Bojjhaṅgasutta — Vajjisattakavagga — the third chapter of the Sevens
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single seven-item list, the fourth variant in this chapter's mendicant series, naming one of this literature's most standard technical sets
Length
under 1 minute to read
Northern parallel
The seven factors of awakening (bojjhaṅga) as a fixed set recur as one of the most standard technical lists across the Chinese Āgamas and Abhidharma literature; this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — names one of this literature's most fundamental fixed lists, here folded into this chapter's non-decline framing
Why this discourse
AN 7.26 names the seven factors of awakening — mindfulness, investigation of principles, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, and equanimity — as principles that prevent decline, folding one of this literature's most fundamental and widely recurring technical lists into this chapter's Vajjian-derived framing.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
As long as mendicants develop the awakening factors of mindfulness, investigation of principles, energy, rapture, tranquility, immersion, and equanimity, they can expect growth, not decline.
A standard set, given a new frame
The seven awakening factors (satta bojjhaṅgā) are among the most frequently recurring fixed lists in this literature, appearing across meditation instructions, analyses of the path, and accounts of realization. This discourse's contribution is not the list itself but its placement within this chapter's non-decline framing, alongside AN 7.21's political principles and AN 7.23–25's other mendicant variants.
A developmental sequence, not seven independent items
Unlike several other seven-item lists in this chapter, the awakening factors are traditionally understood as unfolding in sequence: mindfulness grounds investigation, investigation fuels energy, energy gives rise to rapture, rapture leads to tranquility, tranquility supports immersion, and immersion matures into equanimity — each factor a precondition for the one following it.
The fourth of five variants, still within reach of a shared root
Though the awakening factors are a fixed, independently well-known technical set, their appearance here as the fourth of five “non-decline” variants for mendicants keeps them within this chapter's broader argument: whatever specific content is named, following it consistently is what prevents decline, whether that content is political procedure, personal virtue, or the classic architecture of awakening itself.
Key terms
bojjhaṅga — “awakening factor” — this discourse's own term for its seven-item list, one of the most standard technical sets in this literature.
sati sambojjhaṅga, dhammavicaya sambojjhaṅga — “the awakening factor of mindfulness, of investigation of principles” — the first two factors, grounding the sequence that follows.
vīriya, pīti sambojjhaṅga — “energy, rapture” — the third and fourth factors, arising in sequence from the first two.
passaddhi, samādhi sambojjhaṅga — “tranquility, immersion” — the fifth and sixth factors, settling the energetic factors that precede them.
upekkhā sambojjhaṅga — “equanimity” — the seventh and culminating factor, maturing from stable immersion.
The text
The discourse in full: the seven factors of awakening, as principles that prevent decline. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
The seven awakening factors
§1“Mendicants, I will teach you seven principles that prevent decline. Listen and apply your mind well … And what are the seven principles that prevent decline? As long as the mendicants develop the awakening factor of mindfulness … investigation of principles … energy … rapture … tranquility … immersion … equanimity, they can expect growth, not decline. As long as these seven principles that prevent decline last among the mendicants, and as long as the mendicants are seen following them, they can expect growth, not decline.”
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Self-check quiz
6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 6
What seven factors does this discourse name?
Correct: B. One of the most standard fixed lists in this entire literature.
Question 2 of 6
What does this discourse contribute, given that the seven awakening factors are already a well-known independent list, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A familiar list given a new organizing frame.
Question 3 of 6
How are the seven awakening factors traditionally understood to relate to each other, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Mindfulness grounding investigation, investigation fueling energy, and so on through equanimity.
Question 4 of 6
What position does this discourse occupy in this chapter's mendicant non-decline series?
Correct: B. Following AN 7.23, 7.24, and 7.25, with one further variant still to come.
Question 5 of 6
Is a setting stated for AN 7.26?
Correct: B. A bare formula, following AN 7.25 immediately before it.
Question 6 of 6
What is the seventh and culminating awakening factor?
Correct: C. Maturing from the stable immersion the sixth factor establishes.
