Aggadhammasutta — 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, returning to this chapter's own theme of perfection
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The pairing of faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom as a fixed positive set recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a familiar five-item set from elsewhere in the canon, paired here with a distinct sixth item on attachment to body and life
Why this discourse
AN 6.83 returns explicitly to this chapter's own title: “a mendicant with six qualities can't realize the best thing, perfection” — aggaṁ arahattaṁ, the discourse's own doubled phrase for the same attainment named throughout this chapter. Its blocking list combines a familiar five-item set (faithless, shameless, imprudent, lazy, witless) with a sixth, distinct item: being concerned with one's own body and life.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who is faithless, shameless, imprudent, lazy, and witless, and concerned with their body and life, cannot realize perfection; one who is faithful, conscientious, prudent, energetic, and wise, with no such concern, can.
A five-item set met before, with wisdom replacing conscience's usual partner
Faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom form a recognizable positive set across this literature, close in shape to the five spiritual faculties (indriya) though not identical to them term for term — here energy stands in where the more familiar formula names mindfulness or immersion.
A sixth item naming attachment, not a fault of conduct
“Concerned with their body and their life” (kāyasitāya jīvitasitāya) names something categorically different from the other five: not a missing virtue but an attachment actively held, the fear of losing body and life that the reversal's “no concern” directly answers.
'The best thing' as this discourse's own doubled phrase
Aggadhamma, “the best thing,” is glossed by the discourse itself as arahatta, perfection — the same term titling this entire chapter and shared with AN 6.66 and AN 6.76. A fourth discourse in this collection converges on the same target attainment while, checked term by term, naming its own distinct six-item path to blocking or enabling it.
Key terms
assaddha, ahirika, anottappī, kusīta, duppañña — “faithless, shameless, imprudent, lazy, witless” — the first five items, a recognizable positive/negative set close in shape to the five spiritual faculties though not identical to them term for term.
kāyasitāya jīvitasitāya — “concerned with their body and their life” — the sixth item, naming an attachment actively held rather than a missing virtue.
aggadhamma — “the best thing” — the discourse's own title, glossed within the text itself as arahatta, perfection.
saddha, hirimā, ottappī, āraddhavīriya, paññavā — “faithful, conscientious, prudent, energetic, wise” — the reversal's first five items, direct opposites of the blocking set.
anapekkho kāyena jīvitena — “with no concern for body or life” — the reversal's sixth item, directly answering the blocking list's attachment.
The text
The discourse in full: five qualities plus concern for body and life blocking perfection, and their reversal enabling it. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Six things that block perfection
§1“Mendicants, a mendicant with six qualities can’t realize the best thing, perfection. What six? It’s when a mendicant is faithless, shameless, imprudent, lazy, and witless. And they’re concerned with their body and their life. A mendicant with these six qualities can’t realize the best thing, perfection.
Six things that enable it
§2A mendicant with six qualities can realize the best thing, perfection. What six? It’s when a mendicant is faithful, conscientious, prudent, energetic, and wise. And they have no concern for their body and their life. A mendicant with these six qualities can realize the best thing, perfection.”
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Self-check quiz
7 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 7
What does this discourse's title, 'the best thing' (aggadhamma), refer to, according to the discourse itself?
Correct: B. Glossed within the text itself, converging with AN 6.66 and AN 6.76 on the same target attainment.
Question 2 of 7
What five items open this discourse's blocking list?
Correct: B. A recognizable positive/negative set close in shape to the five spiritual faculties.
Question 3 of 7
How does the guide describe the sixth item, concern for body and life, compared to the first five?
Correct: B. Fear of losing body and life, directly answered by the reversal's stated absence of that concern.
Question 4 of 7
How many discourses in this collection have now converged on 'perfection' (arahatta) as their target attainment while naming distinct blocking lists?
Correct: B. A recurring target, reached (or blocked) by genuinely different routes each time.
Question 5 of 7
Is a setting stated for AN 6.83?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching this chapter's other discourses.
Question 6 of 7
What does anottappī mean?
Correct: B. The third of the five items opening this discourse's blocking list.
Question 7 of 7
What does the reversal's sixth item, 'no concern for body or life,' directly answer?
Correct: B. A direct structural opposite, item for item, including the sixth.
