Nibbidāsutta — 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 seven-term consequence named first, then five perceptions combined into a single practice rather than five separate contemplations
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Chains of consequence terms culminating in awakening and extinguishment recur widely across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — recombines this chapter's opening material into a single integrated practice
Why this discourse
This discourse returns to the perceptions this chapter opened with at AN 5.61 and AN 5.62, but does something neither of those did: it combines five of them, drawn from both earlier lists, into what reads as a single continuous practice rather than five discrete objects, and names not one outcome but a chain of seven, ending in nibbāna itself.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who observes the body's ugliness, perceives food's repulsiveness, perceives dissatisfaction with the whole world, observes the impermanence of all conditions, and has well established the perception of their own death, develops five things that lead solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment.
Five items, drawn from both earlier lists
Ugliness and food's repulsiveness come from AN 5.61's list; world-dissatisfaction is shared by both AN 5.61 and 5.62; impermanence comes from AN 5.62's list; and death's perception appears, in slightly different phrasing, in both. This discourse is not simply repeating either earlier list; it is drawing a new fifth combination from the shared pool those two discourses established.
One practice, not five separate contemplations
Where AN 5.61 and 5.62 each named five perceptions as parallel items in a set, this discourse's grammar runs the five together as a description of a single mendicant's ongoing practice — observing, perceiving, perceiving, observing, having established, one continuous sentence covering all five. The difference in presentation is worth noticing: a list to be selected from becomes, here, an integrated way of meditating.
Seven terms, not one outcome
Ekantanibbidāya virāgāya nirodhāya upasamāya abhiññāya sambodhāya nibbānāya, disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, extinguishment — seven terms strung together rather than one word standing in for the whole result. This chain has appeared before in this series, at AN 1.296–305's ten objects of recollection, applied there to a different set of practices; here it names the consequence of this specific five-part combination.
A closing pair that differs only in outcome
AN 5.70, the very next and final discourse of this chapter, will give this identical five-part practice one more time, changing only what it is said to lead to — not the seven-term chain, but simply āsavānaṁ khayāya, the ending of defilements. The chapter's fifth and closing pair repeats a pattern this chapter has used four times already: one practice, two consequences.
Key terms
asubhānupassī — “observing ugliness” — the first item, drawn from AN 5.61's earlier list.
sabbasaṅkhāresu aniccānupassī — “observing the impermanence of all conditions” — the fourth item, drawn from AN 5.62's list.
maraṇasaññā sūpaṭṭhitā — “the perception of death, well established” — the fifth item, phrased slightly differently from both AN 5.61 and 5.62's versions.
ekantanibbidā — “solely to disillusionment” — the first term of the seven-part chain, marking this discourse's outcome as unidirectional.
nibbāna — “extinguishment” — the final and highest term in the seven-part chain this discourse's practice leads to.
The text
The discourse in full: the seven-term outcome named, then the five perceptions combined into a single practice. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1“Mendicants, these five things, when developed and cultivated, lead solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment.
The combined practice
§2What five? A mendicant meditates observing the ugliness of the body, perceives the repulsiveness of food, perceives dissatisfaction with the whole world, observes the impermanence of all conditions, and has well established the perception of their own death.
§3These five things, when developed and cultivated, lead solely to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment.”
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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 items does this discourse combine into a single practice?
Correct: B. A new combination drawn from AN 5.61 and 5.62's earlier lists.
Question 2 of 10
How does this discourse's grammar present the five items, compared to AN 5.61 and 5.62?
Correct: B. A list becomes, here, a description of one unified practice.
Question 3 of 10
What seven-term chain does this discourse name as the outcome?
Correct: B. Seven terms strung together, not one word standing for the whole result.
Question 4 of 10
Where has this same seven-term chain appeared before in this series?
Correct: B. The identical chain, applied to a different set of practices earlier in the series.
Question 5 of 10
What does AN 5.70, the final discourse of this chapter, change from this one?
Correct: B. The same practice, a different named consequence, completing the chapter's fifth pair.
Question 6 of 10
Which two of the five items in this discourse come specifically from AN 5.62's list rather than AN 5.61's?
Correct: B. A genuine mixing of both earlier lists, not a simple repeat of either.
Question 7 of 10
What structural pattern does this discourse and AN 5.70 repeat, already used four times in this chapter?
Correct: B. The chapter's fifth and final instance of its defining pairing structure.
Question 8 of 10
What does 'ekantanibbidā' mean?
Correct: B. The first term of the seven-part chain, emphasizing a single, unwavering direction.
Question 9 of 10
Is 'nibbāna' the first or last term in this discourse's seven-part chain?
Correct: B. The chain's final and highest term.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.69 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with the default setting used throughout this nipāta when nothing new is stated.
