Dhātusutta — 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 'element' — the third and final discourse in a family restating one identical triad
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The treatment of sensuality, malice, and cruelty as “elements” recurs in related forms across the Chinese Āgamas' Abhidharma-adjacent material; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — closes this family with its most abstract register, dhātu, worth distinguishing from this term's more common cosmological or physical senses
Why this discourse
AN 6.111 closes the three-discourse family begun at AN 6.109, restating the same sensual/malicious/cruel content a fifth time overall in this collection, now cast as three dhātu, “elements” — the most abstract of the three registers this content has been applied to, naming sensuality, malice, and cruelty as fundamental constituents rather than episodes of thought or perception.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up the elements of sensuality, malice, and cruelty, one should develop the elements of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness, each antidote matched to its corresponding element.
Dhātu here, distinguished from its more common senses
Elsewhere in this literature, dhātu most often names the four or six physical elements, or the eighteen sensory elements of experience. This discourse's usage — the “element of sensuality,” kāmadhātu, and its two companions — instead names sensuality, malice, and cruelty as basic constituent tendencies, a narrower and more specific application of the term than its usual range.
The fifth appearance, and the family's completion
Counting AN 6.74, 6.75, 6.109, and 6.110, this is the fifth time this collection has stated this exact kāma/byāpāda/vihiṁsā content — and, with thought, perception, and now element all treated, the most registers this content has been applied across.
From episode to constituent
Where thought and perception name specific arisings — a thought that occurs, a perception that colors an experience — 'element' names something more like a standing tendency or raw material from which such episodes are drawn, the most fundamental of the three registers this family has moved through.
Key terms
kāmadhātu, byāpādadhātu, vihiṁsādhātu — “the element of sensuality, malice, cruelty” — this discourse's own triad, distinct from dhātu's more common physical or sensory senses elsewhere.
nekkhammadhātu, abyāpādadhātu, avihiṁsādhātu — “the element of renunciation, good will, harmlessness” — the antidote triad, completing this content's fifth appearance in this collection.
dhātu — “element” — this discourse's own register, here naming a basic constituent tendency rather than a physical or sensory category.
vitakka, saññā — “thought, perception” — the two registers this same content was applied to at AN 6.109 and 6.110 immediately before this discourse.
tika — “triad” — this chapter's structural principle, here closing its richest cross-register family of restatements.
The text
The discourse in full: the elements of sensuality, malice, and cruelty, and their three matched antidotes. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Three things to give up
§1“Mendicants, there are these three things. What three? The elements of sensuality, malice, and cruelty. 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 the element of renunciation to give up the element of sensuality, the element of good will to give up the element of malice, and the element of harmlessness to give up the element of cruelty. 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 usage of dhātu compare to its more common sense elsewhere in this literature, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A specific, narrower use of a term more commonly applied to physical or sensory elements.
Question 2 of 6
How many times, counting this discourse, has this collection now stated this exact kāma/byāpāda/vihiṁsā content?
Correct: C. The most-repeated specific content across registers in this collection so far.
Question 3 of 6
How does the guide distinguish 'element' from 'thought' and 'perception' as registers for this same content?
Correct: B. A movement from episode to underlying constituent across this three-discourse family.
Question 4 of 6
What completes with this discourse?
Correct: B. The richest cross-register restatement family in this collection so far, now complete.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.111?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching AN 6.109 and 6.110 before it.
Question 6 of 6
What does byāpādadhātu mean?
Correct: B. The second of the three blocking elements named in this discourse.
