Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 5.66

Sharing Life

Sājīvasutta — 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 5.65's formula restated with one word changed in each of five paired clauses
Length
~1 minute 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 5.65
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — near-identical to its predecessor, worth reading for its one genuine difference

Why this discourse

This discourse and AN 5.65 differ in exactly one respect, repeated five times: kathāya ca āgataṁ pañhaṁ, questions that come up in discussion, becomes kathāya ca kataṁ pañhaṁ, questions that are posed, and the outcome shifts from alaṁsākaccho, fit for discussion, to alaṁsājīvo, fit to share one's life. Small changes, worth reading precisely rather than treating as interchangeable.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A mendicant fit to share their life with spiritual companions is personally accomplished in ethics, immersion, wisdom, freedom, and the knowledge and vision of freedom, and can answer questions posed when each is discussed.

Āgataṁ versus kataṁ, a small but real distinction

AN 5.65's questions come up, arising in the natural course of conversation; this discourse's questions are posed, more actively directed at the mendicant. It is a fine distinction, and this reading guide does not overstate it, but the two verbs are not accidental synonyms — one suggests organic conversation, the other suggests something closer to deliberate examination.

From talking well to living alongside

The larger difference sits in the discourse's outcome, not its questions: sājīva, shared life, names something more sustained and total than sākaccha, discussion. A mendicant might handle a single conversation well without being someone their companions could actually live and practice alongside day after day. This discourse sets the higher bar of the two, using nearly identical language to do it.

Why state this as a separate discourse rather than one combined teaching

As with several near-duplicate pairs already met in this nipāta, the likely answer is again transmission: a chanted tradition preserves two related but genuinely distinct claims — fitness for conversation, fitness for shared life — better as two complete, separately memorizable units than as one discourse with an appended variant.

Closing this chapter's third pair

AN 5.65 and 5.66 complete the third of this chapter's matched pairs, after perceptions (61–62) and growth (63–64). AN 5.67 and 5.68, next, will give the chapter's fourth pair, moving from social fitness to the bases of psychic power — first as general teaching, then as the Buddha's own account of his pre-awakening practice.

Key terms

alaṁsājīvo — “fit to share one's life” — this discourse's title and standard, a higher, more sustained bar than AN 5.65's fitness for discussion.
kataṁ pañhaṁ — “questions posed” — this discourse's verb, more actively directed than AN 5.65's ‘questions that come up’.
sājīva — “shared life” — the outcome this discourse names, naming something more total than a single successful conversation.
sākaccha — “discussion” — AN 5.65's outcome, distinct from this discourse's sustained shared life.
byākattā — “one who answers, explains” — the shared term across both discourses for the capacity to field questions on each of the five topics.

The text

The discourse in full: the five paired qualities required for fitness to share one's life with companions. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

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

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

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

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

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

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

§7A mendicant with these five qualities is fit to share their life 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 single word changes across all five paired clauses, compared to AN 5.65?
Correct: B. A small verb change plus a shift in the discourse's stated outcome.
Question 2 of 10
How does the guide distinguish 'āgataṁ' (questions that come up) from 'kataṁ' (questions posed)?
Correct: B. A distinction worth noting without overstating its significance.
Question 3 of 10
How does 'alaṁsājīvo', fitness to share one's life, compare to AN 5.65's 'alaṁsākaccho', fitness for discussion?
Correct: B. Living alongside companions day after day, not just conversing well once.
Question 4 of 10
Why does the guide suggest these two near-duplicate discourses are stated separately rather than combined into one?
Correct: B. The same oral-transmission reasoning already offered elsewhere in this nipāta.
Question 5 of 10
What pair of chapter discourses does AN 5.65–66 complete, following two earlier pairs?
Correct: B. One of four matched pairs structuring this whole chapter.
Question 6 of 10
What five topics does this discourse require accomplishment in and ability to discuss?
Correct: B. The identical five-item list as AN 5.65, from AN 5.17–20.
Question 7 of 10
What comes next in the chapter, after this pair?
Correct: B. The chapter's fourth matched pair.
Question 8 of 10
Does this discourse offer any new definition of the five topics beyond AN 5.65's?
Correct: B. A near-total repetition with two deliberate points of difference.
Question 9 of 10
What term describes the capacity to field questions on each topic, shared across both discourses?
Correct: B. The common term across both AN 5.65 and 5.66.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.66 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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