Samādhiparikkhārasutta — Mahāyaññavagga — the fifth chapter of the Sevens, closing its First Fifty
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single-sentence doctrinal definition, naming seven factors and then defining what unifying the mind around them is called
Length
under 1 minute to read
Wider canon
The same definition of right immersion “with its vital conditions” and “with its prerequisites” recurs at MN 117, where it anchors that discourse's account of the noble eightfold path as two distinct tiers, mundane and transcendent
Difficulty
★★☆☆☆ — brief and formulaic, worth reading against the eightfold path rather than in isolation
Why this discourse
AN 7.45 takes the noble eightfold path's first seven factors — every one of them except right immersion itself — and names them as that path's own prerequisites: unifying the mind around all seven together is what “noble right immersion” actually means.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
Right immersion is not a factor that stands alone; it is what results when a mind is unified around the other seven path factors together — right view, purpose, speech, action, livelihood, effort, and mindfulness — taken as its prerequisites.
Seven factors, one list, no new content
The seven named here are not a new formula: they are the noble eightfold path itself, minus its own eighth factor. This discourse's entire content is the claim that these seven, taken together as conditions, are what right immersion is unified around — nothing is added to the path's usual eight factors, only a claim about how the eighth depends on the other seven.
“With its vital conditions” and “with its prerequisites”
The discourse closes by giving this unification two names at once: noble right immersion “with its vital condition” (saupaniso) and “with its prerequisite” (saparikkhāro). Both phrases point to the same claim — that immersion of this kind cannot be isolated from the ethical and cognitive factors that precede and support it.
Why this matters for how immersion is practiced
Read against the wider path, this discourse pushes back against treating meditative immersion as a free-standing technique separable from view, speech, action, and livelihood. The claim is structural: immersion that is genuinely noble is, by definition, immersion built on these seven conditions, not immersion achieved despite their absence.
Key terms
samādhiparikkhārā — “prerequisites for immersion” — this discourse's own title, naming what the seven factors are called in relation to right immersion.
sammādiṭṭhi, sammāsaṅkappo, sammāvācā, sammākammanto, sammāājīvo, sammāvāyāmo, sammāsati — “right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness” — the noble eightfold path's first seven factors, named here as a set.
cittassekaggatā — “unification of mind” — the discourse's own definition of what results when these seven factors converge as its prerequisites.
saupaniso, saparikkhāro — “with its vital condition”, “with its prerequisite” — the two names this discourse gives to noble right immersion once its supporting seven factors are counted in.
ariyo sammāsamādhi — “noble right immersion” — the eighth path factor, whose full definition this short discourse supplies by naming what precedes it.
The text
The discourse in full, a single compact definition. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Seven prerequisites, and what their unification is called
§1“Mendicants, there are these seven prerequisites for immersion. What seven? Right view, right purpose, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness. Unification of mind with these seven factors as prerequisites is what is called noble right immersion ‘with its vital conditions’ and also ‘with its prerequisites’.”
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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 as prerequisites for immersion?
Correct: B. The noble eightfold path's first seven factors, named as a set.
Question 2 of 6
According to the guide, is this discourse introducing a new formula?
Correct: B. No new content — a structural claim about the path's existing seven factors.
Question 3 of 6
What two names does the discourse give to right immersion once its seven prerequisites are counted in?
Correct: B. saupaniso and saparikkhāro, two phrases for the same claim.
Question 4 of 6
Where does this same definition of right immersion recur, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A cross-reference to the Mahācattarisaka's fuller treatment of the same phrase.
Question 5 of 6
What does the guide say this discourse pushes back against?
Correct: B. A structural point about immersion depending on the other seven factors, not standing apart from them.
Question 6 of 6
How long is this discourse?
Correct: A. One of the shortest discourses in the Sevens, a single-sentence definition.
