Kāyānupassīsutta — Sāmaññavagga — the twelfth chapter of the Sixes, continuing the Second Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Two matched six-item lists, cause and its direct reversal, opening this chapter with content already met earlier in this collection
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The pairing of sense-restraint and moderate eating with successful meditation on the body recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' satipaṭṭhāna material; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the same list already met at AN 6.31, worth checking for identity rather than assuming fresh content
Why this discourse
Sāmaññavagga, ‘The Ascetic Life,’ opens by naming a blocking list already met in full at AN 6.31 in the earlier First Fifty — relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much — now applied specifically to whether a mendicant can meditate observing an aspect of the body.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Without giving up relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much, meditation observing an aspect of the body is impossible; giving up all six makes it possible.
Identical content to AN 6.31, a different target
Checked term by term against AN 6.31's list of a trainee's causes of decline, this discourse's six items are word for word identical. Only the target changes: AN 6.31 spoke of decline generally, while this discourse names one specific consequence, the ability to practice kāyānupassanā, observation of the body, the first of the four establishments of mindfulness.
The first of a foundation-by-foundation series
This discourse treats only the body specifically; AN 6.118 immediately following takes up the identical blocking list and applies it, via compression, to all four foundations of mindfulness together — body, feelings, mind, and principles.
Why this list recurs at the threshold of meditation
That this exact six-item list — already met blocking a trainee's general progress at AN 6.31, and here blocking a specific meditation practice — suggests these six habits are treated in this literature as prerequisites cutting across multiple specific attainments, not merely one narrow obstacle.
Key terms
kāyānupassanā — “observation of the body,” meditation on the body — the first of the four establishments of mindfulness, this discourse's specific target.
kammārāmatā, bhassārāmatā, niddārāmatā, saṅgaṇikārāmatā — “relishing work, talk, sleep, and company” — the first four blocking items, identical to AN 6.31's list of a trainee's causes of decline.
indriyesu aguttadvāratā, bhojane amattaññutā — “not guarding the sense doors, eating without moderation” — the remaining two blocking items, likewise identical to AN 6.31.
satipaṭṭhāna — “establishment of mindfulness” — the broader fourfold framework this discourse's target, kāyānupassanā, belongs to.
sekha — “trainee” — the population AN 6.31 named this identical list for, already defined earlier in this series.
The text
The discourse in full: six things blocking meditation on the body, and their reversal. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Six things that block meditation on the body
§1“Mendicants, without giving up these six qualities you can’t meditate observing an aspect of the body. What six? Relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much. Without giving up these six qualities you can’t meditate observing an aspect of the body.
Six things that enable it
§2But after giving up these six qualities you can meditate observing an aspect of the body. What six? Relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, and eating too much. After giving up these six qualities you can meditate observing an aspect of the body.”
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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 blocking list compare to AN 6.31's, checked term by term?
Correct: B. The same six items already met at AN 6.31 in the earlier First Fifty.
Question 2 of 6
What specific consequence does this discourse name, unlike AN 6.31's more general framing?
Correct: B. A narrower, specific target applied to content that was general at AN 6.31.
Question 3 of 6
What does the guide say this recurrence suggests about the six-item list?
Correct: B. A foundational list recurring at more than one point in this collection's structure.
Question 4 of 6
What does this discourse open a series toward, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The first of a foundation-by-foundation treatment, expanded in the next discourse.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.117?
Correct: B. A bare formula, opening this new chapter.
Question 6 of 6
What does kāyānupassanā mean?
Correct: B. The first of the four establishments of mindfulness, this discourse's stated target.
