Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
For each of six activities — seeing, hearing, acquiring, training, serving, and recollecting — there is an ordinary version aimed at worldly things, and an unsurpassable version aimed at a Realized One or his disciple; only the latter leads toward disillusionment, dispassion, and extinguishment.
A repeated, six-fold contrast
Every item follows the same pattern: an ordinary object is named (an elephant or jewel to see, drums or singing to hear, a child or wealth to acquire, riding or archery to train in, an aristocrat or brahmin to serve, a child or wealth to recollect), acknowledged without denial, then judged pointless and incapable of leading to awakening; the unsurpassable counterpart replaces the worldly object with a Realized One or disciple in every single case.
The one qualification worth noting
The ordinary version of each item is not condemned as false or nonexistent — “there is such a seeing, I don't deny it” is repeated for each — only as failing to accomplish what the unsurpassable version accomplishes. The discourse's target is not the existence of worldly seeing, hearing, or acquisition, but their insufficiency as a vehicle toward disillusionment and extinguishment.
This is what AN 6.8 was withholding
This page can now say directly what AN 6.8's guide could only anticipate from elsewhere in the canon: AN 6.30, within this very nipāta, supplies the unpacking AN 6.8 left bare. The unsurpassable seeing is going, with settled faith, to see a Realized One or disciple; the unsurpassable hearing is going to hear their teaching; the unsurpassable acquisition is acquiring faith in them; the unsurpassable training is training in higher ethics, mind, and wisdom under their guidance; the unsurpassable service is serving them; and the unsurpassable recollection is recollecting them.
Closing both this chapter and a long-open thread
AN 6.30 closes the Anuttariyavagga by returning to and completing its own chapter title's promise — and, at the same time, closes a thread left open since AN 6.8 in the previous chapter. Few discourses in this nipāta so far have this double function, answering both their immediate chapter's material and an earlier chapter's unfinished list.
Key terms
The text
The six unsurpassable things, named
§1“Mendicants, these six things are unsurpassable. What six? The unsurpassable seeing, listening, acquisition, training, service, and recollection.
The unsurpassable seeing
§2And what is the unsurpassable seeing? Some people go to see an elephant-treasure, a horse-treasure, a jewel-treasure, or a diverse spectrum of sights; or ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a seeing, I don’t deny it. That seeing is low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless. It doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. The unsurpassable seeing is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, goes to see a Realized One or their disciple. This is in order to purify sentient beings, to get past sorrow and crying, to make an end of pain and sadness, to discover the system, and to realize extinguishment. This is called the unsurpassable seeing. Such is the unsurpassable seeing.
The unsurpassable hearing
§3But what of the unsurpassable hearing? Some people go to hear the sound of drums, arched harps, singing, or a diverse spectrum of sounds; or ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a hearing, I don’t deny it. That hearing … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable hearing is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, goes to hear the teaching of a Realized One or one of his disciples. … This is called the unsurpassable hearing. Such is the unsurpassable seeing and hearing.
The unsurpassable acquisition
§4But what of the unsurpassable acquisition? Some people acquire a child, a wife, wealth, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they acquire faith in an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such an acquisition, I don’t deny it. That acquisition … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable acquisition is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, acquires faith in a Realized One or their disciple. … This is called the unsurpassable acquisition. Such is the unsurpassable seeing, hearing, and acquisition.
The unsurpassable training
§5But what of the unsurpassable training? Some people train in elephant riding, horse riding, chariot driving, archery, swordsmanship, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they train under an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such a training, I don’t deny it. That training … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable training is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, trains in the higher ethics, the higher mind, and the higher wisdom in the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One. … This is called the unsurpassable training. Such is the unsurpassable seeing, hearing, acquisition, and training.
The unsurpassable service
§6But what of the unsurpassable service? Some people serve an aristocrat, a brahmin, a householder, or a diverse spectrum of people; or they serve ascetics and brahmins of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such service, I don’t deny it. That service … doesn’t lead to extinguishment. The unsurpassable service is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, serves a Realized One or their disciple. … This is called the unsurpassable service. Such is the unsurpassable seeing, listening, acquisition, training, and service.
The unsurpassable recollection, and the closing verses
§7But what of the unsurpassable recollection? Some people recollect a child, a wife, wealth, or a diverse spectrum of things; or they recollect an ascetic or brahmin of wrong view and wrong practice. There is such recollection, I don’t deny it. That recollection is low, crude, ordinary, ignoble, and pointless. It doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment. The unsurpassable recollection is when someone with settled faith and fondness, sure and devoted, recollects a Realized One or their disciple. … This is called the unsurpassable recollection. These are the six unsurpassable things. They’ve gained the unsurpassed seeing, the unsurpassed hearing, and the unsurpassable acquisition. They enjoy the unsurpassable training and serve with care. Then they develop recollection connected with seclusion, which is safe, and leads to freedom from death. They rejoice in diligence, alert and ethically restrained. And in time they arrive at the place where suffering ceases.”
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