Parihānasutta — Yamakavagga — the eighth chapter of the Eights
Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
The Buddha alone, addressing the mendicants
Form
Eight things that cause decline, then their eight exact reversals, stated in two compact sentences
Length
under 1 minute to read
A return to this book's founding shape
This discourse returns to the bare blocking-list-and-reversal structure that opened the very first discourse of this book at AN 8.3, now applied specifically to a trainee's risk of decline
Difficulty
★☆☆☆☆ — brief and direct, easy to hold in mind as a single compact pair
Why this discourse
AN 8.79 names eight things that lead to the decline of a mendicant trainee — relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, not guarding the sense doors, eating too much, and relishing closeness and proliferation — and their exact reversals, which don't lead to decline.
Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
A mendicant trainee declines by relishing work, talk, sleep, and company, failing to guard the sense doors, eating too much, and relishing closeness and proliferation — and avoids decline by relishing none of these and guarding the sense doors instead.
A trainee-specific list, not a general one
Unlike many of this book's blocking-and-reversal pairs, which apply broadly to any mendicant, this discourse names its subject explicitly as a “trainee” (sekha) — someone still actively progressing on the path rather than having completed it, for whom these eight risks and their reversals carry particular weight.
Four ordinary indulgences, and four more specific risks
The first four items — work, talk, sleep, company — name broadly recognizable everyday indulgences. The remaining four are more specific to meditative training: failing to guard the sense doors, eating to excess, relishing closeness (saṅgaṇika, social entanglement), and relishing proliferation (papañca, the mind's own tendency to elaborate and complicate).
The book's founding shape, returned to near its close
This chapter has moved through combinatorial matrices, cumulative ladders, autobiographical accounts, and paired content taught by different speakers; this discourse's return to the simple blocking-list-and-reversal structure that opened the entire book at AN 8.3 offers a moment of structural simplicity late in this chapter.
Key terms
sekhassa bhikkhuno parihānāya — “the decline of a mendicant trainee” — this discourse's own subject, naming its audience specifically as still-training mendicants rather than mendicants generally.
kammārāmatā, bhassārāmatā, niddārāmatā, saṅgaṇikārāmatā — “relish work, talk, sleep, and company” — the first four items, broadly recognizable everyday indulgences.
indriyesu aguttadvāratā — “not guarding the sense doors” — the fifth item, a specifically meditative failure rather than an ordinary indulgence.
bhojane amattaññutā — “eating too much” — the sixth item, lacking moderation specifically around food.
papañcārāmatā — “relishing proliferation” — the eighth and final item, the mind's own tendency to elaborate and complicate experience rather than meeting it directly.
The text
The discourse in full: eight things that cause a trainee's decline, and their eight reversals. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
Eight things that lead to a trainee's decline
§1“These eight things lead to the decline of a mendicant trainee. What eight? They relish work, talk, sleep, and company. They don’t guard the sense doors and they eat too much. They relish closeness and proliferation. These eight things lead to the decline of a mendicant trainee.
Eight things that don't lead to decline
§2These eight things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant trainee. What eight? They don’t relish work, talk, sleep and company. They guard the sense doors, and they don’t eat too much. They don’t relish closeness and proliferation. These eight things don’t lead to the decline of a mendicant trainee.”
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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
Who is the specific audience this discourse names, unlike many of this book's other blocking-list pairs?
Correct: B. A discourse specifically addressed to those still in active training.
Question 2 of 6
What are the first four things that lead to a trainee's decline?
Correct: B. Broadly recognizable everyday indulgences, opening the list.
Question 3 of 6
What does 'relishing proliferation' (papañca) refer to?
Correct: B. A specifically meditative concern, the eighth and final item in the list.
Question 4 of 6
How does this discourse's structure compare to AN 8.3, which opened this book?
Correct: B. A moment of structural simplicity, echoing the book's own opening shape.
Question 5 of 6
How are the eight things that don't lead to decline presented?
Correct: B. A clean, point-for-point reversal of the decline-causing list.
Question 6 of 6
Is a setting given for this discourse?
Correct: C. A bare formula, matching several other discourses in this chapter.
