Tatiyavinayadharasutta — Vinayavagga — the eighth chapter of the Sevens
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single-paragraph bare list, sharing four opening items and a closing pair with AN 7.75-76, differing only in its fifth item
Length
under 1 minute to read
Part of a set of eight
This discourse gives the third of four content variants for the fifth item, here being firm and unfaltering in the training
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — the shortest and most compact of this set's four variants
Why this discourse
AN 7.77 gives the third of this chapter's four fifth-item variants: rather than ethical restraint or textual mastery, this discourse simply names being firm and unfaltering in the training itself — the most compact of the four.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant who knows the four categories of offense, is firm and unfaltering in the training, gets the four absorptions at will, and realizes undefiled freedom in this very life is an expert in the monastic law.
The same shared frame
The four opening items and the closing pair of four absorptions and undefiled freedom are identical to AN 7.75 and AN 7.76 — this discourse's only distinctive content is its fifth item.
The most compact of the four variants
Where AN 7.75 described ethical restraint at some length and AN 7.76 described textual mastery in three qualifying terms, this discourse's fifth item is the shortest of the set: simply firm and unfaltering (ṭhito, asaṁhīro) in the training, without further elaboration — a quality of steadiness itself, rather than any specific content being steady about.
Steadiness as its own distinct quality
Placed alongside ethical restraint and textual mastery, firmness in training reads as a third, distinct axis: not what a mendicant knows or how they behave in specific situations, but whether their commitment to training itself holds steady under pressure — a quality that could, in principle, accompany either of the other two variants without being reducible to them.
Key terms
āpatti, anāpatti, lahukā āpatti, garukā āpatti — “an offense, not an offense, a light offense, a serious offense” — the shared four opening items.
vinaye ṭhito hoti asaṁhīro — “firm and unfaltering in the training” — this discourse's own fifth item, the shortest of the set's four variants.
asaṁhīro — “unfaltering”, more literally “not to be carried away or shaken” — the specific quality of steadiness this item names.
catunnaṁ jhānānaṁ... nikāmalābhī — “gets the four absorptions... when they want” — the shared sixth item.
cetovimutti paññāvimutti — “freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom” — the shared closing attainment, undefiled and realized in this very life.
The text
The discourse in full, a single bare list. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Seven qualities of an expert in the monastic law
§1“Mendicants, a mendicant with seven qualities is an expert in the monastic law. What seven? They know what is an offense. They know what is not an offense. They know what is a light offense. They know what is a serious offense. They’re firm and unfaltering in the training. They get the four absorptions—blissful meditations in this life that belong to the higher mind—when they want, without trouble or difficulty. They realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life, and live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements. A mendicant with these seven qualities is an expert in the monastic law.”
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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 is this discourse's fifth item?
Correct: B. The third of four variants, and the most compact.
Question 2 of 6
How does this discourse's fifth item compare in length to AN 7.75's and AN 7.76's, according to the guide?
Correct: B. A compact quality of firmness, contrasted with the fuller descriptions in AN 7.75 and 7.76.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what kind of quality is firmness in training, as distinct from ethical restraint or textual mastery?
Correct: B. A quality about steadiness under pressure, not about specific content known or done.
Question 4 of 6
What four items open this discourse, shared with the rest of the set?
Correct: B. The shared technical foundation across all eight discourses in this set.
Question 5 of 6
What is this discourse's relationship to AN 7.81?
Correct: B. The same variant, appearing again with a different framing verb.
Question 6 of 6
What two items close this discourse?
Correct: A. The shared closing pair across this entire set of eight.
