Samāpattisutta — Sekhabalavagga — the 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
Faith stated in full, the same pattern repeated for conscience, prudence, and energy in the source's own abbreviation, then wisdom restated in full
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The image of a vacated quality being immediately occupied by its opposite is a recurring structural device across early Buddhist literature; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief, but the first discourse in the chapter to state a mechanism rather than an outcome
Why this discourse
Every discourse so far in this chapter has said what follows from having or lacking the five powers. None has said how the lacking actually happens. AN 5.6 answers that: nothing is unskillful while a given power is established, and the moment it vanishes, its named opposite — faithlessness, shamelessness — moves into the space left behind. There is no gap, on this account, between a quality’s absence and its replacement. One occupies the space the instant the other leaves it.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
You do not become unskillful as long as a given power — faith, conscience, prudence, energy, wisdom — is established in skillful qualities; but the moment it vanishes, its named opposite takes over, and unskillfulness follows.
A mechanism, not a further outcome
AN 5.3, 5.4, and 5.5 each attached a consequence — rebirth, a cosmic destination, a social judgment — to having or lacking the five powers, without saying how the lacking comes about. This discourse fills that gap. It describes a state that holds as long as (yāva) the power is present, and a transition that occurs the instant it is not. The other discourses describe destinations; this one describes the door.
No gap between vacancy and occupation
The verb pair is precise: the quality antarahitā hoti, vanishes, and its opposite pariyuṭṭhāya tiṭṭhati, takes over and remains standing. There is no third state in between — no neutral pause where a mendicant has neither faith nor faithlessness. The moment one is absent, the discourse says the other is already in its place.
The source's own shorthand
Bilara’s underlying text writes this discourse once in full for faith, then abbreviates the identical pattern for conscience, prudence, and energy with an ellipsis, restating only wisdom in full at the close. This page follows that structure exactly rather than expanding what the source itself compresses: the first and last of the five are shown whole, and the reader is meant to supply the middle three by the same pattern, exactly as the source expects.
What this sets up
AN 5.7, immediately following, will use an extended parable — a nursemaid and an infant — to make a related point about ongoing protection until these same five qualities are complete. Read together, AN 5.6 explains the mechanism by which a mendicant can slip, and AN 5.7 explains why they are watched over until slipping is no longer possible.
Key terms
samāpatti — “becoming, arising” — this discourse’s title, naming the moment an unskillful state comes to be.
yāva — “as long as, until” — the word marking the condition under which unskillfulness does not arise: exactly as long as the power in question is established.
antarahita — “vanished, disappeared” — the verb describing a power’s absence, the trigger for its opposite to take over.
pariyuṭṭhāya tiṭṭhati — “takes over and remains standing” — the verb for what moves into the vacated space; no gap is described between the two.
assaddhiya — “faithlessness” — the named opposite that takes over the instant faith vanishes, first of the four negative terms this discourse pairs against the five powers.
The text
The discourse in full: faith stated whole, then wisdom restated whole at the close, following the source's own abbreviation of the identical pattern for conscience, prudence, and energy in between. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
As long as faith is established
§1“Mendicants, you don’t become unskillful as long as faith is established in skillful qualities. But when faith vanishes and faithlessness takes over, you become unskillful.
The same, for conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom
§2You don’t become unskillful as long as conscience … prudence … energy … wisdom is established in skillful qualities.
Wisdom, restated in full
§3But when wisdom vanishes and witlessness takes over, you become unskillful.”
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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 does AN 5.6 add that AN 5.3–5.5 did not provide?
Correct: B. The earlier discourses describe destinations; this one describes the door.
Question 2 of 10
According to AN 5.6, when does a mendicant not become unskillful?
Correct: B. Yāva marks the condition precisely: exactly as long as the power holds.
Question 3 of 10
What happens the moment a power like faith vanishes, according to this discourse?
Correct: B. Antarahitā hoti, vanishes, paired directly with pariyuṭṭhāya tiṭṭhati, takes over and remains.
Question 4 of 10
How does the source text itself present the pattern for conscience, prudence, and energy?
Correct: B. Only faith and wisdom are given in full in the underlying bilara-data text; this page follows that structure.
Question 5 of 10
What is the effect of showing only faith and wisdom in full, with the middle three abbreviated?
Correct: B. The reading guide does not invent expanded text the source itself elides.
Question 6 of 10
What does AN 5.7, the next discourse, do with a related point?
Correct: B. AN 5.6 gives the mechanism of slipping; AN 5.7 gives the reason for being watched over.
Question 7 of 10
Is there a neutral, in-between state described in AN 5.6, where a mendicant has neither faith nor faithlessness?
Correct: B. No third state — vacancy and occupation are treated as simultaneous.
Question 8 of 10
What is the title 'Samāpatti' usually translated as here?
Correct: B. The moment an unskillful state comes to be, not a meditative attainment in this context.
Question 9 of 10
How many of the five powers are shown in full text on this page, versus condensed?
Correct: B. Matching exactly how the underlying bilara-data text itself presents the discourse.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.6 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with every discourse in this chapter after the first.
