Sottiyasutta — Samaṇavagga — the ninth chapter of the Sevens
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single elided sentence, the fourth in this chapter's set of eight wordplay discourses
Length
a few seconds to read
A title redirected from learning to purification
Sottiya ordinarily suggests one who has heard or learned much; this discourse instead connects it to nissuta, something flowed or washed away
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, with a wordplay shift worth noticing carefully
Why this discourse
AN 7.88 gives the fourth discourse in this set, deriving “scholar” (sottiya) from nissuta, “flowed away” or “washed off” — redirecting a title ordinarily associated with extensive learning toward the same sevenfold removal of defilements this set's other titles share.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
It is specifically because of scouring off seven things — the same substantialist view, doubt, misapprehension of precepts and observances, greed, hate, delusion, and conceit named in full at AN 7.85 — that one becomes a sottiya.
A title usually about hearing, redirected here
Sottiya is etymologically connected to suta, “heard,” and ordinarily suggests someone deeply learned, well versed in what has been heard and studied. This discourse instead plays on a different, similar-sounding root, nissuta, meaning to have flowed or washed away, redirecting the title from a claim about learning toward a claim about purification.
Scouring off, a washing image among several
This is the first discourse in the set to use a specifically liquid, washing-related image, anticipating AN 7.89's “bathed” even more directly; scouring or flowing away suggests something removed by an ongoing process rather than a single decisive break.
A pattern of titles, each carrying its own resonance
Read alongside its neighbors, this discourse continues the set's demonstration that a single sevenfold list of defilements can be approached through breaking, quelling, barring out, or (as here) washing away — different images for what remains, underneath the wordplay, the identical spiritual accomplishment.
Key terms
sottiya, nissuta — “scholar”, “flowed away” — the sound-linked pair this discourse's wordplay turns on, playing against sottiya's more usual connection to suta, “heard.”
suta — “heard” or “learned” — the root sottiya is ordinarily associated with, not the root this discourse actually plays on.
sakkāyadiṭṭhi, vicikicchā, sīlabbataparāmāso — “substantialist view, doubt, misapprehension of precepts and observances” — elided here, given in full at AN 7.85.
rāgo, doso, moho, māno — “greed, hate, delusion, conceit” — the remaining four items, likewise elided.
catutthaṁ — “the fourth” — this discourse's own closing ordinal marker in the source text.
The text
The discourse in full, a single elided sentence. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Why one is called a scholar
§1“Mendicants, it’s because of scouring off seven things that you become a scholar …”
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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 verb does this discourse connect to “scholar” (sottiya)?
Correct: B. A similar-sounding but distinct root, redirecting the title from learning toward purification.
Question 2 of 6
What does “sottiya” ordinarily suggest, apart from this discourse's own wordplay?
Correct: B. A connection to suta, “heard,” that this discourse plays against rather than with.
Question 3 of 6
According to the guide, what claim does this discourse redirect the title toward?
Correct: B. Purification rather than accumulated learning.
Question 4 of 6
According to the guide, what does this discourse anticipate in the next discourse of the set?
Correct: B. A washing image that becomes even more explicit in the very next discourse.
Question 5 of 6
What is this discourse's own closing marker in the source text?
Correct: B. Confirming its place as the fourth discourse in this set of eight.
Question 6 of 6
According to the guide, what do all the titles in this set share underneath their different wordplay?
Correct: B. One underlying accomplishment, many different images for describing its removal of the same seven things.
