Assādasutta — 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, returning to distinct content after AN 6.109–111's three-discourse restatement
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The pairing of impermanence-perception, not-self-perception, and right view against three named wrong views recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — names three distinct wrong views rather than a single repeated content, drawing together several threads from earlier in this collection
Why this discourse
AN 6.112 returns this chapter to distinct content after AN 6.109–111's rare three-discourse restatement: the view that things are gratifying, the theory of a self, and wrong view generally, reversed by the perception of impermanence, the perception of not-self, and right view — drawing together several strands already met separately earlier in this collection.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
To give up the view that things are gratifying, the theory of self, and wrong view, one should develop the perception of impermanence, the perception of not-self, and right view, each antidote matched to its corresponding wrong view.
Three wrong views, each already met individually
Regarding conditions as gratifying and regarding anything as self were already named as blocking perceptions at AN 6.98–100 (there as pleasure- and self-view specifically); this discourse groups a version of both together with a third, more general wrong view, reversed by antidotes already named at AN 6.93 as what one accomplished in view cannot fall back into.
Impermanence and not-self perceptions, not suffering-perception
Where AN 6.98–101's chain named all three characteristics (impermanence, suffering, not-self) as separately blocking the sure path, this discourse's two perceptual antidotes name only impermanence and not-self, pairing them instead with right view generally rather than with a perception of suffering specifically.
A discourse drawing threads together, not introducing new content
Nearly every element of this discourse's two triads — gratification-view, self-view, wrong view, impermanence-perception, not-self-perception, right view — has appeared individually elsewhere in this collection; this discourse's contribution is the specific one-to-one pairing under Tikavagga's shared template, not new doctrinal content.
Key terms
assādadiṭṭhi — “the view that things are gratifying” — the discourse's own title term, the first of the three wrong views named.
attavāda — “the theory of self” — the second wrong view, connecting to self-view already treated at AN 6.89–91 and 6.93.
micchādiṭṭhi — “wrong view” — the third and most general item, already met at AN 6.81 as one of six things delivering someone to hell.
aniccasaññā, anattasaññā — “the perception of impermanence, the perception of not-self” — two of the three antidotes, drawing on perceptions already named individually at AN 6.98, 6.100, and 6.102–104.
sammādiṭṭhi — “right view” — the third antidote, the direct reversal of wrong view generally.
The text
The discourse in full: three wrong views 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 view that things are gratifying, the theory of self, and wrong view. 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 perception of impermanence to give up the view that things are gratifying; the perception of not-self to give up the theory of self; and right view to give up wrong view. 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
What three wrong views does this discourse name?
Correct: B. Three distinct views, each already met individually elsewhere in this collection.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse relate to AN 6.109–111's pattern immediately before it?
Correct: B. A return to this chapter's more typical pattern of distinct content per discourse.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what is this discourse's actual contribution, given that most of its individual elements appear elsewhere in this collection?
Correct: B. A synthesis and structural pairing, not a new teaching from scratch.
Question 4 of 6
How does this discourse's two perceptual antidotes differ from AN 6.98–101's full treatment of the three characteristics?
Correct: B. Two of the three characteristics, paired differently than in AN 6.98–101's fuller chain.
Question 5 of 6
Where else in this collection has 'wrong view' (micchādiṭṭhi) already appeared as a named item?
Correct: B. A term this collection has already used in a different context earlier.
Question 6 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.112?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching this chapter's other discourses.