Vitakkasutta — Tikavagga — the eleventh chapter of the Sixes, continuing the Second Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
This chapter's shared template, applied here to thought — the first of three discourses restating the identical sensual/malicious/cruel triad across three different psychological registers
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The threefold antidote of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness against sensual, malicious, and cruel thought recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' treatment of right thought; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the same triad and antidotes already met at AN 6.74 and 6.75, worth checking for identity rather than assuming a fresh list
Why this discourse
AN 6.109 opens a genuinely rare case in this collection: three consecutive discourses — this one, AN 6.110, and AN 6.111 — restating the identical content, sensual, malicious, and cruel, reversed by renunciation, good will, and harmlessness, applied first to thought, then to perception, then to a third register, “element,” not yet met by this name in this collection.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts, one should develop thoughts of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness, each antidote matched to its corresponding thought.
Content already met twice before, in this exact wording
Checked term by term against AN 6.74 and 6.75 earlier in this collection, this discourse's triad and antidotes are identical: kāma/byāpāda/vihiṁsā thought, reversed by nekkhamma/abyāpāda/avihiṁsā thought. This is the third time this collection has met this exact content, now recast into Tikavagga's 3+3 template.
A third register about to be added
AN 6.74 and 6.75 treated this content as blocking the first absorption and present happiness respectively. This discourse and its two immediate companions instead present it under the antidote structure common to this entire chapter, with AN 6.110 restating it for perception and AN 6.111 for a third, previously unnamed register, dhātu.
Why the same triad recurs across so many registers
That this exact sensual/malicious/cruel triad recurs at AN 6.74, 6.75, 6.109, and 6.110 (with a further variant at 6.111) suggests this literature treats it as a single underlying disposition expressing itself at multiple levels — as thought, as perception, and (at AN 6.111) as a more fundamental “element” — rather than three unrelated occurrences of a coincidentally similar list.
Key terms
kāmavitakka, byāpādavitakka, vihiṁsāvitakka — “sensual, malicious, and cruel thought” — identical to the blocking triad already met at AN 6.74 and 6.75.
nekkhammavitakka, abyāpādavitakka, avihiṁsāvitakka — “thoughts of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness” — identical to AN 6.75's antidote triad, here recast as this chapter's antidotes.
vitakka — “thought,” applied thought — this discourse's own register, the first of three this same content is applied to across AN 6.109–111.
saññā — “perception” — the register AN 6.110 will apply this identical content to next.
dhātu — “element” — the third and previously unmet register AN 6.111 will apply this content to.
The text
The discourse in full: sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts, and their three matched antidotes. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things to give up
§1“Mendicants, there are these three things. What three? Sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts. These are the three things.
Three things to develop against them
§2To give up these three things you should develop three things. What three? You should develop thoughts of renunciation to give up sensual thoughts, thoughts of good will to give up malicious thoughts, and thoughts of harmlessness to give up cruel thoughts. These are the three things you should develop to give up those three things.”
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Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 6
How does this discourse's triad and antidotes compare to AN 6.74 and 6.75's, checked term by term?
Correct: B. Content already met twice before, now recast into this chapter's template.
Question 2 of 6
What two further discourses does this one open a family with?
Correct: B. A genuinely rare case of the same specific content restated three times in immediate succession.
Question 3 of 6
What does the guide suggest is the significance of this triad recurring across so many registers in this collection?
Correct: B. A disposition expressing itself across registers, not a coincidence.
Question 4 of 6
What target did AN 6.74 and 6.75 apply this same content to, unlike this discourse?
Correct: B. The same content serving different rhetorical purposes across three discourses in two different chapters.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.109?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching this chapter's other discourses.
Question 6 of 6
What does dhātu mean, and where does it appear in this family?
Correct: B. The third register in this rare three-discourse restatement.
