Saddhammasutta — Samaṇavagga — the ninth chapter of the Sevens
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
A single-sentence bare list, the exact positive mirror of AN 7.93 immediately before it
Length
under 1 minute to read
Closing this chapter, and the standard-format chapters
The last discourse of Samaṇavagga, and the final standard, roughly ten-discourse chapter before AN 7's two remaining megachapters
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief, closing this chapter on a familiar, recurring note
Why this discourse
AN 7.94 closes this chapter with the seven-quality list this book has returned to repeatedly — faithful, conscientious, prudent, learned, energetic, mindful, and wise — the exact positive mirror of AN 7.93's seven bad qualities immediately before it, and the final discourse before AN 7's two remaining megachapters.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
There are seven good qualities: being faithful, conscientious, prudent, learned, energetic, mindful, and wise — the exact positive counterpart to AN 7.93's seven bad qualities, stated with the same bare economy.
A familiar list, returned to one final time
This is the fourth appearance in this book of the same seven-quality list first met at AN 7.25, restated at AN 7.43, and mapped onto a citadel's seven defenses at AN 7.67 — here given its plainest, most unadorned statement yet, immediately after its own negation was spelled out explicitly for the first time at AN 7.93.
Completing the bad-then-good pair
Read together, AN 7.93 and AN 7.94 form a complete negative-positive pair, each of the seven items answered by its exact opposite in the same order: faithless answered by faithful, shameless by conscientious, imprudent by prudent, unlearned by learned, lazy by energetic, unmindful by mindful, witless by wise.
Closing this chapter, and the standard chapters of AN 7
With this discourse, Samaṇavagga closes, and with it the last of AN 7's standard-length chapters — nine chapters of roughly ten discourses each, from Dhanavagga at AN 7.1 through to here. What remains of AN 7 is two megachapters: Āhuneyyavagga (AN 7.95-614) and Rāgapeyyāla (AN 7.615-1124), together spanning well over a thousand further discourses compressed into a small number of pages through peyyāla merging.
Key terms
saddhamma — “a good quality”, more literally “a true quality” — this discourse's own title, naming the positive counterpart to AN 7.93's asaddhamma.
saddho, hirimā, ottappī — “faithful, conscientious, prudent” — the first three of the seven good qualities, answering AN 7.93's faithless, shameless, and imprudent.
bahussuto, āraddhavīriyo — “learned, energetic” — the fourth and fifth items, answering AN 7.93's unlearned and lazy.
satimā, paññavā — “mindful, wise” — the sixth and seventh items, answering AN 7.93's unmindful and witless, and matching the same list already met at AN 7.25, 7.43, and 7.67.
Āhuneyyavagga, Rāgapeyyāla — the two remaining chapters of AN 7's Second Fifty (AN 7.95-614 and AN 7.615-1124), both megachapters compressed through peyyāla merging, still to be written.
The text
The discourse in full, a single bare list closing this chapter. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Seven good qualities
§1“Mendicants, there are these seven good qualities. What seven? Someone is faithful, conscientious, prudent, learned, energetic, mindful, and wise. These are the seven good qualities.”
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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 good qualities does this discourse name?
Correct: B. The exact positive counterpart to AN 7.93's seven bad qualities.
Question 2 of 6
How many times has this exact seven-quality list now appeared in this book, counting this discourse?
Correct: B. A recurring list this book returns to at several points, in different forms.
Question 3 of 6
How does this discourse relate to AN 7.93 immediately before it?
Correct: B. Faithless/faithful, shameless/conscientious, and so on through all seven pairs.
Question 4 of 6
What does this discourse close, according to the guide?
Correct: B. The end of nine standard chapters, with two large peyyāla-compressed chapters still ahead.
Question 5 of 6
What two chapters remain to complete AN 7 after this discourse, according to the guide?
Correct: B. Two megachapters spanning well over a thousand further discourses, still to be written.
Question 6 of 6
Which item answers AN 7.93's “lazy” (kusīto)?
Correct: B. The fifth item in both lists, energy answering laziness.
