Tapussasutta — 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
A single six-item list, describing a named lay disciple's own attainment
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
Tapussa is named in the Vinaya and elsewhere as one of the first two lay disciples to take refuge, offering the newly awakened Buddha his first meal; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number in the Chinese Āgamas
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, naming a historical figure and opening a series of named lay disciples continued through AN 6.120–139
Why this discourse
AN 6.119 shifts this chapter's register from abstract lists to a named individual: the householder Tapussa, traditionally remembered as one of the first two lay disciples to take refuge in the Buddha, said here to be “certain about the Realized One” and to have “seen freedom from death” through six qualities of experiential confidence and attainment, entirely as a layperson.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Through experiential confidence in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and through noble ethics, knowledge, and freedom, the householder Tapussa is certain about the Realized One and lives having realized freedom from death.
Four familiar factors, plus two more
The first four items — confidence in the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, and noble ethics — are the standard four factors of stream-entry (sotāpattiyaṅga) found throughout this literature; this discourse adds two further items, noble knowledge and noble freedom, extending beyond the usual four-item formula.
A lay attainment, stated without qualification
The discourse makes no distinction between what a layperson versus a mendicant can attain through these six qualities — Tapussa is said to have “seen freedom from death and lived having realized freedom from death,” language elsewhere applied to advanced attainment, applied here directly to a householder without any qualifying caveat about lay status.
Opening a naming convention this chapter continues at length
This discourse is the first of a set naming individual lay disciples by name as possessing this identical six-item attainment; AN 6.120–139 continues with nineteen further named householders and lay followers, compressed into a single page via the same peyyāla convention already met throughout this collection.
Key terms
Tapussa — the householder this discourse names, traditionally remembered (with Bhallika, named next at AN 6.120) as one of the first two lay disciples to take refuge, offering the newly awakened Buddha his first meal.
aveccappasāda — “experiential confidence,” unwavering confidence — the quality named toward the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, the first three of six items.
ariya sīla, ariya ñāṇa, ariya vimutti — “noble ethics, noble knowledge, noble freedom” — the remaining three items, extending the standard four-factor stream-entry formula by two.
amataddasa — “one who sees freedom from death,” a seer of the deathless — the discourse's description of Tapussa's attainment.
sotāpattiyaṅga — “factor of stream-entry” — the standard four-item set (confidence in the Triple Gem plus noble ethics) this discourse's first four items match, before adding two further items.
The text
The discourse in full: the householder Tapussa's six qualities of confidence and attainment. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Tapussa's six qualities
§1“Mendicants, having six qualities the householder Tapussa is certain about the Realized One, sees freedom from death and lives having realized freedom from death. What six? Experiential confidence in the Buddha, the teaching, and the Saṅgha, and noble ethics, knowledge, and freedom. Having these six qualities the householder Tapussa is certain about the Realized One, sees freedom from death and lives having realized freedom from death.”
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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
Who is Tapussa, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A historically significant lay figure, not a mendicant.
Question 2 of 6
What four of this discourse's six items match the standard factors of stream-entry?
Correct: B. The standard sotāpattiyaṅga formula, extended here by two further items.
Question 3 of 6
What two items does this discourse add beyond the standard four-factor stream-entry formula?
Correct: B. A six-item extension of the more familiar four-item formula.
Question 4 of 6
How does the discourse frame Tapussa's attainment as a layperson, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A lay attainment stated in the same terms used for advanced realization elsewhere.
Question 5 of 6
What does this discourse open, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The first of twenty named lay disciples across this chapter's closing discourses.
Question 6 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 6.119?
Correct: B. A bare formula, despite naming a specific historical individual.
