Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 5.77

Future Perils (1st)

Paṭhamaanāgatabhayasutta — Yodhājīvavagga — the eighth 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
five parallel reflections, each following an identical three-part template
Length
~2 minutes to read
Northern parallel
not identified in this collection
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a straightforward, practical set of reflections

Why this discourse

The chapter turns from an inner danger to outer ones: five physical hazards a wilderness-dwelling mendicant might reasonably face — venomous bites, accident or illness, wild animals, criminals, and beings believed to inhabit wild places — each turned, by a single repeated template, into a reason to practice now rather than later.

Reading guide

One template, five dangers

Each of the five reflections follows an identical three-part shape: naming a specific danger, noting that dying from it now would be an obstacle to unfinished progress, and resolving to rouse energy for attaining what is not yet attained. The template repeats so exactly that the discourse reads almost like a checklist for turning mortality-awareness into motivation rather than paralysis.

Snakebite

The first danger is being bitten by a snake, scorpion, or centipede — a real and ordinary risk of sleeping and sitting alone in undeveloped wilderness.

Accident or illness

The second names stumbling off a cliff, food poisoning, or a disturbance of bile, phlegm, or piercing winds — naming the three humors (pitta, semha, vāta) of the ancient Indian medical model that frames illness throughout the early canon.

Wild beasts

The third names five specific animals — lion, tiger, leopard, bear, hyena — real hazards of pre-modern South Asian forest life for anyone sleeping unprotected in the open.

Criminals, and savage non-humans

The fourth names criminal youths, fleeing a crime or on their way to commit one, who might take the mendicant's life. The fifth names amanussā — non-human beings the discourse describes as savage and life-threatening, part of the traditional cosmology in which spirits and other non-human beings are understood to inhabit wild and remote places; this reading guide reports that belief as the text's own framing without asserting a claim about it either way.

A companion that broadens the frame

AN 5.78 immediately follows with the identical template, but applies it to any mendicant rather than wilderness-dwellers specifically, replacing physical dangers with five future changes in life circumstance.

Key terms

āraññika — “wilderness-dweller” — both the practice and the practitioner this discourse addresses.
antarāya — “obstacle, impediment” — what an untimely death is said to represent to unfinished progress.
pitta / semha / vāta — bile, phlegm, and wind — the three humors of the ancient Indian medical model named among the second peril's possible causes of illness.
amanussā — “non-human beings” — spirits or other beings the traditional cosmology holds to inhabit wild and remote places, named as the fifth peril.
appamatta — “diligent, heedful” — the disposition these five reflections are meant to produce.

The text

The discourse in full: five physical perils, each turned by an identical template into motivation for present practice. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

The five future perils

§1“Mendicants, seeing these five future perils is quite enough for a wilderness mendicant to meditate diligently, keenly, and resolutely for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.

Snakebite

§2What five? Firstly, a wilderness mendicant reflects: ‘Currently I’m living alone in a wilderness. While living here alone I might get bitten by a snake, a scorpion, or a centipede. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. I’d better rouse up energy for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.’ This is the first future peril …

Accident or illness

§3Furthermore, a wilderness mendicant reflects: ‘Currently I’m living alone in a wilderness. While living here alone I might stumble off a cliff, or get food poisoning, or suffer a disturbance of bile, phlegm, or piercing winds. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. I’d better rouse up energy for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.’ This is the second future peril …

Wild beasts

§4Furthermore, a wilderness mendicant reflects: ‘Currently I’m living alone in a wilderness. While living here alone I might encounter wild beasts—a lion, a tiger, a leopard, a bear, or a hyena—which might take my life. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. I’d better rouse up energy for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.’ This is the third future peril …

Criminals

§5Furthermore, a wilderness mendicant reflects: ‘Currently I’m living alone in a wilderness. While living here alone I might encounter youths escaping a crime or on their way to commit one, and they might take my life. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. I’d better rouse up energy for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.’ This is the fourth future peril …

Savage non-humans

§6Furthermore, a wilderness mendicant reflects: ‘Currently I’m living alone in a wilderness. But in a wilderness there are savage monsters who might take my life. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. I’d better rouse up energy for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.’ This is the fifth future peril …

The close

§7These are the five future perils, seeing which is quite enough for a wilderness mendicant to meditate diligently, keenly, and resolutely for attaining the unattained, achieving the unachieved, and realizing the unrealized.”

· · ·

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
Who specifically is this discourse's set of reflections addressed to?
Correct: B. Āraññika bhikkhu, named at the very opening.
Question 2 of 10
What is the first peril named?
Correct: B. The first of the five physical dangers.
Question 3 of 10
What three bodily humors are named among the potential causes of illness in the second peril?
Correct: B. Pitta, semha, vāta — the ancient Indian medical model's three humors.
Question 4 of 10
Which five wild animals are named in the third peril?
Correct: B. The five predators named in the third peril.
Question 5 of 10
Who is described as the fourth peril?
Correct: B. A human, rather than animal, danger.
Question 6 of 10
What does the Pali term 'amanussā' refer to in the fifth peril?
Correct: B. Part of the traditional cosmology framing wild places as inhabited by non-human beings.
Question 7 of 10
What three-part structure does each of the five reflections share?
Correct: A. The identical template repeated across all five perils.
Question 8 of 10
What is the stated purpose of contemplating these five perils?
Correct: B. Motivation, not paralysis, is the discourse's explicit aim.
Question 9 of 10
Is this discourse about dangers that have already occurred, or ones that might occur?
Correct: B. Future, possible dangers reflected on now.
Question 10 of 10
How does the companion discourse AN 5.78 broaden this same reflection template?
Correct: B. Old age, sickness, famine, unrest, and Saṅgha schism replace the physical dangers.
Answered 0 of 10 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 5.76 · Warriors (2nd)