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Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 5.24

Unethical

Dussīlasutta — Pañcaṅgikavagga — the third 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 five-step causal chain stated abstractly, then illustrated by a single tree simile, then restated for its positive mirror
Length
~2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
Causal chains linking ethics through immersion to liberation knowledge are a recurring structural device across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — a five-step chain that quietly expands the five-item set from AN 5.17–20

Why this discourse

This discourse takes the five-item set from AN 5.17–20 — ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, the knowledge and vision of freedom — and expands the space between its middle terms into a fuller causal chain: ethics, right immersion, true knowledge and vision, disillusionment and dispassion, and the knowledge and vision of freedom. Each step is said to destroy or fulfill a vital condition for the next, illustrated by a single, exact image: a tree with or without its branches and foliage.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

An unethical person has destroyed a vital condition for right immersion, which destroys a vital condition for true knowledge and vision, which destroys a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion, which destroys a vital condition for the knowledge and vision of freedom; an ethical person fulfills each condition in turn.

A chain, not a checklist

The word upanisā, vital condition or proximate cause, marks this as a causal claim rather than a simple list. Each item does not merely accompany the next; it is named as what the next depends on for its very possibility, which is why the discourse can say ethics alone destroys a condition for immersion before immersion has even been discussed on its own terms.

The tree, and what it withholds

The simile names four specific parts of a tree that fail to grow to fullness when branches and foliage are missing: shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood. This is more particular than a vague image of stunted growth; each named part corresponds, loosely but suggestively, to something built up in layers, outer to inner, exactly as this discourse's five-step chain builds from the outermost practice, ethics, toward the innermost realization, the knowledge and vision of freedom.

Filling in AN 5.17–20's gap

AN 5.17 through 5.20 moved directly from immersion to freedom, by way of wisdom, with no stated mechanism connecting them. This discourse supplies two additional named steps in between — true knowledge and vision, then disillusionment and dispassion — showing that the shorter list was a compression of a longer, more granular process rather than a complete account on its own.

What follows

AN 5.25, next, approaches the same territory from a different angle: not a causal chain but a claim about what supports right view specifically, naming five different supports rather than five sequential stages.

Key terms

upanisā — “vital condition, proximate cause” — the word marking each step as what the next genuinely depends on, not merely accompanies.
yathābhūtañāṇadassana — “true knowledge and vision” — the chain's third step, added here between immersion and disillusionment.
nibbidāvirāga — “disillusionment and dispassion” — the fourth step, the turning away that arises from seeing clearly.
sākhāpalāsa — “branches and foliage” — the tree's outer growth, whose absence in the simile prevents the inner parts from developing.
sāra — “heartwood” — the innermost part of the tree, corresponding to the chain's own innermost term, the knowledge and vision of freedom.

The text

The discourse in full: the causal chain stated for lacking ethics, illustrated by the tree simile, then restated for having it. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The chain, broken

§1“Mendicants, an unethical person, who lacks ethics, has destroyed a vital condition for right immersion. When there is no right immersion, one who lacks right immersion has destroyed a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is no true knowledge and vision, one who lacks true knowledge and vision has destroyed a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is no disillusionment and dispassion, one who lacks disillusionment and dispassion has destroyed a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

The tree, without branches or foliage

§2Suppose there was a tree that lacked branches and foliage. Its shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood would not grow to fullness.

§3In the same way, an unethical person, who lacks ethics, has destroyed a vital condition for right immersion. When there is no right immersion, one who lacks right immersion has destroyed a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is no true knowledge and vision, one who lacks true knowledge and vision has destroyed a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is no disillusionment and dispassion, one who lacks disillusionment and dispassion has destroyed a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

The chain, fulfilled

§4An ethical person, who has fulfilled ethics, has fulfilled a vital condition for right immersion. When there is right immersion, one who has fulfilled right immersion has fulfilled a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is true knowledge and vision, one who has fulfilled true knowledge and vision has fulfilled a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is disillusionment and dispassion, one who has fulfilled disillusionment and dispassion has fulfilled a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.

The tree, complete

§5Suppose there was a tree that was complete with branches and foliage. Its shoots, bark, softwood, and heartwood would all grow to fullness.

§6In the same way, an ethical person, who has fulfilled ethics, has fulfilled a vital condition for right immersion. When there is right immersion, one who has fulfilled right immersion has fulfilled a vital condition for true knowledge and vision. When there is true knowledge and vision, one who has fulfilled true knowledge and vision has fulfilled a vital condition for disillusionment and dispassion. When there is disillusionment and dispassion, one who has fulfilled disillusionment and dispassion has fulfilled a vital condition for knowledge and vision of freedom.”

· · ·

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 steps make up this discourse's causal chain?
Correct: B. Each step named as a vital condition (upanisā) for the next.
Question 2 of 10
What does 'upanisā' mark each step as, relative to the next?
Correct: B. A causal claim, not a simple accompanying list.
Question 3 of 10
What four parts of a tree does the simile name as failing to grow without branches and foliage?
Correct: B. Specific named parts, not a vague image of general stunting.
Question 4 of 10
How does the guide connect this discourse to AN 5.17–20?
Correct: B. The shorter list is read as a compression of this longer, more granular process.
Question 5 of 10
What two steps does this discourse add beyond ethics, immersion, and freedom's knowledge and vision?
Correct: B. Yathābhūtañāṇadassana and nibbidāvirāga, inserted between the more familiar terms.
Question 6 of 10
What happens to an ethical person's chain, according to the second half of the discourse?
Correct: B. A precise mirror of the negative half, term for term.
Question 7 of 10
What does AN 5.25, the next discourse, approach differently from this one?
Correct: B. A structurally different approach to related material.
Question 8 of 10
Is the tree simile used to illustrate abundance or lack, in its first appearance?
Correct: B. The negative case comes first, then its positive mirror.
Question 9 of 10
What does the guide say about the relationship between the tree's parts and the chain's five steps?
Correct: B. Suggestive rather than a stated formal correspondence.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.24 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with the pattern across this nipāta so far.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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