Cavanasutta — Sekhabalavagga — the first 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 clauses stated once for lacking each quality, folded into one summary sentence, mirrored for having all five
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Falling away from and standing firm in the teaching is a standard pair of images across early Buddhist literature broadly; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — short and formulaic, its interest lies in the image it adds to the chapter's set
Why this discourse
This chapter has now offered three different images for the same underlying claim: AN 5.4 pictured a parcel delivered to hell or heaven, AN 5.6 pictured a vacated quality instantly occupied by its opposite, and this discourse pictures falling and standing — cavati, falls away, against patiṭṭhāti, stands firm, both applied to a mendicant's place in the true teaching, saddhamme. None of the three images replaces the others; the collection seems content to restate one claim in several registers rather than settle on a single metaphor.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant lacking faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom falls away and fails to establish themselves in the true teaching; one who has all five does not fall away, and does establish themselves.
A third image, not a repetition
Cavati and patiṭṭhāti are architectural verbs — falling and standing — applied here to a person's place within something, the true teaching. This is different in kind from AN 5.4's delivery image and AN 5.6's vacancy-and-occupation image, even though all three discourses are making the identical claim about the identical five qualities. A reader tracking the chapter as a whole is watching one argument tried in three different pictures: a destination reached, a space filled, and now a structure stood in or fallen from.
What ‘the true teaching’ names
Saddhamma here means something closer to standing, membership, a place held — not primarily a body of doctrine to be believed correctly. To fail to establish oneself in the true teaching is not described here as a doctrinal error; it is described as a kind of falling, parallel to the fall from heaven the earlier discourses pictured literally. This exact word will return with far more weight much later in the Fives, in the vagga explicitly devoted to its decline; this discourse is worth remembering when that material arrives.
The list, for a fourth time unchanged
Faithless, shameless, imprudent, lazy, witless: identical wording to AN 5.1, 5.3, and 5.4. By this point in the chapter the list itself should need no further introduction; what a reader should be tracking from here on is only which new consequence or qualifier each discourse attaches to it.
What comes next
AN 5.9 takes this exact formula and adds one qualifier — disrespectful and irreverent — to both halves. AN 5.10 will then take the same qualified formula and swap the falling/standing image for one of growth and maturity, closing the chapter. The three discourses read fastest as one template inherited and modified twice in succession.
Key terms
cavati — “falls away” — the verb for losing one’s place, applied here to standing in the true teaching rather than to a literal fall.
patiṭṭhāti — “stands firm, is established” — the positive counterpart, naming a settled place rather than an event or attainment.
saddhamma — “the true teaching” — used here as something one has a standing within, a word this series will meet again with far more weight later in the Fives.
duppañño — “witless” — the last of the five negative terms, naming absence of the specific insight-wisdom AN 5.2 defined.
kusīto — “lazy” — the negative counterpart to energy roused up, named but not further defined in this discourse.
The text
The discourse in full: lacking the five, falling away and failing to establish oneself in the true teaching; having them, the reverse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Falling away
§1“Mendicants, a mendicant with five qualities fails, and doesn’t establish themselves in the true teaching. What five? A mendicant who is faithless … shameless … imprudent … lazy … witless fails, and doesn’t establish themselves in the true teaching. A mendicant with these five qualities fails, and doesn’t establish themselves in the true teaching.
Standing firm
§2A mendicant with five qualities doesn’t fail, and establishes themselves in the true teaching. What five? A mendicant who is faithful … conscientious … prudent … energetic … wise doesn’t fail, and establishes themselves in the true teaching. A mendicant with these five qualities doesn’t fail, and establishes themselves in the true teaching.”
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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 image does AN 5.8 use for the consequence of lacking the five powers?
Correct: B. Cavati against patiṭṭhāti — falling versus standing firm.
Question 2 of 10
How many distinct images has this chapter now used for the same underlying claim, counting AN 5.8?
Correct: B. The collection restates one claim in several registers rather than settling on one metaphor.
Question 3 of 10
How does the guide characterize what 'saddhamma' (the true teaching) names in this discourse?
Correct: B. Failing to establish oneself is pictured as a kind of falling, not a doctrinal error.
Question 4 of 10
What does the guide say awaits this same word 'saddhamma' later in the Fives?
Correct: B. A forward-pointing note worth remembering when that later material arrives.
Question 5 of 10
How does the five-quality list in AN 5.8 compare to AN 5.1, 5.3, and 5.4?
Correct: B. By this point the list needs no further introduction; only the attached image or consequence changes.
Question 6 of 10
What does AN 5.9, the next discourse, add to this exact formula?
Correct: B. The formula is inherited and modified, not simply repeated.
Question 7 of 10
What does AN 5.10, the discourse after that, change?
Correct: B. A second modification of the inherited template, closing the vagga.
Question 8 of 10
What kind of verbs are 'cavati' and 'patiṭṭhāti'?
Correct: B. A structural image, distinct from the delivery and vacancy images used earlier in the chapter.
Question 9 of 10
Is a new definition of any of the five qualities given in AN 5.8?
Correct: B. AN 5.2 already did the defining work in full.
Question 10 of 10
Where is AN 5.8 set?
Correct: B. Consistent with every discourse in this chapter after the first.
