortation, and a simple, striking discipline — eating whatever is offered, coarse or fine, without ever treating a gift given in faith as wasted.
Reading guide
Sympathy, defined by five specific actions
Encouraging laypeople in higher ethics; equipping them to see the truth of the teachings; visiting the sick and prompting their mindfulness; announcing visiting Saṅghas to encourage merit-making; and eating whatever food is offered without waste — five concrete pastoral practices, not an abstract feeling.
A specific deathbed exhortation, quoted directly
The third quality includes an actual phrase given to the sick: ‘Establish your mindfulness, good fellows, in what is worthy’ (arahaggataṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhāpetha) — a specific, practical instruction for someone facing illness or possibly death, not vague reassurance.
The same hospitality announcement as AN 5.234
The fourth quality is identical to AN 5.234's practical announcement about visiting Saṅghas — showing that ‘sympathy’ and ‘helpfulness’, in this chapter's view, genuinely overlap in at least this one concrete action.
Never wasting a gift given in faith
The closing quality is a discipline of receiving, not giving: eating whatever food is offered, coarse or fine, out of respect for the donor's faith — treating even a modest offering as something that shouldn't be scorned or discarded.
A genuinely relational picture of sympathy
Read together, these five qualities describe sympathy as something enacted through specific, repeated actions across a lay community's whole life cycle — ethical guidance, doctrinal instruction, care during illness, hospitality, and respectful receiving — rather than as a private sentiment.
Key terms
adhisīle samādapeti — “encourages them in higher ethics” — the first quality of a sympathetic resident mendicant.
dhammadassane niveseti — “equips them to see the truth of the teachings” — the second quality.
arahaggataṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhāpetha — “establish your mindfulness in what is worthy” — the specific deathbed exhortation quoted for the third quality.
saddhādeyyaṁ na vinipāteti — “doesn't waste a gift given in faith” — the closing quality, a discipline of respectful receiving.
lūkhaṁ vā paṇītaṁ vā — “coarse or fine” — describing the range of food accepted without discrimination.
The text
The discourse in full: five qualities that make a resident mendicant genuinely sympathetic to lay people. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Five qualities of a sympathetic resident mendicant
§1“Mendicants, a resident mendicant with five qualities shows sympathy to the lay people. What five? They encourage them in higher ethics. They equip them to see the truth of the teachings. When they are sick, they go to them and prompt their mindfulness, saying: ‘Establish your mindfulness, good fellows, in what is worthy.’ When a large mendicant Saṅgha is arriving with mendicants from abroad, they go to the lay people and announce: ‘A large mendicant Saṅgha is arriving with mendicants from abroad. Make merit! Now is the time to make merit!’ And they eat whatever food they give them, coarse or fine, not wasting a gift given in faith. A resident mendicant with these five qualities shows sympathy to the lay people.”
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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 qualities does this discourse name for a sympathetic resident mendicant?
Correct: A. Five concrete pastoral practices, not an abstract feeling.
Question 2 of 10
What does this discourse quote directly for visiting someone who is sick?
Correct: A. A specific, practical instruction, not vague reassurance.
Question 3 of 10
What quality does this discourse share word-for-word with AN 5.234?
Correct: A. Sympathy and helpfulness genuinely overlap in this one action.
Question 4 of 10
What does the closing quality describe?
Correct: A. A discipline of respectful receiving, not giving.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'lūkhaṁ vā paṇītaṁ vā' mean?
Correct: A. Describing the full range of food accepted without discrimination.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'adhisīle samādapeti' mean?
Correct: A. The first quality of a sympathetic resident mendicant.
Question 7 of 10
What does 'dhammadassane niveseti' mean?
Correct: A. The second quality named.
Question 8 of 10
How does this guide describe the overall picture of sympathy this discourse presents?
Correct: A. Ethical guidance, teaching, illness-care, hospitality, and respectful receiving together.
Question 9 of 10
What does 'saddhādeyyaṁ na vinipāteti' mean?
Correct: A. A discipline of respectful receiving, closing this discourse's list.
Question 10 of 10
What chapter does this discourse belong to?
Correct: A. 'A Resident Mendicant', this session's twenty-fourth chapter.
