Paṭhamaabhabbaṭṭhānasutta — Sītivagga — the ninth chapter of the Sixes, continuing the Second Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single six-item list, the first of a tetrad of 'impossible things' discourses each naming a distinct, unrelated set of six
Length
under 30 seconds to read
Northern parallel
The claim that a stream-enterer has at most seven more rebirths recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' treatment of the noble stages; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, opening a tetrad whose four discourses each require checking against the others for genuinely distinct content
Why this discourse
AN 6.92 opens a set of four discourses — ‘Things That Can't Be Done,’ numbered first through fourth — sharing only their title pattern and closing formula, each naming an entirely different six-item list of impossibilities. This one names disrespect toward the Teacher, the teaching, the Saṅgha, and the training; building belief on unreliable grounds; and generating an eighth rebirth.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
An individual accomplished in view cannot live disrespectful toward the Teacher, the teaching, the Saṅgha, or the training; cannot establish belief on unreliable grounds; and cannot generate an eighth rebirth.
A tetrad requiring individual verification, not assumed sameness
AN 6.92 through 6.95 share the identical title pattern ('Things That Can't Be Done') and closing formula ('these are the six things that can't be done'), inviting the same caution already earned by this collection's other numbered series: each of the four names genuinely distinct content, checked here term by term rather than assumed from the shared title.
Four items compressed from a formula met earlier
Disrespect toward the Teacher, the teaching, the Saṅgha, and the training echoes the four-item core of the 'respect' formula already met four times earlier in this collection (AN 6.32/6.33/6.40/6.69) — here stated negatively, as an incapacity rather than a virtue to cultivate.
'An eighth rebirth' — the numerical ceiling on stream-entry
The stream-enterer's traditional description includes a fixed ceiling of at most seven further rebirths before final liberation; this discourse's closing item states that ceiling as an incapacity — not a prediction subject to exception, but something the accomplished individual literally cannot generate.
Key terms
agāravo appatisso — “disrespectful and irreverent” — the discourse's own phrase, denied of one accomplished in view toward the Teacher, teaching, Saṅgha, and training.
aññatra saddhammā — “on unreliable grounds,” outside the true teaching — qualifying the second item, belief established elsewhere than on the true teaching.
aṭṭhamaṁ bhavaṁ — “an eighth rebirth” — the discourse's closing item, stating the stream-enterer's traditional ceiling of at most seven further lives as an incapacity.
abhabbaṭṭhāna — “a thing that can't be done,” an impossible occasion — this tetrad's shared title term, framing each list as a set of genuine impossibilities.
satthu, dhamma, saṅgha, sikkhā — “the Teacher, the teaching, the Saṅgha, the training” — the same four objects of respect already met in this collection's 'respect' formula, here negated as an incapacity.
The text
The discourse in full: disrespect toward the Triple Gem and the training, unreliable belief, and an eighth rebirth, named as incapacities. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Six things that can't be done
§1“Mendicants, these six things can’t be done. What six? An individual accomplished in view can’t live disrespectful and irreverent toward the Teacher, the teaching, the Saṅgha, or the training. They can’t establish their belief on unreliable grounds. And they can’t generate an eighth rebirth. These are the six things that can’t be done.”
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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 do AN 6.92 through 6.95 share, and what caution does the guide draw from it?
Correct: B. A tetrad requiring individual verification, following this collection's established pattern.
Question 2 of 7
What formula from earlier in this collection does this discourse's first four items echo?
Correct: B. The same four objects of respect, now denied as a source of disrespect.
Question 3 of 7
What does this discourse's closing item, 'an eighth rebirth,' state?
Correct: B. A fixed ceiling stated as an incapacity, not a probabilistic tendency.
Question 4 of 7
What does abhabbaṭṭhāna mean, and what does it establish about this tetrad?
Correct: B. This tetrad's shared title term, naming genuine impossibility rather than rarity.
Question 5 of 7
Is a setting stated for AN 6.92?
Correct: B. A bare formula, opening this tetrad.
Question 6 of 7
What does aññatra saddhammā mean?
Correct: B. Qualifying the second item — belief established elsewhere than on the true teaching.
Question 7 of 7
Does AN 6.92 include a paired reversal or negative half?
Correct: B. Matching the tetrad's overall one-sided form.
