Puggalappasādasutta — Duccaritavagga — the twenty-fifth 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 repeated causal chain, applied to five triggering events
Length
~2.5 minutes to read
Northern parallel
not identified in this collection
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — genuinely humane, worth reading slowly
Why this discourse
This chapter closes with a quietly humane teaching: attaching one's faith too personally to a single individual, rather than to the teaching itself, leaves that faith genuinely vulnerable — because the person one is devoted to is fallible and mortal, and losing them can needlessly damage one's whole relationship to practice.
Reading guide
A repeated chain, five triggers
The same causal chain repeats for five different events affecting someone a devotee has grown personally attached to: being formally suspended by the Saṅgha for an offense; being demoted to sit at the end of the line for a lesser offense; leaving for another region; disrobing; or dying.
The chain itself
Learning of the event, the devotee thinks, ‘this individual dear and beloved to me’ has suffered this — and, on account of that personal attachment, loses much of their faith in mendicants generally, stops associating with other mendicants, stops hearing the true teaching, and eventually falls away from the true teaching entirely.
The problem isn't faith itself, but its object
This discourse isn't warning against faith or devotion as such; it's naming a specific structural risk: when faith attaches primarily to one fallible person rather than to the teaching, that person's ordinary human failures — misconduct, departure, or death — become able to derail someone's entire practice.
From a formal offense to the most final loss
The five triggers escalate in a telling way: from a correctable disciplinary matter (suspension, demotion) through voluntary departures (leaving, disrobing) to death itself — the same underlying vulnerability, shown across an entire range of ordinary and extraordinary losses.
Closing this chapter, and closing on a genuinely gentle note
After this chapter's harsher passages, closing on a discourse this attentive to the psychological reality of grief and disillusionment is a deliberate note to end on. The chapter closes with its colophon, ‘Dasamaṁ. Duccaritavaggo pañcamo’, and an uddāna verse naming this chapter's ten discourses in brief, the mechanism explained in full at AN 5.10.
Key terms
puggalappasāda — “faith placed in an individual” — this discourse's title concept, the specific risk it names.
saṅgho ukkhipati — “the Saṅgha suspends them” — the first, most formal triggering event.
piyo manāpo — “dear and beloved” — the devotee's own description of the person they've attached their faith to.
saddhammā parihāyati — “falls away from the true teaching” — the chain's final, most severe consequence, repeated across all five triggers.
disāpakkanto, vibbhanto, kālaṅkato — “leaves for another region, disrobes, passes away” — three further triggering events, abbreviated in the source as following the identical pattern.
The text
The discourse in full, closing this chapter: the risks of attaching one's faith to a single person. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Devoted to one who is suspended, or set at the end of the line
§1“Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks of placing faith in an individual. What five? The individual to whom an individual is devoted falls into an offense such that the Saṅgha suspends them. It occurs to them: ‘This individual dear and beloved to me has been suspended by the Saṅgha.’ They lose much of their faith in mendicants. So they don’t frequent other mendicants, they don’t hear the true teaching, and they fall away from the true teaching. This is the first drawback in placing faith in an individual. Furthermore, the individual to whom an individual is devoted falls into an offense such that the Saṅgha makes them sit at the end of the line. … This is the second drawback in placing faith in an individual.
Devoted to one who leaves, disrobes, or dies
§2Furthermore, the individual to whom an individual is devoted leaves for another region … disrobes … passes away. It occurs to them: ‘This individual dear and beloved to me has passed away.’ So they don’t frequent other mendicants, they don’t hear the true teaching, and they fall away from the true teaching. This is the fifth drawback in placing faith in an individual. These are the five drawbacks of placing faith in an individual.”
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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 events trigger this discourse's repeated causal chain?
Correct: A. Five different ways the object of someone's personal devotion can be lost.
Question 2 of 10
What does the devotee eventually experience, according to this discourse's repeated chain?
Correct: A. A cascading loss triggered by attachment to one person.
Question 3 of 10
What is this discourse actually warning against, according to this guide?
Correct: A. A specific structural risk, not a rejection of faith as such.
Question 4 of 10
What pattern do the five triggering events follow?
Correct: A. The same underlying vulnerability across a range of losses.
Question 5 of 10
What does 'piyo manāpo' mean?
Correct: A. The devotee's own description of the person they've attached their faith to.
Question 6 of 10
What does 'saṅgho ukkhipati' mean?
Correct: A. The first and most formal of the five triggering events.
Question 7 of 10
How does this guide characterize this discourse's tone, closing this chapter?
Correct: A. A deliberate, gentler note to close the chapter on.
Question 8 of 10
What colophon closes this chapter?
Correct: A. 'The tenth. The fifth chapter on bad conduct.'
Question 9 of 10
What does 'saddhammā parihāyati' mean?
Correct: A. The chain's final, most severe consequence.
Question 10 of 10
What chapter comes next?
Correct: A. AN 5.251 begins this collection's twenty-sixth chapter.
