Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 6.98

Impermanence

Aniccasutta — Ānisaṁsavagga — the tenth chapter of the Sixes, continuing the Second Fifty

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A three-link causal chain, stated once as blockage and once as its reversal — the fullest, unelided version of a pattern repeated with variation across AN 6.99–101
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The claim that regarding conditions as permanent blocks right view recurs widely across the Chinese Āgamas' treatment of the three characteristics; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — a chain argument stated in full, serving as the template for three variations that follow

Why this discourse

AN 6.98 opens a four-discourse chain with AN 6.99, 6.100, and 6.101: a mendicant who regards any condition as permanent cannot accept views conforming with the teaching, cannot step onto the sure path, and cannot realize any of the four fruits from stream-entry through perfection — stated here in full, with AN 6.99 and 6.100 taking up the same chain via Pāli elision pointing back to this template.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A mendicant who regards any condition as permanent cannot accept views conforming with the teaching, step onto the sure path, or realize any of the four fruits; regarding all conditions as impermanent makes all three possible.

A three-link chain, echoing AN 6.67/6.68 in form

Like AN 6.67 and 6.68 earlier in this chapter's predecessor, this discourse links each step as the precondition for the next: right view depends on regarding conditions rightly, the sure path depends on right view, and the four fruits depend on the sure path — a single wrong perception blocking everything downstream of it.

All four fruits named together, not one

Where earlier discourses in this collection often named a single target attainment, this discourse's final link names all four at once — stream-entry, once-return, non-return, and perfection — treating the same underlying perceptual distortion as an obstacle to the entire path, not merely its first stage.

The template for what follows

AN 6.99 and 6.100 restate this exact chain with only their opening perception changed, using the Pāli ellipsis “…pe…” to abbreviate everything after that opening clause — a compression this collection has already met at AN 4.214–219, here applied across three consecutive discourses at once.

Key terms

saṅkhāraṁ niccato samanupassati — “regards a condition as permanent” — the discourse's opening perceptual error, blocking everything that follows in the chain.
dhammānudhammappaṭipadā — “views that conform with the teaching” — the chain's first dependent link, already met in this exact phrase at AN 6.88.
niyāmaṁ okkamati — “steps onto the sure path” — the chain's second link, echoing the identical phrase from AN 6.86–88's triplet earlier in this chapter.
sotāpattiphalaṁ vā sakadāgāmiphalaṁ vā anāgāmiphalaṁ vā arahattaṁ vā — “the fruit of stream-entry, once-return, non-return, or perfection” — the chain's final link, naming all four fruits of the path together.
…pe… — the Pāli ellipsis mark, signaling that AN 6.99 and 6.100 repeat this discourse's chain unchanged beyond their own opening clause.

The text

The discourse in full: regarding conditions as permanent, blocking right view, the sure path, and the four fruits, and the reversal. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Regarding conditions as permanent blocks the path

§1“Mendicants, it is quite impossible for a mendicant who regards any condition as permanent to accept views that conform with the teaching. Without accepting views that conform with the teaching, it’s impossible to step into the sure path. Without stepping into the sure path, it’s impossible to realize the fruit of stream-entry, once-return, non-return, or perfection.

Regarding conditions as impermanent enables it

§2It’s quite possible for a mendicant who regards all conditions as impermanent to accept views that conform with the teaching. Having accepted views that conform with the teaching, it’s possible to step into the sure path. Having stepped into the sure path, it’s possible to realize the fruit of stream-entry, once-return, non-return, or 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 three links make up this discourse's chain?
Correct: B. Each link stated as the precondition for the one after it.
Question 2 of 7
What perceptual error opens this discourse's blocking chain?
Correct: B. A single wrong perception, blocking everything downstream of it.
Question 3 of 7
How many fruits does the chain's final link name together, unlike many earlier discourses in this collection naming a single target?
Correct: B. The entire path's four fruits, not merely its first stage.
Question 4 of 7
What earlier discourses in this collection does the guide say this discourse echoes in form?
Correct: B. A chain-argument shape already met earlier in this same chapter's predecessor.
Question 5 of 7
How does AN 6.99 and 6.100 relate to this discourse, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A compression technique already met at AN 4.214–219 in this collection.
Question 6 of 7
Is a setting stated for AN 6.98?
Correct: B. A bare formula, matching this chapter's other formulaic discourses.
Question 7 of 7
What does niyāmaṁ okkamati mean, and where else has it appeared?
Correct: B. A phrase this chapter has already used in a different context.
Answered 0 of 7 · Correct 0

Further reading

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