Paṭhamasāraṇīyasutta — Sāraṇīyavagga — the second chapter of the Sixes
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A bare list of six qualities, each closed with ‘this is a warm-hearted quality’
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
This six-item list of communal virtues recurs at MN 48 and elsewhere across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — a short, practical list about communal life rather than solitary practice
Why this discourse
The Sixes' second chapter opens on a different register from the first: not attainments or similes, but the ordinary texture of living well among other practitioners. Six qualities are named sāraṇīya, warm-hearted or “conducive to affection” — kindness in body, speech, and mind toward one’s spiritual companions, sharing material goods without holding back, and living by shared ethics and shared view. Nothing here concerns solitary meditation; everything concerns how a community of practitioners actually holds together.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Six things build warmth and belonging among spiritual companions: bodily kindness, verbal kindness, and mental kindness, both openly and privately; sharing material goods without holding anything back; living by shared ethical precepts; and living by a shared, liberating view.
Three kindnesses, in every register
The first three items form a matched set — kindness of body, speech, and mind — each specified as holding “both in public and in private,” āvi ceva raho ca. The repetition of this phrase across all three items insists that warmth toward companions is not a performance for others to see; it must hold when no one is watching as much as when everyone is.
A community's economy: sharing to the alms-bowl itself
The fourth item is startlingly concrete: sharing without reservation even “the food placed in the alms-bowl.” For a mendicant whose entire material life is a bowl of gathered food, this names the smallest and most immediate possible act of non-possessiveness, not an abstract principle about generosity in general.
Ethics and view: the pair that closes the list
The fifth and sixth items shift from interpersonal conduct to shared standards: living by the same ethical precepts as one's companions, and holding the same “noble and emancipating” view that leads to the ending of suffering. A community held together only by mutual kindness, without a shared ethical and doctrinal foundation, is not quite what this list describes; both registers are named as necessary.
A companion discourse follows immediately
AN 6.12, next, restates this identical list of six with one addition: an explicit closing formula naming what each quality produces — fondness, respect, inclusion, harmony, unity, freedom from dispute. Read together, the two discourses give first the bare list, then its social payoff, in the same brief-then-detailed pattern this series has already met at AN 5.1/5.2 and AN 6.9/6.10.
Key terms
sāraṇīya — “warm-hearted,” “conducive to affection” — the quality named of each of the six items, and this chapter's own title.
mettaṁ kāyakammaṁ — “loving-kindness in bodily action” — the first of the six, physical conduct rooted in mettā.
sabrahmacārī — “spiritual companion,” “fellow practitioner of the holy life” — the community these six qualities are directed toward.
āvi ceva raho ca — “both openly and privately” — the phrase repeated across the first three items, insisting warmth must hold whether or not one is observed.
diṭṭhi — “view” — the sixth item, a shared understanding described as “noble and emancipating,” leading its holder to the ending of suffering.
The text
The discourse in full: the six warm-hearted qualities. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The six warm-hearted qualities
§1“Mendicants, there are these six warm-hearted qualities. What six? Firstly, a mendicant consistently treats their spiritual companions with bodily kindness, both in public and in private. This is a warm-hearted quality. Furthermore, a mendicant consistently treats their spiritual companions with verbal kindness, both in public and in private. This too is a warm-hearted quality. Furthermore, a mendicant consistently treats their spiritual companions with mental kindness … Furthermore, a mendicant shares without reservation any material things they have gained by legitimate means, even the food placed in the alms-bowl, using them in common with their ethical spiritual companions. This too is a warm-hearted quality. Furthermore, a mendicant lives according to the precepts shared with their spiritual companions, both in public and in private. Those precepts are intact, impeccable, spotless, and unmarred, liberating, praised by sensible people, not mistaken, and leading to immersion. This too is a warm-hearted quality. Furthermore, a mendicant lives according to the view shared with their spiritual companions, both in public and in private. That view is noble and emancipating, and delivers one who practices it to the complete ending of suffering. This too is a warm-hearted quality. These are the six warm-hearted qualities.”
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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 six qualities does AN 6.11 name as sāraṇīya, warm-hearted?
Correct: A. Three kindnesses, communal sharing, and shared ethics and view.
Question 2 of 10
What phrase is repeated across the first three items (bodily, verbal, mental kindness)?
Correct: B. Insisting that warmth must hold whether or not one is observed.
Question 3 of 10
How concrete is the fourth item, about sharing material goods?
Correct: B. The smallest, most immediate possible act of non-possessiveness for a mendicant.
Question 4 of 10
What do the fifth and sixth items add beyond the first four?
Correct: B. Both a communal-conduct register and a shared-standards register are named as necessary.
Question 5 of 10
What does sabrahmacārī mean?
Correct: B. The community these six qualities of warmth are directed toward.
Question 6 of 10
How does AN 6.12, the next discourse, relate to AN 6.11?
Correct: B. A brief-then-detailed pair, as this series has already met more than once.
Question 7 of 10
What broader pattern does the AN 6.11/6.12 pairing match, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A recurring compositional device across this whole series.
Question 8 of 10
Is a setting stated for AN 6.11?
Correct: B. A bare list with no scene-setting clause, opening the chapter's second vagga.
Question 9 of 10
What does the sixth item's 'view' lead to, according to the text?
Correct: B. Described as noble and emancipating, delivering its holder to the end of suffering.
Question 10 of 10
What register does this discourse concern, compared to most of chapter 1?
Correct: B. A shift from attainments and similes to communal life.
