Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 6.75

Suffering

Dukkhasutta — Arahattavagga — the eighth 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 — the reversal naming positive replacements rather than simple negation
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The thought/perception triad of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' treatment of right thought; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and formulaic, opening a new chapter with a list already met at this chapter's own predecessor

Why this discourse

AN 6.75 opens Chapter 8, ‘Perfection,’ with a list checked word for word against AN 6.74's closing discourse: the same six unwholesome thoughts and perceptions — sensual, malicious, and cruel — block not the first absorption this time, but a happy present life and a good rebirth. And where AN 6.74 stated its reversal as bare negation, this discourse names the positive replacements outright: renunciation, good will, and harmlessness.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

Sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts and perceptions bring an unhappy life and a bad rebirth; thoughts and perceptions of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness bring a happy life and a good rebirth.

The same blocking list, a different target

Checked term by term, this discourse's blocking list — kāma/byāpāda/vihiṁsā thought and perception — is identical to AN 6.74's, which closed the previous chapter. There, the stake was the first absorption; here, it is ordinary present-life happiness and future rebirth. The same six items are read as consequential for two different outcomes across two different chapters.

A reversal that names its replacement, not just its absence

AN 6.74 reversed its list by simply repeating “after giving up these six qualities.” This discourse instead names what replaces each unwholesome item: renunciation (nekkhamma) replacing sensual thought, good will (abyāpāda) replacing malice, and harmlessness (avihiṁsā) replacing cruelty — the positive triad already named as Soṇa's own dedications' foundation earlier in this collection.

Stakes stated twice: this life and the next

Both halves of the discourse name two consequences together — how a mendicant lives now (“with distress, anguish, and fever” or without them) and what follows at death. The teaching does not treat present unhappiness and future rebirth as separate questions but as two faces of the same six qualities.

Key terms

kāmavitakka, byāpādavitakka, vihiṁsāvitakka — “sensual, malicious, and cruel thought” — identical to AN 6.74's blocking list, here applied to present happiness and rebirth rather than the first absorption.
nekkhammavitakka, abyāpādavitakka, avihiṁsāvitakka — “thoughts of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness” — the explicit positive replacements this discourse names, where AN 6.74 gave only negation.
sadaraṁ sāghātaṁ sapariḷāhaṁ — “with distress, anguish, and fever” — the present-life consequence of the unwholesome six, stated alongside the future consequence of rebirth.
kāyassa bhedā paraṁ maraṇā — “when the body breaks up, after death” — the standard formula introducing the discourse's second, future-facing consequence.
duggati, sugati — “bad rebirth, good rebirth” — the two destinations this discourse's two lists respectively lead toward.

The text

The discourse in full: six qualities leading to present suffering and bad rebirth, and their six replacements leading to happiness and good rebirth. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Six qualities leading to suffering

§1“Mendicants, when a mendicant has six qualities they live unhappily in this very life—with distress, anguish, and fever—and when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect a bad rebirth. What six? Sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts; and sensual, malicious, and cruel perceptions. When a mendicant possesses these six qualities they live unhappily in this very life—with distress, anguish, and fever—and when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect a bad rebirth.

Six qualities leading to happiness

§2When a mendicant has six qualities they live happily in this very life—without distress, anguish, or fever—and when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect a good rebirth. What six? Thoughts of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness. And perceptions of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness. When a mendicant possesses these six qualities they live happily in this very life—without distress, anguish, or fever—and when the body breaks up, after death, they can expect a good rebirth.”

· · ·

Self-check quiz

Eight questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 8
How does AN 6.75's blocking list compare to AN 6.74's, checked term by term?
Correct: B. The same six items read as consequential for two different outcomes across two different chapters.
Question 2 of 8
What does this discourse's blocking list lead to, unlike AN 6.74's?
Correct: B. A shift from a specific meditative attainment to ordinary present-life happiness and future rebirth.
Question 3 of 8
How does this discourse's reversal differ from AN 6.74's, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Positive replacements named outright, not mere absence of the unwholesome triad.
Question 4 of 8
What two consequences does each half of the discourse name together?
Correct: B. Present unhappiness/happiness and future rebirth treated as two faces of the same six qualities.
Question 5 of 8
What does this chapter's title, Arahattavagga, translate as?
Correct: B. This chapter's own title, matching AN 6.76's discourse title exactly.
Question 6 of 8
Where else in this collection have renunciation, good will, and harmlessness appeared as a positive triad, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A positive triad this series has met before, not introduced fresh here.
Question 7 of 8
Is a setting stated for AN 6.75?
Correct: B. A bare formula, opening this new chapter.
Question 8 of 8
What does avihiṁsāvitakka mean?
Correct: B. The third of the three positive replacement thoughts named in this discourse.
Answered 0 of 8 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 6.74 · First Absorption (2nd)