Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Enjoying company blocks taking pleasure in solitude, which blocks learning the mind's patterns, which blocks right view, which blocks right immersion, which blocks giving up the fetters, which blocks realizing extinguishment; not enjoying company reverses every link.
Six links, not four
Compared to AN 6.67's four-link chain, this discourse adds two further links — right view leading to right immersion, and the fetters' ending leading to extinguishment — extending the argument's reach all the way to the final goal rather than stopping at the giving up of desire.
Solitude as the second link, not the first
The chain does not claim company itself directly blocks extinguishment; it first blocks solitude, and only through the loss of that solitude does everything further become unreachable. The argument is not against company as such but against company as it displaces the specific condition — being alone in seclusion — that lets the mind's patterns become visible in the first place.
Learning the mind before fulfilling right view
Between solitude and right view sits a link easy to pass over: learning “the patterns of the mind” (cittassa nimittaṁ). The chain implies right view is not reached by reasoning alone but by first coming to know, through solitude, what one's own mind actually does — a precondition stated before view, immersion, or the fetters' ending are even mentioned.
A companion piece to AN 6.67, not a repeat
Both discourses open on a social theme and close on liberation through a strict dependency chain, but neither the opening term (friends versus company) nor the closing term (giving up desire versus realizing extinguishment) is shared between them. They stand as two variations on chain-argument form, not one teaching told twice.
Key terms
The text
The chain that begins with enjoying company
§1“Mendicants, it is quite impossible that a mendicant who enjoys company and groups, who loves them and likes to enjoy them, should take pleasure in being alone in seclusion. Without taking pleasure in being alone in seclusion, it’s impossible to learn the patterns of the mind. Without learning the mind’s character, it’s impossible to fulfill right view. Without fulfilling right view, it’s impossible to fulfill right immersion. Without fulfilling right immersion, it’s impossible to give up the fetters. Without giving up the fetters, it’s impossible to realize extinguishment.
The same chain, reversed
§2It’s quite possible that a mendicant who doesn’t enjoy company and groups, who doesn’t love them and like to enjoy them, should take pleasure in being alone in seclusion. For someone who takes pleasure in being alone in seclusion, it’s possible to learn the mind’s character. For someone who learns the mind’s character, it’s possible to fulfill right view. Having fulfilled right view, it’s possible to fulfill right immersion. Having fulfilled right immersion, it’s possible to give up the fetters. Having given up the fetters, it’s possible to realize extinguishment.”
Self-check quiz
Nine questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.