Dutiyasaññāsutta — Saññāvagga — the seventh 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
AN 5.61's formula restated with two of five items changed
Length
~20 seconds to read
Northern parallel
This reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number for this variant beyond the parallel already noted at AN 5.61
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the chapter's first confirmed instance of its paired structure
Why this discourse
As promised at AN 5.61, this discourse swaps two of the five perceptions: aniccasaññā, impermanence, and anattasaññā, not-self, replace ugliness and drawbacks, while death, food's repulsiveness, and world-dissatisfaction carry over unchanged. The shared claim — freedom from death as goal and culmination — is identical in both discourses, word for word.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Five perceptions — impermanence, not-self, death, the repulsiveness of food, and dissatisfaction with the whole world — when developed and cultivated, are very fruitful and have freedom from death as their goal and culmination.
Two of the canon's central themes, entering this list
Impermanence and not-self are, elsewhere in the canon, treated as two of the three marks of existence, alongside suffering. Their appearance here, standing alongside more concrete contemplative objects like food's repulsiveness, shows this list mixing doctrinal cornerstones with vivid, embodied practices rather than keeping the two registers separate.
What stays fixed across both discourses
Death, food's repulsiveness, and world-dissatisfaction anchor both versions of the list. This constancy is worth noting precisely because it is not commented on in either discourse: the two lists are never explicitly compared to each other in the source text itself, and it is only by reading them side by side that the shared core and the swapped pair become visible.
The identical closing claim
Every word of the discourse's final sentence — very fruitful and beneficial, freedom from death as goal and culmination — matches AN 5.61 exactly. The chapter is making the same claim about two different, overlapping sets of perceptions, rather than claiming one version is superior to the other.
What follows
AN 5.63, next, leaves perceptions behind entirely and returns to this nipāta's most familiar five-item list — faith, ethics, learning, generosity, wisdom — now framed as growth, and given, unusually, in two versions distinguished by the disciple's gender rather than by any change in content.
Key terms
aniccasaññā — “perception of impermanence” — the first of two swapped items, one of the three marks of existence elsewhere in the canon.
anattasaññā — “perception of not-self” — the second swapped item, the third mark of existence alongside impermanence and suffering.
maraṇasaññā — “perception of death” — one of three items shared unchanged with AN 5.61's list.
āhāre paṭikūlasaññā — “perception of food's repulsiveness” — the second shared item, a vivid, embodied practice alongside the more doctrinal impermanence and not-self.
amatapariyosānā — “culminating in the deathless” — the closing phrase, worded identically to AN 5.61's.
The text
The discourse in full: the five perceptions, named once, with two items swapped from AN 5.61. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, these five perceptions, when developed and cultivated, are very fruitful and beneficial. They have freedom from death as their objective and culmination. What five? The perceptions of impermanence, not-self, death, repulsiveness of food, and dissatisfaction with the whole world. These five perceptions, when developed and cultivated, are very fruitful and beneficial. They have freedom from death as their objective and culmination.”
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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
Which two items does this discourse swap in from AN 5.61's list?
Correct: B. Two of the canon's central doctrinal themes, entering this contemplative list.
Question 2 of 10
Which three items stay unchanged between AN 5.61 and this discourse?
Correct: B. The shared core anchoring both versions of the list.
Question 3 of 10
Does the source text itself explicitly compare AN 5.61 and 5.62's lists?
Correct: B. Neither discourse comments on the other; the pairing is structural, not stated.
Question 4 of 10
How does the discourse's closing claim compare to AN 5.61's?
Correct: B. The same claim applied to two overlapping but distinct sets of perceptions.
Question 5 of 10
What are impermanence and not-self elsewhere called, alongside suffering?
Correct: B. A standard doctrinal grouping this discourse's list draws two items from.
Question 6 of 10
What does mixing impermanence and not-self with food's repulsiveness in one list suggest, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A deliberate range from the abstract to the concrete within a single five-item set.
Question 7 of 10
Does this discourse claim its version of the list is superior to AN 5.61's?
Correct: B. Neither version is ranked above the other.
Question 8 of 10
What does AN 5.63, the next discourse, turn to?
Correct: B. A shift away from perceptions to this nipāta's most recurring five-item list.
Question 9 of 10
Is any simile or narrative used in this discourse?
Correct: B. Consistent with the chapter's terse, list-based style.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.62 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with the default setting used throughout this nipāta when nothing new is stated.
