Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 5.65

Discussion

Sākacchasutta — 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
A single sentence naming five paired qualities — personal accomplishment plus ability to answer questions — for each of five topics
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Personal accomplishment paired with the ability to answer questions on the same subject recurs as a standard for teaching fitness across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — reuses a five-item list already central to this nipāta, now applied to a specific social function

Why this discourse

This discourse returns to the five-item set that structured AN 5.17–20 — ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, and the knowledge and vision of freedom — and gives it a new, practical test: fitness to hold a discussion with one's spiritual companions. Each of the five items now comes doubled, requiring both personal accomplishment and the ability to field questions others raise about it.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A mendicant fit to hold a discussion with spiritual companions is personally accomplished in ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, and the knowledge and vision of freedom, and can answer questions that come up when each is discussed.

A double requirement, not a single one

Each of the five items in this discourse is really two requirements folded together: attanā ca…sampanno hoti, personally accomplished, and kathāya ca āgataṁ pañhaṁ byākattā hoti, able to answer questions that arise in discussion. A mendicant could conceivably have one without the other — genuinely accomplished but unable to articulate it under questioning, or articulate without the underlying accomplishment — and this discourse requires both together, for all five items, before fitness for discussion is granted.

The same five items, at a different depth than AN 5.17–20

AN 5.17 through 5.20 used this identical list to sort mendicants by whether they practiced for their own welfare, others', both, or neither. This discourse assumes accomplishment in all five as a baseline and adds a further, more specific capacity on top: the ability to withstand questioning about that accomplishment from one's own community. It is a narrower, more demanding standard than simply having encouraged others, as AN 5.20's fourth case required.

What ‘fit to discuss’ implies about the community it serves

This discourse assumes spiritual companions who will actually ask hard questions — a community where accomplishment is expected to be tested, not merely trusted on report. The standard it sets is not for private conviction alone, but for conviction robust enough to survive genuine scrutiny from peers.

A companion discourse follows immediately

AN 5.66, next, restates this almost word for word, changing only the specific outcome from fitness for discussion to fitness to share one's life with companions — a small but real distinction between talking well about the path and actually living alongside others on it.

Key terms

alaṁsākaccho — “fit for discussion” — this discourse’s title and standard, naming a specific social capacity rather than private attainment alone.
sampanno — “accomplished” — the first half of each paired requirement, personal attainment in each of the five items.
kathāya āgataṁ pañhaṁ byākattā — “able to answer questions that come up in discussion” — the second half, the capacity to withstand questioning from companions.
vimuttiñāṇadassana — “the knowledge and vision of freedom” — the fifth item, completing the AN 5.17–20 set reused here.
sabrahmacārī — “spiritual companion” — the community this discourse assumes will actually test a mendicant's accomplishment through questioning.

The text

The discourse in full: the five paired qualities required for fitness to discuss the Dhamma with companions. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

§1“Mendicants, a mendicant with five qualities is fit to hold a discussion with their spiritual companions. What five?

§2A mendicant is personally accomplished in ethics, and answers questions that come up when discussing accomplishment in ethics.

§3They’re personally accomplished in immersion, and they answer questions that come up when discussing accomplishment in immersion.

§4They’re personally accomplished in wisdom, and they answer questions that come up when discussing accomplishment in wisdom.

§5They’re personally accomplished in freedom, and they answer questions that come up when discussing accomplishment in freedom.

§6They’re personally accomplished in the knowledge and vision of freedom, and they answer questions that come up when discussing accomplishment in the knowledge and vision of freedom.

§7A mendicant with these five qualities is fit to hold a discussion with their spiritual companions.”

· · ·

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 topics does this discourse require both accomplishment in and the ability to discuss?
Correct: B. The identical five-item list already central to AN 5.17–20.
Question 2 of 10
What double requirement does each of the five items carry in this discourse?
Correct: B. A mendicant could conceivably have one without the other; this discourse requires both.
Question 3 of 10
How does this discourse's use of the AN 5.17–20 list differ from that earlier usage?
Correct: B. A narrower, more demanding standard layered on top of the earlier framework.
Question 4 of 10
What does the guide say this discourse's standard implies about the community it assumes?
Correct: B. Conviction robust enough to survive scrutiny, not merely private conviction.
Question 5 of 10
What does AN 5.66, the next discourse, change from this one?
Correct: B. A small but real distinction between talking well and actually living alongside others.
Question 6 of 10
What is the fifth item in this discourse's list?
Correct: B. Completing the same set already used at AN 5.17–20.
Question 7 of 10
Where did this five-item list previously structure a four-discourse unit in this nipāta?
Correct: B. The self-welfare/others-welfare unit from earlier in the Fives.
Question 8 of 10
Does this discourse offer a simile or narrative illustration?
Correct: B. A structured list, consistent with much of this chapter's form.
Question 9 of 10
What is 'alaṁsākaccho' best translated as?
Correct: A. A positive standard of readiness, not a criticism.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.65 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with the default setting used throughout this nipāta when nothing new is stated.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

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