Anussatiṭṭhānasutta — 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
A bare list of six items, named once, with no elaboration — the companion to AN 6.8 and the seed of AN 6.10's full expansion
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The six recollections (ṣaḍanusmṛti) recur widely across the Chinese Āgamas and later Mahāyāna devotional practice; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and easy to state, though each item names a practice developed at length elsewhere
Why this discourse
AN 6.9 names, in one bare list, what will become one of the most widely practiced meditation frameworks in the tradition: the six recollections — of the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, ethics, generosity, and the deities. Nothing here explains how to practice any of the six or what results from doing so; that work is left entirely to the very next discourse, AN 6.10, where Mahānāma the Sakyan asks the Buddha directly what a noble disciple frequently practices, and receives this same list unpacked at length.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are six topics for recollection: recollection of the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, ethics, generosity, and the deities.
A companion to AN 6.8, not a repetition of it
AN 6.9 shares its bare, unadorned form with AN 6.8 — six items, named once, no elaboration — but an entirely different content. Where AN 6.8's “unsurpassable” list named six pinnacle achievements, AN 6.9's list names six concrete objects of meditation, each one something a practitioner can actually sit down and recollect.
Three refuges, plus three more
The first three items — the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha — are the same three objects named in the going-for-refuge formula familiar from lay and monastic practice alike. The list then adds three further topics not part of the refuge formula: one's own ethical conduct, one's own generosity, and the deities — extending recollection from what one takes refuge in outward to one's own conduct and, finally, to exemplary beings said to have reached their state through qualities any listener can also cultivate.
Why this list, and not AN 5.57, gets the full expansion
This series has already published an earlier page on “subjects for regular reviewing” (AN 5.57), a different five-item list concerning aging, illness, death, separation, and one's own deeds. That list and this one share only the general theme of deliberate recollection; they are not the same teaching under two names, and a reader should not conflate the two before reaching AN 6.10, which expands only the present six-item list.
A deliberately incomplete page
As with AN 6.8, this page does not attempt to supply the explanation the source text withholds. The reading guide for AN 6.10, immediately following, is where each of these six recollections receives its full description — what the practitioner brings to mind, and what is said to follow from doing so.
Key terms
anussati — “recollection,” “calling to mind” — the practice named six times over in this discourse.
buddhānussati — recollection of the Buddha — the first of the six, expanded in full at AN 6.10.
dhammānussati — recollection of the teaching — the second of the six.
saṅghānussati — recollection of the Saṅgha — the third of the six, completing the three items shared with the going-for-refuge formula.
devatānussati — recollection of the deities — the sixth and last, recollecting beings said to have reached their state through faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom.
The text
The discourse in full: the six topics for recollection, named without elaboration. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The six topics for recollection
§1“Mendicants, there are these six topics for recollection. What six? The recollection of the Buddha, the teaching, the Saṅgha, ethics, generosity, and the deities. These are the six topics for recollection.”
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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 six topics does AN 6.9 name for recollection?
Correct: A. Buddhānussati, dhammānussati, saṅghānussati, sīlānussati, cāgānussati, devatānussati.
Question 2 of 10
How does AN 6.9's form compare to AN 6.8's?
Correct: B. A shared structure, a different list.
Question 3 of 10
Which three of the six items match the going-for-refuge formula?
Correct: B. The first three items of this list are the three refuges.
Question 4 of 10
What does the guide say about AN 5.57, a previously published page, in relation to this discourse?
Correct: B. A caution against treating two different recollection-themed lists as the same teaching.
Question 5 of 10
Where is this six-item list expanded in full?
Correct: B. AN 6.9 states the bare list; AN 6.10 unpacks each item at length.
Question 6 of 10
What three additional topics does this list add beyond the three refuges?
Correct: B. Sīlānussati, cāgānussati, and devatānussati extend the list beyond the refuges.
Question 7 of 10
What does devatānussati recollect, according to its later expansion at AN 6.10?
Correct: B. Recollection extends from what one reveres to qualities one can develop oneself.
Question 8 of 10
Is AN 6.9 set at a newly stated location?
Correct: B. The last discourse in the chapter to use the bare continuation pattern — AN 6.10 states its own setting.
Question 9 of 10
What does this page deliberately leave unexplained?
Correct: B. As with AN 6.8, the full unpacking is left to the discourse that follows.
Question 10 of 10
What does anussati mean?
Correct: B. The practice named six times over across this discourse's list.
