Tatiyaājānīyasutta — Āhuneyyavagga — the first chapter of the Sixes
Setting
None stated; the discourse continues from AN 6.1, whose setting at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove is understood to hold
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
The same two-part simile as AN 6.5 and AN 6.6, with speed in place of beauty or strength as the horse's sixth quality
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
As with AN 6.5 and AN 6.6, horse-similes for endurance recur elsewhere in the canon and its Northern counterparts; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the last of three near-identical discourses, closing the set
Why this discourse
AN 6.7 completes the triad begun at AN 6.5: the same thoroughbred simile, the same mendicant-side conclusion, with javana, speed, now standing where beauty and then strength stood before. With this discourse the set is finished — three qualities named, one each, over three short discourses — and the chapter turns next to a different kind of teaching: a pair of six-item lists, unsurpassable attainments and subjects for recollection.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
As a fine royal thoroughbred is valued for enduring sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches, and for being fast, so a mendicant worthy of offerings endures sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and thoughts without being shaken.
The third and final term
Where AN 6.5 gave the horse vaṇṇasampanna, beauty, and AN 6.6 gave it balavā, strength, AN 6.7 gives it javana, speed. The mendicant-side conclusion is, as in the two discourses before it, unchanged: the same six-fold endurance, with no explicit added “speed” quality named on the mendicant's side any more than beauty or strength were.
What the completed triad suggests
Taken as a finished set, AN 6.5–6.7 name beauty, strength, and speed as three distinct further marks of an excellent horse beyond bare endurance — three things a king's stable might separately prize. None is presented as ranking above the others; the discourse does not argue that speed matters more than strength, or strength more than beauty. The three are offered as parallel, coordinate virtues.
Why the mendicant side never gets its own matching sixth term
Across all three discourses, the horse gains a distinguishing sixth quality that the mendicant side never explicitly mirrors with a parallel virtue of its own; the mendicant's six qualities are simply endurance repeated across all six sense doors, sight through mind. The simile's work is done by the shared image of endurance itself, not by insisting every praised quality of the horse must find a named counterpart in the mendicant.
Closing this chapter's second unit
With AN 6.5–6.7 complete, the Āhuneyyavagga has now given two internal units: AN 6.1–6.4, four list-formulas closed by the worthiness refrain, and AN 6.5–6.7, three variations on one simile. The chapter's final three discourses, AN 6.8–6.10, return to lists — unsurpassable things, subjects for recollection, and their expansion — closing the chapter.
Key terms
javana — “speed,” “swiftness” — the horse's distinguishing sixth quality in this third and final version of the simile.
assājānīya — “thoroughbred horse” — the same central image as AN 6.5 and AN 6.6.
khama — “able to endure” — the shared quality of horse and mendicant across all three discourses.
rājāraha — “worthy of a king,” “fit to serve a king” — the horse's praise, unchanged across the triad.
rañño aṅga — “a factor of kingship” — what a horse with these six qualities is reckoned to be, unchanged across the triad.
The text
The discourse in full: the thoroughbred's six qualities, now including speed, and the parallel mendicant, closing the three-part simile. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The thoroughbred horse
§1“Mendicants, a fine royal thoroughbred with six factors is worthy of a king, fit to serve a king, and is reckoned a factor of kingship. What six? It’s when a fine royal thoroughbred can endure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. And it’s fast. A fine royal thoroughbred with these six factors is worthy of a king, fit to serve a king, and is reckoned a factor of kingship.
The parallel: a mendicant
§2In the same way, a mendicant with six qualities is worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, worthy of hospitality, worthy of a religious donation, worthy of veneration with cupped palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world. What six? It’s when a mendicant can endure sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, and ideas. A mendicant with these six qualities is worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods, worthy of hospitality, worthy of a religious donation, worthy of veneration with cupped palms, and is the supreme field of merit for the world.”
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What is the horse's distinguishing sixth quality in AN 6.7?
Correct: C. Javana, speed — completing the set after beauty (AN 6.5) and strength (AN 6.6).
Question 2 of 10
Does the mendicant-side conclusion in AN 6.7 add a matching 'speed' quality?
Correct: B. The mendicant's six qualities remain the same across all three discourses.
Question 3 of 10
How does the guide characterize the relationship among beauty, strength, and speed across the three discourses?
Correct: B. No ranking is argued for; three separate marks of excellence beyond endurance.
Question 4 of 10
What two internal units does the guide identify within the Āhuneyyavagga so far?
Correct: B. Two distinct techniques used within one ten-discourse chapter.
Question 5 of 10
What comes next in the chapter, after the thoroughbred triad closes?
Correct: B. The chapter's final three discourses return to list-teachings.
Question 6 of 10
What does javana mean?
Correct: C. The horse's sixth quality in this final version of the simile.
Question 7 of 10
Is AN 6.7 set at a newly stated location?
Correct: B. The bare continuation pattern holds through AN 6.9.
Question 8 of 10
How many sense doors does the mendicant's endurance cover in this simile?
Correct: B. Consistent across all three thoroughbred discourses.
Question 9 of 10
What does the guide say about forcing a term-for-term match between horse and mendicant?
Correct: B. A caution repeated from AN 6.5's own reading guide.
Question 10 of 10
What kind of teaching device is used across AN 6.5, 6.6, and 6.7?
Correct: B. Full restatement rather than compression — distinct from the peyyāla technique met later in the Sixes.
