Nhātakasutta — 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 fifth in this chapter's set of eight wordplay discourses
Length
a few seconds to read
A title borrowed from ritual bathing
Nhātaka in the brahminical tradition named someone who had completed a ritual bath marking a stage of religious life; this discourse redefines it by the same sevenfold removal of defilements
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, most vivid when read alongside AN 7.88's own washing image
Why this discourse
AN 7.89 gives the fifth discourse in this set, deriving “bathed initiate” (nhātaka) directly from nhāta, “bathed,” making the washing imagery AN 7.88 only hinted at fully explicit, and again applying it to the same seven defilements.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
It is specifically because of bathing 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 nhātaka, a bathed initiate.
A ritual title, given an internal meaning
In the brahminical tradition, nhātaka named someone who had completed formal Vedic study and undergone a ceremonial bath marking the transition to the next stage of life — a real ritual accomplishment with a specific external ceremony attached to it. This discourse takes that same title and redefines the bath itself as internal: washing off defilements rather than performing a physical ablution.
The washing image, now fully explicit
AN 7.88's sottiya only obliquely suggested washing through its play on nissuta; this discourse removes any ambiguity, using nhāta, the direct and ordinary word for having bathed, making this the most literal of the set's images for how the seven defilements are removed.
The midpoint of this set of eight
As the fifth of eight discourses, this one marks the midpoint of the full set, having now moved through breaking, quelling, barring out, flowing away, and bathing — three discourses remain, moving toward knowledge and then distance as the final images for this same removal.
Key terms
nhātaka, nhāta — “bathed initiate”, “bathed” — the directly related pair this discourse's wordplay turns on, the most literal connection in this set of eight.
nahāyati — the verb root “to bathe,” behind both nhāta and nhātaka, making this discourse's connection closer to actual etymology than some of its more purely sound-based siblings.
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.
pañcamaṁ — “the fifth” — this discourse's own closing ordinal marker in the source text, marking the midpoint of this set of eight.
The text
The discourse in full, a single elided sentence. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Why one is called a bathed initiate
§1“Mendicants, it’s because of bathing off seven things that you become a bathed initiate …”
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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 “bathed initiate” (nhātaka)?
Correct: B. The most literal, directly related pair in this entire set of eight discourses.
Question 2 of 6
What did “nhātaka” name in the brahminical tradition, apart from this discourse's own wordplay?
Correct: B. A real external ritual accomplishment in the brahminical tradition, given an internal reinterpretation here.
Question 3 of 6
How does this discourse redefine the bath itself, according to the guide?
Correct: B. An internalized reinterpretation of an external ritual practice.
Question 4 of 6
According to the guide, how does this discourse's wordplay compare to AN 7.88's in terms of literalness?
Correct: B. The most direct etymological connection in this set of eight.
Question 5 of 6
What position does this discourse occupy in the full set of eight, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Marking the halfway point, with three discourses remaining.
Question 6 of 6
What is this discourse's own closing marker in the source text?
Correct: B. Confirming its place as the fifth discourse in this set of eight.
